Integrating the environment into school programmes by 2025

Biodiversity is often neglected in school curricula worldwide. This is one of the findings of a study, published by UNESCO, ahead of the World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development held in Berlin, Germany, in May 2021.

Called Learn for our Planet, the report examines the education plans and curricula in some fifty countries around the world. Over half of them make no reference to climate change, and only nineteen per cent mention biodiversity. In an online survey of 1,600 teachers and education officials,  a third of respondents added that environmental issues were not part of teacher training.

This is why UNESCO has set a new goal – to make environmental education an essential component of the school curriculum in all countries by 2025. The idea is to ensure that everyone,  from an early age, acquires the knowledge, skills, and values they need to make positive changes for the planet.