Tag Archive for: Unep

Welcome to the Earth School

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Unep and several other organizations launch Earth School,  a month of daily adventures designed to leave the whole family marveling at our planet and excited for the future. Dive into 30 Days of videos, quizzes, and activities it will help students celebrate, connect with and explore the natural world, while learning about how dependent we are on our planet.

Now more than ever, we need to protect, nurture and care for Earth. With this Ted so join us to learn something amazing every weekday between Earth Day (April 22nd) and World Environment Day (June 5th). Within each lesson, you’ll find fascinating resources compiled by Earth experts and ideas for getting involved in ways that count. Join us to learn more, create, act and share your journey (#EarthSchool) towards a cleaner and greener life.

Today, over 1.5 billion children aren’t able to go to school. In response to this education crisis, Unep and TED-Ed – with the support of an incredible array of educators and partner organizations – launched Earth School,  30 days of nature-focused content and environmental adventures for learners of all ages. Each Quest includes a discovery video and quiz, combined with a series of engaging learning resources — all curated by environmental experts.

Week 1 The Nature of Our Stuff
Week 2 The Nature of Society
Week 3 The Nature of Nature
Week 4 The Nature of Change
Week 5 The Nature of Individual Action
Week 6 The Nature of Collective Action

Enjoy!

 

Unep and Unesco patronage to the 10WEEC

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The WEEC Permanent Secretariat is very proud to announce that UNESCO and UNEP agencies gave – once again – their patronage to the World Environmental Education Congress, that will be held in Bangkok  from 3 to 7 November 2019.

The esteem shown by these authoritative institutions for our Congress and for our work is renewed. The commitment that our Network demonstrates, in continuing to pursue the issues of environmental education and sustainability, is carefully viewed by the main institutions of the United Nations. Let’s move forward in our commitment to support the Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

Unesco and UN Environment have several teams interested in organising workshops and side events during the WEEC Congress in Bangkok, to know more please read here,  the official program will be updated as soon as possible.

«l would like to congratulate you on the thematic focus of the 10th WorldEnvironmental Education Congress – can be read in the official Unesco communication – Namely to discuss local knowledge,communication and global connectivity with regard to their importance forEnvironmental Education. In this respect, thé objectives of thé WEEC are closely related to UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) programme, which aims to empower individuals to contribute to sustainable development».

Universities and Colleges for the Climate Summit. A letter to sign here!

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In advance of the Secretary General’s Climate Summit on September 23, networks and institutions working in Further and Higher Education are coming together to add their support to this letter that would be shared with key government officials and the media in advance of this event.
The aim is to get as many networks and institutions as possible on board in order to showcase the commitments towards the attainment of SDG 4 (Education) and 13 (Climate Change).

As at 21st May 2019, networks from the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI), Global Alliance, EAUC – The Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education and Second Nature have already agreed to support this letter. Collectively, they represent over 500 individual institutions.

Mario Salomone, Secretary General of the WEEC Network, already signed the letter and invites everybody to sign and share it.

Who can sign: Ideally, the president or chancellor of respective institutions will sign on to this letter on behalf of the institution. However any faculty or staff member of the institution can sign on to reiterate pre-existing commitment. Networks that represent higher and further education institutions can also sign on to the letter.

Deadline: The current deadline for signing on to this letter is August 1st 2019.

Click here to sign

Climate Emergency Letter
As institutions and networks of higher and further education from across the world, we collectively declare a Climate Emergency in recognition of the need for a drastic societal shift to combat the growing threat of climate change.
The young minds that are shaped by our institutions must be equipped with the knowledge, skills and capability to respond to the ever-growing challenges of climate change. We all need to work together to nurture a habitable planet for future generations and to play our part in building a greener and cleaner future for all.
We are today committing to collectively step up to the challenge by supporting a three-point plan which includes:
Mobilizing more resources for action-oriented climate change research and skills creation;
Committing to going carbon neutral by 2030 or 2050 at the very latest;
Increasing the delivery of environmental and sustainability education across curriculum, campus and community outreach programmes.
We call on governments and other education institutions to join us in declaring a Climate Emergency and back this up with actions that will help create a better future for both people and our planet.

Click here to sign

Current representation:
23 institutions representing approx. 200,000 students
14 networks representing approx. 6,000 institutions

Beat Air Pollution. Unep campaign for the World Environment Day 2019

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World Environment Day cannot succeed without everybody’s participation. Each year, thousands of cities, schools, non-governmental organizations, businesses and groups organize creative and fun events to inspire further action.
For this year’s World Environment Day, UN Environment will be calling on everyone, everywhere to come together to Beat Air Pollution, which is now the biggest public health crisis on the planet.
«We want to work with our partners in education and youth to take this message into the classroom, campus and community to raise awareness and take action around air pollution, which causes asthma and other respiratory illnesses in young people.
We would like to beat last year’s record and get thousands of events organized with our education partners and we hope that the materials and activations will inspire you to get your sleeves up and ready to join in!» This is the message of the Unep.

What you can do
1. Make June 5 a Beat Air Pollution Day:
a. Bring in an “Air-expert”: Bring in a local air pollution expert to talk about air quality and its impact in the community during either a school assembly or lecture to raise awareness around this issue.
b. Teach it: Ask teachers and professors to teach a whole day on air quality for World Environment Day. Check out this list of Air Quality-related lecture notes and teaching resources. Explore the materials to discuss questions with students such as:
• What are the biggest sources of air pollution?
• How many different sources of air pollution are they exposed to on their way to school/university?
• How can they reduce or avoid these sources of pollution?
• How do they personally contribute to air pollution?
• What can they do to reduce their own “dirty air-print”?
c. Walk / Bike to School Day: Consider implementing a “Walk / Bike to School Day” to encourage leaving the car at home.
d. Tree planting for air and wildlife: Investing in biodiversity can help clean the air and provide habitats for wildlife. Host a tree-planting event on World Environment Day and ask students to bring in seedlings for their own plants in an effort to replenish this valuable resource.
2. Then, register your event online: Go to the World Environment Day site to get all the help you need and register your event so we can see what you are doing online and put you on our real-time map. All those that register will be awarded a World Environment Day participation certificate by UN Environment.
3. Finally, show your support on social: This year, we want to inspire millions of people to share their concern about air quality by getting involved in the #BeatAirPollution social media campaign. We will be going all out with the campaign on May 22. It’s quick to do and will take just 3 minutes to show your support, all you need to do is:
• First, put a mask (or scarf, wrap) around your face / mouth
• Take a selfie
• Then share your commitment as to what you will do to take action on air quality in your own life
• Then share it using the hashtag #beatairpollution on your social media channels tagging three others to do the same
If you would like further feedback or guidance around any of these suggested ideas, or if you’d like to explore alternative options: unenvironment-yea@un.org

VIDEO Take a mask and act!

Air crash: environmentalism cries its victims

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A great tragedy has hit the world of environmentalism. The Ethiopian Airlines aircraft crashed yesterday after take-off near Addis Ababa, caused the death of 157 people who were on board, including passengers and crew members.

Among the victims there are also many delegates who were directed to the Fourth Assembly of the United Nations on Environment in Nairobi.

The WEEC Permanent Secretariat gathers around the relatives of the victims. Mario Salomone, WEEC General Secretary recalls that everyone’s commitment is important for the future of the planet. «The pain for the loss of so many people actively involved in the protection of the environment – he said – must make us continue their meritorious work and must remind us that their life had a common and highly meritorious goal».

The assembly opens today (Monday, 11th) in silence to remember the victims of the plane crash. The goal of the forum is to understand how to save the planet from climate change and resource over-exploitation, and in this context until 15 March, heads of state and environment ministers, with NGOs, activists and multinational administrators will meet to discuss and make commitments, with a view to a global environmental pact.

The people on board had 32 different nationalities: 8 Italians, 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, 9 Ethiopians, 8 Chinese, 8 Americans, 7 French, 7 British, 6 Egyptian, 5 Dutch, 4 people with UN passports, 4 Indians, then citizens of Austria, Switzerland, Russia, Morocco, Spain, Israel, Belgium, Indonesia, Uganda, Yemen, Sudan, Serbia, Togo, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, Norway, Ireland.
The many peoples fraternized by a tragic destiny are a symbol of the unity of humanity beyond borders, languages and cultures.

UNEP publication, capacity building and biodiversity

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UN Environment is coordinating the four-year multi-partner programme – Capacity-building related to multilateral environment agreements (MEAs) in African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) countries, known as the ACP MEAs programme.

A new publication provides an insight into Phase 1 (2009-2013) of the programme with contributions from those at the helm of the various objectives in stopping biodiversity loss, supporting sound management of chemicals and waste, cleaning up obsolete pesticides, combatting desertification, tackling climate change through the clean development mechanism and carbon markets and fundamentally, strengthening implementation of MEAs at the national and regional levels.

It is a critical resource for policy makers, development practitioners, and those involved in capacity building in the environment field by providing case studies as well as testimonials from the beneficiaries.

The programme is supported by the European Commission, in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Secretariat for the African, Caribbean, and the Pacific group of states (ACP Secretariat), the African Union Commission (AUC), the Caribbean Community Secretariat (CARICOM), and the Secretariat for the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP).

Download here:  environmental-change-capacity-building-2017

UNEP report on ‘Environment, Religion and Culture’

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UNEP, in collaboration with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Department of the Environment, Iran, has published the report ‘Environment, Religion and Culture’ in the Context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’.

It shows how religion and culture interpret the Five P’s of people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership and provides examples of how some faith-based and nongovernmental organizations address them. It also encourages religious, cultural leaders and organizations to actively engage in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and calls on religious scholars to continue engaging in dialogue with the scientific world.

To learn more see here.