Tag Archive for: 11WEEC

11th WEEC: Hybrid, young and integrated

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The 11th edition of the WEEC world environmental education congress has come to an end.
A special edition, held in Prague (Czech Republic) from 14 to 18 March 2022, characterized during its organization, by two years of pandemic. This has led to a change in the travel and training habits of all environmental educators, teachers and researchers, associations and institutions.

The WEEC adapted to the new context proposing for the first time a hybrid edition. It was a bet, which we can say we have won: about a third of the delegates participated online, making the participation possible for those who couldn’t or didn’t move (for health reasons, uncertainty linked to travel or for the costs).
The hybrid congress – which will probably remain in the next editions – will open the door to many new delegates, becoming more and more inclusive and welcoming. Environmental education is not for “a select few”, it must involve associations, parks, young people… and the 11th congress in Prague did it. «The future belongs to hybrid congresses – said Prof. Jan Cincera, co-chair of the congress and LOC organiser – I was quite sceptical about this, however in reality it worked very well. There may not be a covid in the next few years, but we will be certainly dealing with the carbon footprint. The key is to professionally provide and set up the interactive platform to suit the needs of the event. We were the first hybrid WEEC in history, but probably not the last».

The youth congress was a great success, it gathered over 120 participants from 22 countries and allowed children to compare themselves with each other and also with the adult congress. «The linking the “big” congress with the youth congress worked very well – added Cincera – In the future, I could imagine a higher level of integration between the two events. The YEEC organizers did a great job!»

An online platform with recordings of all content is built, extending the congress beyond its runtime, a participatory way, for creating a wider community. «The linking of the “academic” and “field-based, practice-oriented” parts also worked very well. Again, I could imagine a higher level of integration. Both “theorists” and “practitioners” have their own unique perspectives and it is important that they meet from time to time».

The 11WEEC is a new stage of the path started in 2003, with inspiring debates, conferences, and presentations. Every congress is a milestone for environmental education worldwide «but the congresses should above all be an opportunity of coagulation for a flow of energies, proposals, regenerative learning experiences, and best practices – explained Prof Salomone, Secretary General of the WEEC Network – It is crucial to fill the time between a congress and the next one, not only as individuals or education bodies but as a worldwide network.
As permanent secretariat, our human and technical resources are limited but are at the disposal of the worldwide community of researchers, teachers, and educators.
So, many positions are open at the network: positions for volunteers, for goodwill people. We must enhance initiatives and prepare at best the next congress thanks to the help of a large community».

Higher levels of integration, roadmap for future events

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The future belongs to hybrid congresses. I was quite sceptical about this, however in reality it worked very well. There may not be a covid in the next few years, but we will be certainly dealing with the carbon footprint. The key is to professionally provide and set up the interactive platform to suit the needs of the event. We were the first hybrid WEEC in history, but probably not the last.

An online platform with recordings of all content is a “game-changer”, extending the congress beyond its runtime. The only question is how much it will be used in the coming months.

It’s important to do congresses of this type in a participatory way, involving people from the wider community. It was challenging sometimes (there were a lot of people to coordinate), but it definitely paid off.

The linking the “big” congress with the youth congress worked very well. In the future, I could imagine a higher level of integration between the two events. The YEEC organizers did a great job!

The linking of the “academic” and “field-based, practice-oriented” parts also worked very well. Again, I could imagine a higher level of integration. Both “theorists” and “practitioners” have their own unique perspectives and it is important that they meet from time to time.

The conditions were not easy… but it was manageable. The support from our partners helped a lot: Charles University, Praha.eu, Ministerstvo životního prostředí, Skupina ČEZ, Kongresové centrum Praha, Embassy of Switzerland in the Czech Republic, British Chamber of Commerce Czech Republic – thank you!

And thanks so much to everyone who was in it with us!
Jan Činčera

WEEC congress: flow of energies around the world

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Photo by Petr Zewlakk Vrabec

Dear friends and colleagues,

We are nearly at the end of this eleventh congress. A new stage of the path started in 2003 is done.

Now we once again have a new long way to go.

We listened to many debates, conferences, and presentations, we paid attention to the voice of youth. Probably, we leave with a storm of ideas, with inspiring suggestions.

Despite everything – I said at the opening of the congress.

We are going to announce the twelfth congress in 2024.
Before the announcement, I’d like to thank the co-organisers again: the Masaryk University with a wonderful Jan Cincera and AIM group, their staffs, the institutions which gave their patronage, the partners, and the sponsors.

I’d also like to remind you that it is crucial to fill the time between a congress and the next one, not only as individuals or education bodies but as a worldwide network.

Local, national, regional meetings are welcome, as thematic groups and initiatives, webinars, forums, discussions of papers.

As permanent secretariat, our human and technical resources are limited but are at the disposal of the worldwide community of researchers, teachers, and educators.

Every congress is a milestone for environmental education worldwide. But the congresses should above all be an opportunity of coagulation for a flow of energies, proposals, regenerative learning experiences, and best practices.

So, many positions are open at the network: positions for volunteers, for goodwill people. We must enhance initiatives and prepare at best the next congress thanks to the help of a large community.

And now, it is an immense pleasure to invite the distinguished representative of the following local organising committee in 2024.

While I remind you that the call for hosting the 13th congress in 2026 is open, I announce that the 12th world environmental education congress will be in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates).

Congratulations!
I thank so much to the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi for its engagement, its enthusiasm, and its strong competencies. Applause!

I invite H.E. Dr. Shaikha Salem Al Dhaheri and Mr Ahmed Baharoon to take the podium to present the congress’s title and main aims.

Please!

Building bridges for a better world

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Photo by Marc-Antoine Dubé – Unsplash

The guiding theme of the 2022 edition of the World Environment Education Congress international conference underscores the vital need for Building Bridges as a compelling affirmation of the warrant of our times. As the world increasingly becomes a global village with the relentless expansion of the world-wide web of connections among peoples and nations spanning multiple spheres, developments in one part of the globe can have varying degrees of impact on societies and communities who may otherwise be separated by neat geographical boundaries and distinct cultures.

“Only connect”, is the timeless advice of sage E.M Foster, after all!

Whether it is the impact of global warming and climate change, the consequences of natural disasters or human-induced catastrophes, the virus-pandemic or social inequities, the human family is in it all together. Old certainties are no longer certainties. It is, therefore, important to weave a common fabric for mutual survival and mutual flourishing as the human of the species that shares this little space with a multitude of other beings who call this Planet Earth their home.

Building bridges among peoples and nations, professions and occupations, sectors and disciplines, individuals and institutions, and indeed between humans and humans is, therefore, a vital strategy to navigate through these challenging times of unprecedented global upheavals and uncertainties.

As important as it is to build new bridges relevant to the rapidly changing needs of societies against the backdrop of a fast-globalising world, it is vital to repair the many broken bridges which have been neglected in mankind’s headlong rush towards an uncertain future unaided by the benefit of time-tested foundations that have stood us in good stead through the ages.

We have to begin by re-building the most basic of relationships – the relationship between us the human beings and Mother Nature. We need to feel again the soil under our feet, feel again the air that we breathe, feel again the water that we drink, and discover the many gifts that lie hidden everywhere.

We need to reclaim with our senses the sights that our eyes are meant to see, the sounds that our ears are meant to hear, the sensations that our hands are meant to feel, the smell that our nostrils are meant receive, and the taste that our tongue is meant to register.

As the human of the species, we need to feel the delicate intimations of our Mother Nature with our bodies, with our heads, and with our hearts, above all. We need to seek refuge in the womb of Mother Nature and be born again with the gifts that we have long forsaken and forfeited.

We were all born human – just human – with the same gifts and blessings, the same faculties to think, to feel, to imagine, to create, to dream, and to marvel at the mystery of Nature’s work. Over time, however, we trifled with and trivialised our supreme humanity and froze into races, tribes, castes, communal bands and divisive affiliates.

We need to re-connect with the humanity that we have lost and feel together again – just like us humans that we are meant to be.

Then again, we need to re-build our relationships with the great foundations that have set us apart from other species – beliefs in the indestructible nature of Truth, the distinction between Right and Wrong, and the tension between Good and Bad. Humans and only humans have the unique ability to make these distinctions that sustain individuals, families, societies, nations, and indeed Life itself.

We need to build bridges between what we say and what we do, between our public self and our private self, between our conscience and our action. We need to re-connect our role with its soul, above all else.

Our lives, our families, our institutions, our neighbourhoods, our societies, our nations, and indeed our dear Planet Earth will either flourish or flounder on the quality of our relationships. We need to build bridges to the sunnier side of life.

A better world, a more beautiful world, is possible. Building and re-building our vital relationships, connecting and re-connecting with what nourishes us and sustains us and the generations to come, I humbly submit, may be the way to go.

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Thakur S Powdyel

Former Minister of Education
Royal Government of Bhutan

The voice of the South of the world

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Photo by Larm Rmah, Unsplash

For this 11th edition of the WEEC, a congress in which the Mohammed VI Foundation for the Protection of the Environment always takes great pleasure to participate, I come, on behalf of HRH Princess Lalla Hasnaa, to bring the voice of the South. I do so with all the more conviction as almost 10 years have passed since the congress we hosted in Marrakech in 2003, where we launched an appeal. You may remember it.

I hope you do. Because we called for the strengthening of cooperation in the service of environmental education, especially from the countries of the North to the countries of the South who face particular circumstances that challenge their ability to carry out the essential efforts of education for sustainable development.

While some significant progress was made for the people and the planet in those events, there is a genuine question to be put forward when it comes to the global ownership of that progress, from a civil society perspective. Indeed, again, there were few civil society representatives from the Global South in those events.

And this is far from being an exception of this forum. It is unfortunately still, in 2022, a common reality that we must urgently and meaningfully address. Just a few weeks ago, the Foundation sent a delegation to UNEA 5 and UNEP @50.

But you know very well that in this great event, the most interesting thing, forgive me for saying it, is all the contacts that are made in the corridors, this conviction and this shared human warmth for education for sustainable development. And you know how much we, the people of the South, need this contact, this dialogue and this warmth.

You can see this for yourself in this large room that brings us all together. Many representatives from the South did not have the means to travel, regardless of the Covid-19, so, with the new uses that we have learned from this pandemic, they are following the words that I am saying to you right now behind the screen of their computer.

In addition, while the Global South is connected by similarities in challenges, it is also enriched by the diversity of our contexts and paths. As such, it is not enough to just include a few global south voices, the inclusion of the Global South must not be a monolith but instead must reflect the spirit of leaving no one behind.

We do not lack ideas and practices. We even have some to transmit. In Morocco, in Africa, in South America, the populations have environmental practices that are thousands of years old, certainly developed out of necessity but also out of concern for nature. In the South, the circular economy is not an empty word. Nothing is thrown away, everything is recycled, everything is transformed. Low Tech, whose virtues are being rediscovered, is a daily reality. Indeed, we draw our ideas from nature itself, for lack of access to technology, to industry, and this is perhaps a good for a bad.

Through several programs that we have coordinated with our partners across Africa, such as the African Youth Climate Hub and the African Green Universities and Youth Education Network, we have listened and we have learned. And then we have co constructed with African Youth. And what we have co constructed is based on the fact that African Youth are not looking for generic support.

African Youth are looking for partnerships and advice to fully seize the opportunities that they identified themselves, through solutions they have designed themselves. This is the new African Reality and it is largely led by youth.

The policies put in place for the protection of heritage against climate change are not always contextualized with the needs of the South, which sometimes finds itself alone and isolated to deal with disruptions to heritage values ​​and the lives of communities, considerably limiting their ability to access, benefit from and practice their culture.

We must therefore work together to reconcile ourselves to our territories and our practices through the appreciation of our heritage in all its forms of expression, source of inspiration and witness to our transcendence, heritage reminds us that the well-being of Man must converge with the well-being of nature.

Let’s do it together. Let’s really unite. This is the wish that I formulate here, in the name of the South. It is a wish, it is a call for solidarity at all levels and all over the world for the benefit of the people and the planet, leaving no one behind.

Environmental education is to build a new ecological society

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Distinguished representatives of the United Nations institutions at our side since the beginning of our adventure in 2003,

Czech authorities,

All members and staff of the local organizing committee, dear friends and colleagues engaged in environmental education, many warmest thanks for attending this 11th congress in Prague, onsite or online.

In spite of everything, against all the odds, we are here, in some way, in person or thanks to the Internet.

“Thanks” is the first word I want to underline, the second is “In spite of everything, we are here”.

After two years of huge pandemic and in times of war near us, with refugees around us. The situation is getting worse and we express our solidarity for the victims of the war.  “Near us” and “around us” is in the literal sense, near Prague and this congress Centre. But in a globalized world, on this small and finite planet, everywhere and everything is “near us”.

So, “Building bridges” and building bridges in times of climate urgency, this title imagined in 2018 is more and more meaningful.

In 1969 Environmental Education, the first journal on environmental education, inside of its first slim 32 pages issue, wrote that the goal of EE is that every citizen “knows it deep in his/her heart and bones, the simple facts that he/she is absolutely dependent on his environment, that he/she is affected by is environment, and that he/she affects his/her environment”.

This goal is ever valid, solid, and compelling.

This year we celebrate two significant fiftieth anniversaries: the first UN conference on the environment in Stockholm and the MIT report to the Club of Rome: “The Limits to Growth”.

Environmental education is to build a new ecological society.

According to Edgar Morin, it is to build a human community -a planetary community of destiny. Thanks to the culture of interdependence, and of the limits, it can come to light, a culture we can cultivate, breed, and spread. We must be a force of peace and ecological transition drivers.

It needs more competencies, more research, more relationships, and alliances. In sum, more contacts and a stronger WEEC Network.

On Wednesday, we will announce the 12th WEEC in 2024. From now we encourage all of you to consider candidacies for the 13th congress in 2026. The call for bids opens today.

Thanks a lot again. Have lovely days of talk, discoveries, and new friendships. And meet again every day after this 11th congress in Prague, which I wish fruitful and gratifying.

Despite everything.

11WEEC: We started “building bridges”

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The 11th WEEC started today in Prague in the new hybrid guise, linking more than 600 environmental educators, practitioners and experts who have come in person to the Czech Republic and those connected online from all over the world in a single embrace.

In the opening ceremony there were greetings and speeches from Miloš Vystrčil, President of the Senate of the Czech Republic, Anna Hubáčková, Minister of the Environment of the Czech Republic , Milena Králíčková, Charles University, Rector, the UN agencies representatives Stefania Giannini, UNESCO and Niclas Svenningsen, UNFCCC, Nouzha Alaoui, Secretary General of the Mohammed VI Foundation for the Environment, the sponsors and, of course, the chairs and organisers of the congress Mario Salomone, WEEC Permanent Secretariat and Jan Činčera, Masaryk University, Local Organizing Team.

«In spite of everything – said Mario Salomone – against all the odds, we are here, in some way, in person or thanks to the Internet. “Thanks” is the first word I want to underline, the second is “In spite of everything, we are here”. After two years of huge pandemic and in times of war near us, with refugees around us. This goal is ever valid, solid, and compelling. This year we celebrate two significant fiftieth anniversaries: the first UN conference on the environment in Stockholm and the MIT report to the Club of Rome: “The Limits to Growth”. Environmental education is to build a new ecological society.
According to Edgar Morin, it is to build a human community -a planetary community of destiny. Thanks to the culture of interdependence, and of the limits, it can come to light, a culture we can cultivate, breed, and spread.
We must be a force of peace and ecological transition drivers. It needs more competences, more research, more relationships, and alliances. In sum, more contacts and a stronger WEEC Network».

Jan Činčera highlighted the good chance and joy of being reunited again on such a occasion of professional growth and networking.

Nouzha Alaoui underlined the role of the countries of the southern hemisphere, still underestimated, but facilitated by the spread of new technologies that shorten distances and make online connections possible.

Anna Hubáčková, Minister of the Environment of the Czech Republic, underlined the importance of the European Green Deal and the challenges to be faced with regard to the delay in communicating climate change. Along the same lines, the rector of the University of Prague reiterated the need for collaboration between schools to strengthen the SDGs. Thus Stefania Giannini, Unesco, drew attention to issues related to youth for climate.

Two interventions focused on the means we already have available for sustainability. Svenningsen said that people are the most important goal, the work that needs to be done is to give the means for understanding the tools we already have. Piccard stressed on education and economics are not in competition, they are two poles that must be in balance. “we already have the tools to build the future we imagined and the solutions are already among us, we have collected over a thousand!”

We stand for peace!

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To our friends in Ukraine
Dear environmental and sustainability education community, dear colleagues and friends,

our team is responsible for the organization of the 11th World Environmental Education Congress. We started with the idea of “building bridges” to highlight the need for mutual understanding among different perspectives in our field. There is no sustainability without mutual understanding.

These days, we experience the attack of the army of the Russian Federation on Ukraine. We are horrified. We cannot stay polite and neutral. There is no sustainaibility without peace. There is no place for environmental education in a battle zone. We want to promote understanding, but we cannot accept the perspective of those who started this brutal invasion. We are educators and researchers, not politicians. We are people of words, not weapons. Words are what we use now.

We stand for peace!

To our friends in Ukraine – we are with you. The Congress virtual platform with the online program is open to you and you can use it as a safe space to spread the word.
Let us know how we can help you.

We ask our colleagues in Russian Federation – use your influence to stop the war. Do not let your politicians lead the war in your name. You are members of our community. We believe that any of us has the potential to contribute to peace which is a fundamental premise to a sustainable world.

To all of us – let’s use our influence to stop the war. Let’s promote peace. If you have a chance to invite and contact any of your Ukrainian colleagues, let them know about this possibility.

There is no sustainability without peace. Stop the war! Stop the Russian aggression in Ukraine!

On behalf of the local organizing team of the 11th World Environmental Education Congress

Jan Činčera, Masaryk University, Mario Salomone WEEC Secretary General

VIDEO Join the 11th WEEC Congress in Prague

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WEEC2022: “2G” policy for the onsite participation

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Three months remain to the 11th World Environmental Education Congress in Prague.  Despite our hopes, the world still struggles with the global pandemia of COVID-19. In Central Europe, we experience the new wave of this infection. At the same time, we have more reasons for optimism than a year ago. The new vaccines provide a reasonable level of protection against severe illness. Based on the previous experience and the contemporary pandemic speed, we have good reasons to expect the situation to improve by the end of winter.
After consideration, we decided to keep the hybrid form of WEEC as it is planned. You are welcome to participate in either online or onsite forms. You may also use the mix of both worlds – you can register onsite but participate online in plenary sessions or other parts of congress. Please, find the way that works best for you.
For the onsite participation, we adopt the “2G” policy. As a result, we will ask participants to prove that they are either fully vaccinated or have recently recovered from COVID-19. We hope you understand this requirement – we want to make our meeting safe for everyone. We are looking forward to meeting you – either online or in Prague – in March 2022! Keep safe and healthy