High-Level Event: Uniting for Climate Education - Further, Faster, Together through
Partnerships
High-Level Event: Uniting for Climate Education - Further, Faster, Together
through Partnerships
16 November 2017 from 11:30 to 13:00 in Meeting Room 6, Bonn Zone
This event brought together environment and education ministers and international organizations to discuss
how education and global partnerships can enhance the implementation of the climate agenda and INDCs.
Background: Education is the red thread tying together the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development and climate change action. The critical role of education in climate change had been given the
stamp of approval at the Paris climate conference COP21. When delegates from 195 countries had come
together to draft the Paris Climate Change Agreement, Article 12 on education was the first to be agreed
upon. It states that: “Parties shall cooperate in taking measures, as appropriate, to enhance climate
change education, training, public awareness, public participation and public access to information,
recognizing the importance of these steps with respect to enhancing actions under this
Agreement.”
There is growing understanding that education is not an “add on” but an integral part of any
strategy to combat climate change and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Thus, the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Climate Change Agreement function as a single blueprint
for humanity and the planet. The 2030 Agenda provides eloquent proof of this. For the first time ever, a
single internationally-agreed upon goal exists that makes specific reference to Education for Sustainable
Development (Target 4.7 of SDG4). This goal not only focuses on getting all children in to school, but on
what they learn once they are there - on skills, on competencies for citizenship and sustainable
development.
Other SDGs contain a number of education-related targets and indicators demonstrating, again, that
education is the key for a green future. These goals call for no less than a profound reorienting of
education systems; being a global citizen is to be aware of our interdependence, understand the impact of
our actions on people and climate, and, crucially, know how to develop sustainable solutions. Yet despite
growing public awareness, less than 40 per cent of countries surveyed by the UNESCO Global Education
Monitoring Report include mention of climate change in curricula. This cannot go on. Education
systems have to prepare learners for the challenges climate change poses to our societies and economies and
equip people everywhere with the knowledge and competencies to engage as informed citizens in shaping green
societies.
Objectives: Promote the role of education as a key driver in the implementation of the
Paris Climate Change Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Organizers: Building on the successful mobilization during Education Day at COP 21 and COP
22, the COP 23 Presidency, in partnership with UNFCCC, UNESCO, the UN Alliance on Climate Change,
Education, Training and Public Awareness, and the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection,
hosted this high-level event. They came together to discuss the key role that education and partnerships
play in combating climate change to enhance the implementation of the Paris Agreement and Sustainable
Development Goals.
Agenda (278 kB)
Agenda of the High-Level Event on Climate Education
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High-Level Event: Uniting for Climate Education - Faster, Further, Together through
Partnerships
16 November 2017 from 11:30 to 13:00
Meeting Room 6, Bonn Zone
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Moderator: Mr. Nick Nuttall, UNFCCC Spokesperson and Director of the Communication
and Outreach Programme
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11:30-11:35
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Students' climate change performance
- Bonn Climate Ambassadors, Laurentius School, Bonn
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11:35-11:40
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Messages from children
- Zuriel Oduwole, UNFCCC Climate Neutral Now Champion
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11:35-11:40
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Opening remarks
- Ms. Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of UNFCCC
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11:40-11:45
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Welcoming remarks
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Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa of Morocco, President, Mohammed VI Foundation for
Environmental Protection
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11:45-11:50
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Signing of the Partnership Agreement between UNFCCC and the Mohammend VI Foundation for
Environmental Protection in the presence of the Princess
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11:50-12:40
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Panel discussion: "Enhancing the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the
Sustainable Development Goals through partnerships
- Hon. Dr. Gale Tracy Christiane Rigobert, Minister of Education, Innovation, Gender Relations
and Sustainable Development, Saint Lucia
- Mr. Francesco La Camera, Ministry of Environement, Land and Sea, Italy
- Mr. Shyamal Majumdar, Head of the UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre for Technical and
Vocational Education and Training
- COP 23 Presidency
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12:40-13:00
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Question and Answer Session
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