UNESCO Clearinghouse on GCED

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Climate change starter's guidebook: an issues guide for education planners and practitioners Year of publication: 2011 Author: Alejandro Deeb | Amber French | Julia Heiss | Jason Jabbour | Dominique LaRochelle | Arkadiy Levintanus | Anna Kontorov | Rummukainen Markku | Gerardo Sanchez Martinez | Rosalyn McKeown | Nicolay Paus | Antoine Pecoud | Guillaume Pénisson | Daniel Puig | Vanessa Retana | Serban Scrieciu | Morgan Strecker | Vimonmas Vachatimanont | Benjamin Witte | Noriko Yamada. Corporate author: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) The Climate Change Starter’s Guide provides an introduction and overview for education planners and practitioners on the wide range of issues relating to climate change and climate change education, including causes, impacts, mitigation and adaptation strategies, as well as some broad political and economic principles. The aim of this guide is to serve as a starting point for mainstreaming climate change education into school curricula. It has been created to enable education planners and practitioners to understand the issues at hand, to review and analyse their relevance to particular national and local contexts, and to facilitate the development of education policies, curricula, programmes and lesson plans. The guide covers four major thematic areas: 1. the science of climate change, which explains the causes and observed changes; 2. the social and human aspects of climate change including gender, health, migration, poverty and ethics; 3. policy responses to climate change including measures for mitigation and adaptation; and 4. education approaches including education for sustainable development, disaster reduction and sustainable lifestyles. A selection of key resources in the form of publication titles or websites for further reading is provided after each of the thematic sections. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) provides its expertise and know-how in areas such as education, culture, and the social sciences. In particular, UNESCO emphasises the role of education in support of climate change adaptation and mitigation in providing skills and capacities but also through shaping the values, attitudes and behaviours needed to put the world on a more sustainable path. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) works with countries to strengthen their ability to adapt to climate change, move towards low-carbon growth, reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, improve understanding of climate science, and raise public awareness of the changing climate. UNEP is supporting countries to seize the opportunities of moving towards low-carbon growth, while improving human health and well-being, generating green jobs and moving towards a green economy. With this publication, the two organizations have embarked on a collaboration on climate change education that we are committed to building upon and expanding in the period ahead.

Symposium on climate change education and sustainable cities, 31 August 2009, United Nations Office at Nairobi, Kenya Year of publication: 2009 Corporate author: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) | United Nations Centre for Human Settlement Programme (UN Habitat) Education plays an important role in promoting knowledge, skills and values that are necessary for the realization of a sustainable society. It also assists learners to learn to cope with today's challenges such as climate change and urbanization. The overarching theme of the symposium was the critical role of education in promoting sustainable urbanization with a particular focus on climate change and its challenges. This broad theme was divided into two major sub-themes: 1. Role of education in building sustainable cities 2. Mainstreaming climate change in education for building sustainable cities. The key objective of the symposium was to raise awareness about the decade of education on sustainable development and to promote a constructive dialogue between local authorities, practitioners, academia and civil society organizations on the role of education in addressing the challenges of sustainable urbanization and climate change. A major thrust of the dialogue was “moving from rhetoric to action”. Key concepts of the Symposium Cities Half of humanity now lives in cities, and around one billion urban residents live in slums. The urbanization of poverty is therefore one of the most daunting challenges of the 21st century. Cities offer opportunities, but most urban development is largely toxic, segregated and inefficient. If cities are to come to terms with rapid levels of urbanization, they require leaders, managers and staff capable of adopting innovative and robust approaches to planning, developing, managing and financing growth for all citizens. Climate Change Globally, climate change is now recognized as one of the defining challenges of the 21st century. The future of hundreds of millions of people in urban areas across the world will be affected by the different impacts of climate change. Developing and least developed countries have higher vulnerability to climate change impacts compared to developed countries. Climate change has been identified as one of the main strategic perspectives to inform education and learning for sustainable development and by extension sustainable city development. Climate change issues need to be part of public awareness, learning and education for a sustainable future. The integrated, multifaceted vision provided by ESD is particularly well-suited to addressing climate change and city development in terms of understanding its causes, recognising its impact and effects, and preparing and implementing appropriate mitigation and adaptation responses.

Why Climate Change Matters for Human Security Year of publication: 2022 Author: Janani Vivekananda Corporate author: United Nations University | United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) This paper outlines the state of knowledge regarding security risks related to climate change, synthesizing the existing scientific evidence to set out five broad pathways of risk. Climate change itself is rarely a direct cause of conflict. Yet, there is ample evidence that its effects exacerbate important drivers and contextual factors of conflict and fragility, thereby challenging the stability of states and societies. Climate change impacts such as coral bleaching, diversity loss, and erratic rainfall can stress livelihoods and drive displacement, increase resource conflicts, and challenge the security and stability of people and states worldwide. Managing these security risks requires action across the entire impact chain: work to mitigate climate change; reducing its consequences on ecosystems; adapting socioeconomic systems; better management of climate-induced heightened resource competition; and strengthening governance and conflict management institutions. And every dimension of the response must be conflict-sensitive and climate proof. Without the right responses, climate change will mean more fragility, less peace and less security. But this paper sets out illustrative examples of how, with a greater understanding of how climate change interacts with social, political, economic and environmental drivers of conflict and fragility, we will be better placed to make the kind of risk-informed decisions is integral to achieving international peace and security.

Global Environment Outlook 4 (GEO-4): Environment for Development Year of publication: 2007 Corporate author: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) The fourth Global Environment Outlook – environment for development ( GEO-4 ) places sustainable development at the core of the assessment, particularly on issues dealing with intra- and intergenerational equity. The analyses include the need and usefulness of valuation of environmental goods and services, and the role of such services in enhancing development and human well-being, and minimizing human vulnerability to environmental change. The GEO-4 temporal baseline is 1987, the year in which the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) published its seminal report, Our Common Future . The Brundtland Commission was established in 1983, under UN General Assembly resolution 38/161 to look at critical environment and development challenges. It was established at a time of an unprecedented rise in pressures on the global environment, and when grave predictions about the human future were becoming commonplace.

تقرير التوقعات البيئية العالمية الرابع: البيئة من أجل التنمية المستدامة Year of publication: 2007 Corporate author: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) تضع توقعات البيئة العالمية الرابعة - البيئة من أجل التنمية (GEO-4) التنمية المستدامة في صميم التقييم ، لا سيما فيما يتعلق بالقضايا التي تتناول المساواة بين الأجيال وبين الأجيال. تشمل التحليلات الحاجة والفائدة في تقييم السلع والخدمات البيئية ، ودور هذه الخدمات في تعزيز التنمية ورفاهية الإنسان ، وتقليل تعرض الإنسان للتغير البيئي. خط الأساس الزمني لتوقعات البيئة العالمية الرابع هو عام 1987 ، وهو العام الذي نشرت فيه اللجنة العالمية للبيئة والتنمية (WCED) تقريرها الأساسي ، مستقبلنا المشترك. تأسست لجنة برونتلاند في عام 1983 ، بموجب قرار الجمعية العامة للأمم المتحدة 38/161 للنظر في تحديات البيئة والتنمية الحرجة. تم تأسيسه في وقت ارتفاع غير مسبوق في الضغوط على البيئة العالمية ، وعندما أصبحت التنبؤات الخطيرة حول مستقبل الإنسان أمرًا شائعًا.

Gender, Climate & Security: Sustaining Inclusive Peace on the Frontlines of Climate Change Year of publication: 2020 Corporate author: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) | United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) | United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Climate change is a defining threat to peace and security in the 21st century – its impacts felt by everyone, but not equally. Gender norms and power dynamics shape how women and men of different backgrounds experience or contribute to insecurity in a changing climate. Grounded in a series of case studies from research and programming experience, this report offers a comprehensive framework for understanding how gender, climate and security are inextricably linked. The report assesses entry points for action across existing global agendas and suggests concrete recommendations for how policymakers, development practitioners and donors can advance three inter-related goals: peace and security, climate action and gender equality.

Environmental Education Toolkit Guide for Latin America and the Caribbean Year of publication: 2023 Author: Eloísa Tréllez Solís Corporate author: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) The Environmental Education Toolkit is aimed primarily at teachers, multipliers and facilitators in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), and aims to promote interdisciplinary approaches, with a view to the transversality of environmental education. In the new context of a post-COVID-19 health emergency world, this approach becomes more relevant and necessary to achieve a better vision and understanding of the relationships between humans and nature; between societies, cultures and with the ecosystems on which they depend. In the chapters that make up this publication, an approach is proposed through a methodological proposal for reflection and action, the Interdisciplinary Roundtables for Environmental Education towards Sustainability, whose main objective is to strengthen and complement the environmental education processes that are carried out both in educational centers and in community groups, from an interdisciplinary, transversal perspective and with systemic thinking.

Guía de herramientas de educación ambiental para América Latina y el Caribe Year of publication: 2023 Author: Eloísa Tréllez Solís Corporate author: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) La Guía de Herramientas de Educación Ambiental está dirigida principalmente a docentes, multiplicadores y facilitadores de América Latina y el Caribe (ALC), tiene el propósito de impulsar enfoques interdisciplinarios, con miras a la transversalidad de la educación ambiental. En el nuevo contexto de un mundo post emergencia sanitaria COVID-19 este enfoque se vuelve más relevante y necesario para lograr una mejor visión y entendimiento de las relaciones entre el ser humano y la naturaleza; entre las sociedades, culturas y con los ecosistemas, de los que depende. Se propone, en los capítulos que integran esta publicación, un abordaje a través de una propuesta metodológica de reflexión y acción, las Mesas Interdisciplinarias de Educación Ambiental hacia la Sostenibilidad, cuyo objetivo principal es fortalecer y complementar los procesos de educación ambiental que se llevan a cabo tanto en centros educativos como en grupos comunitarios, desde una perspectiva interdisciplinaria, transversal y con pensamiento sistémico.

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