ESD to Protect Natural Resources and Improve Quality Education
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is included in the new school curricula for primary and secondary schools by the recommendation of the Plan Sectoriel de l’Education 2018-2022. Within the framework of a project entitled “Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Natural Resource Management for Integrated Community Development in National Parks of Madagascar (BIOCOM)” implemented by UNESCO Antenna Antananarivo and funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the Director General in charge of pedagogy in the Ministry of National Education coordinated to launch the curricula with the inputs from the Division of educational resources. Accordingly, the BIOCOM project supports the Ministry to implement the new school curricula for grade T1, T4 and T7.
One of the outcomes from the BIOCOM project is an increased engagement of youth and women in natural resources governance through awareness, training activities and capacity building activities.
During the workshop to develop pedagogical resources for ESD in Antsirabe, Madagascar, from 25 to 29 April 2022, Ms. Raymondine Rakotondrazaka, Principal Programme Officer at UNESCO Antenna Antananarivo, opened the event mentioning UNESCO vision: “ESD equips learners with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to make informed decisions and take responsible action towards environmental integrity, economic viability and a just society.”
During the workshop, 52 teachers and educators at the Ministry identified the values of ESD and some themes that would be integrated into the new school curricula for the three pilot classes. This workshop provided the bases of pedagogical guidelines and other resources which would be necessary to implement ESD in all schools in Madagascar.
The main objective of the BIOCOM project is to conserve the Outstanding Universal Value of the World Natural Heritage properties of Rainforests of the Atsinanana (Marojejy and Andohahela) as well as to safeguard the Montagne des Français protected area. Rainforests of the Atsinanana were inscribed as a World Natural Heritage in 2007 with its importance of maintaining ongoing ecological processes necessary for the survival of Madagascar’s unique biodiversity, which reflects the island’s geological history. However, the properties have been enlisted as a World Heritage in Danger since 2010 due to illegal logging of precious wood species (ebony and rosewood) and its secondary impacts as well as poaching of endangered lemurs, which threatens the heritage’s integrity.