Resources
Explore a wide range of valuable resources on GCED to deepen your understanding and enhance your research, advocacy, teaching, and learning.
71 Results found
[Synthesis Report] Climate Change and Girls' Education: Barriers, Gender Norms and Pathways to Resilience Year of publication: 2023 Corporate author: Plan International This research explores the relationship between climate change and girls' education: what are the direct and indirect impacts of climate change on girls' access to school and completion of their education? How do these impacts intersect with existing gender barriers to education? And how does your education help girls respond and adapt to climate change in their communities? A synthesis report and summary are also available, along with the technical report for more details on the conclusions and the research itself. 
A Greener, Fairer Future: Why Leaders Need to Invest in Climate and Girls’ Education Year of publication: 2021 Author: Lucia Fry | Philippa Lei Corporate author: Malala Fund The world is on the brink of a climate catastrophe — and girls are disproportionately bearing the impact. Climate-related events like flooding, droughts and increased exposure to zoonotic diseases amplify the inequalities girls face and further limit their ability to access and complete their education. Malala Fund’s new report, A greener, fairer future: Why leaders need to invest in climate and girls' education, estimates that in 2021 climate-related events will prevent at least four million girls in low- and lower-middle-income countries from completing their education. If current trends continue, by 2025 climate change will be a contributing factor in preventing at least 12.5 million girls from completing their education each year.Yet evidence shows that closing gender gaps in education can help countries better adapt to the effects of climate change and decrease the rate and impact of global warming.“Girls in lower-income countries are the least responsible for the climate crisis, so it’s a travesty that it now threatens their very lifeline to a brighter future: quality education,” said Lucia Fry, Director of Research and Policy at Malala Fund. “Malala Fund wants leaders at COP26 to hear young people’s demands around education. They know that climate action helps girls stay in school, which in turn helps countries tackle the climate crisis. Young people are demanding an education that will prepare them to adapt to the effects of climate change and challenge the root causes of the crisis.”A greener, fairer future outlines the origins of the climate emergency and explains how confronting issues like the legacy of colonialism, racial discrimination and gender inequality through education is key to finding a sustainable solution to the crisis. The paper introduces the Gender-Equal Green Learning Agenda, a new framework to help leaders address the climate crisis through education.In this report, Malala Fund recommends how leaders can take urgent climate action at meetings this year, like COP26. This includes reducing carbon emissions, improving girls’ access to education, helping communities adapt to the realities of climate change and transforming education systems to provide all students with the knowledge, skills and values needed to challenge the social and economic inequalities fuelling the climate crisis.For more about the links between climate change and girls’ education, read the full paper below. 
[Executive Summary] Climate Change and Girls' Education: Barriers, Gender Norms and Pathways to Resilience Year of publication: 2023 Corporate author: Plan International This is the Executive Summary for the report: Climate Change and Girls’ Education: Barriers, Gender Norms and Pathways to Resilience. The full technical report and accompanying synthesis report are also available. 
Education and Climate Change: Learning to Act for People and Planet Year of publication: 2024 Corporate author: Global Education Monitoring Report Team | Monitoring and Evaluating Climate Communication and Education Project (MECCE) | University of Sakatchewan How can education lead to climate change action?Despite strong evidence on the impact of education on other development outcomes and the role it plays in developing professional capacity for sustainable development transitions, education is often absent from other sectors’ strategic, policy, planning and financing considerations. The Global Education Monitoring Report is introducing a new series to advance dialogue on the interrelationship of education with the other Sustainable Development Goals.The first paper in the series focuses on climate change. It starts by reviewing the growing impact of climate change on education before turning to the role of education in climate action. Education has a somewhat underappreciated contribution to developing professional capacities for the transition to a green economy. Formal, non-formal and informal learning are also commonly believed to be playing a critical role in motivating actions on climate change mitigation and adaptation.Yet a positive association between education attainment and unsustainable consumption levels, as well as inconclusiveness of much research on the direct impact of education on climate change adaptation and mitigation actions has in part contributed to education receiving low priority in global and national climate change agendas.This paper argues that climate change education needs to adapt to fulfil its potential. The education paradigm cannot rely solely on knowledge transfer but needs to focus on social and emotional, and action-oriented learning.Much of the research has focused on the impact of education attainment and cognitive learning. More research is therefore needed to assess other drivers through which education can influence behaviours and motivate climate change action. Such research is needed to formulate viable education reform packages that improve the curriculum, strengthen climate-readiness of schools and education systems, engage learners and prepare educators accordingly. 
Report on Roundtable for Advocating Global Citizenship Education and Climate Change Education Year of publication: 2023 Corporate author: APCEIU This report shares the overview of the Roundtable for Advocating Global Citizenship Education and Climate Change Education, held on Saturday, 11 November 2023. The event was co-organized by the Permanent Delegation of the Republic of Korea to UNESCO, Office for Climate Education, Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU) in partnership with the Group of Friends for Solidarity and Inclusion with GCED (Afghanistan, Armenia, Austria, Bangladesh, Canada, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Nigeria and Oman), in support of the Korean National Commission for UNESCO and the French National Commission for UNESCO. This report shares the summary of the event, particularly the presentations on GCED activities and Climate Change Education by experts from Uganda, the Republic of Korea, and France to promote the values and initiatives of GCED and CCE. 
Greening Communities Guidance: Lifelong Learning for Climate and Sustainability Action Year of publication: 2025 Corporate author: UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) | World Organization of the Scout Movement Climate change poses a serious threat to communities around the world, compelling us to protect vulnerable lives and shape resilient futures. By nurturing lifelong learning and empowering local initiatives, communities can drive transformative change – amplifying local efforts into global impact.Green communities are municipalities of any size that embrace lifelong learning to empower individuals to take meaningful climate and sustainability action. This is achieved by extending climate education beyond the classroom and offering learning opportunities in non-formal and informal settings – rooted in and responsive to local culture and context. By engaging learners of all ages across a variety of learning environments, residents of green communities are equipped to take informed, proactive and responsible action for the climate and environment, contributing to more sustainable living.The sections of this document provide an overview of the diverse learners, learning spaces and educational approaches that can contribute to greening communities. It outlines practical steps for developing a comprehensive green learning strategy and action plan that mobilizes learners of all generations in climate and sustainability efforts.Municipal governments, along with a wide range of local stakeholders and change agents in both urban and rural areas, are invited to use this guidance to foster green communities through a lifelong learning lens.Together, let’s green our communities! 
World Heritage Forests: Carbon Sinks Under Pressure Year of publication: 2021 Author: Tales Carvalho Resende | David Gibbs | Nancy Harris | Elena Osipova Corporate author: UNESCO | International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) | World Resources Institute This report provides the first global scientific assessment of greenhouse gas emissions and sequestration in forests found in UNESCO World Heritage sites.World Heritage forests, whose combined area of 69 million hectares is roughly twice the size of Germany, are some of the most biodiversity-rich habitats on Earth and play a crucial role in climate regulation by absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere. However, these forests are under increasing anthropogenic pressures, including climate change.By combining remote sensing data with site-level monitoring, this report has quantified the climate benefits of World Heritage forests for the first time, assessed the impacts on carbon of common threats to World Heritage forests and identified sites that are net carbon sources. It therefore provides information to facilitate dialogues between policymakers and local stakeholders for the development of effective solutions aimed at maintaining the continuing role of World Heritage forests as sinks and stable carbon stores for future generations. 
Getting Every School Climate-ready: How Countries are Integrating Climate Change Issues in Education Year of publication: 2021 Corporate author: UNESCO This document summarizes the findings of selected studies by UNESCO and its partners on how climate change issues are integrated in education.These findings shed light on four key questions: where do we stand on climate change education; what do teachers say; what are the examples of country good practices on climate change education; and what does inter-ministerial collaboration on education for sustainable development look like? 
Asia-Pacific Regional Synthesis: Climate Change, Displacement and the Right to Education Year of publication: 2023 Corporate author: UNESCO | United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) | UNESCO Bangkok In 2020, 30.7 million people were displaced by natural disasters – disasters which the scientific community acknowledges are more frequent and more intense as a result of climate change. In Asia and the Pacific alone, 21.3 million people were displaced, making it the region the most impacted by national disasters and climate change in the world. Therefore, country case studies were carried out in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Tuvalu, and Viet Nam to examine not only specific vulnerabilities to climate change and related mobility, but also the impacts of climate change on the right to education in Asia and the Pacific. These case studies show that climate change directly threatens education – through the destruction of schools and property – but also indirectly puts education in peril by forcing people to cross borders, ensuring neither legal residency nor the right to education. This regional synthesis report aims to guide policy-makers through providing operational policy recommendations on how to ensure education is protected in Asia and the Pacific in the face of climate change and displacement from a human rights-based approach. The report is one of four being developed and will contribute to the global initiative on climate change and displacement and the right to education – launched by UNESCO in 2020 – by informing the development of a Global Report with global policyrecommendations.How climate change impacts the right to education in Asia and the Pacific21.3million displacementstook place in Asia and the Pacific 
UNESCO Science Report: The Race Against Time for Smarter Development Year of publication: 2021 Author: Susan Schneegans | Tiffany Straza | Jake Lewis Corporate author: UNESCO This seventh edition of the report monitors the development path that countries have been following over the past five years from the perspective of science governance. It documents the rapid societal transformation under way, which offers new opportunities for social and economic experimentation but also risks exacerbating social inequalities, unless safeguards are put in place.The report concludes that countries will need to invest more in research and innovation, if they are to succeed in their dual digital and green transition. More than 30 countries have already raised their research spending since 2014, in line with their commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals. Despite this progress, eight out of ten countries still devote less than 1% of GDP to research, perpetuating their dependence on foreign technologies.