Since 2003, the World Environmental Education Conference (WEEC) has brought together thousands of experts from around the world to share advances in environmental education (EE) and education for sustainable development (ESD).
IUCN CEC representatives served on WEEC's main stage as plenary speakers, panel experts and moderators, while supporting the Congress behind the scenes as rapporteurs and youth organizers. IUCN President Razan Al Mubarak gave an inspiring opening plenary on how transformative educational approaches can be tailored to address the triple planetary crisis, now and for generations to come.
As a complement to the main WEEC program, CEC leaders convened and led four design dialogue sessions exploring the role of IUCN and CEC in shaping a new era of nature-based education, the commission's focus area. .
With CEC's leadership, experts around the world are rethinking environmental education and existing educational approaches. These are being expanded and re-envisioned as a comprehensive ecosystem of approaches to nature-based education (NbE). NbE includes environmental education (first defined by IUCN), indigenous ways of knowing, climate and biodiversity education, education for sustainable development, outdoor and experiential education, mindfulness, An ecosystem of blended teaching strategies that include social-emotional learning. others. NbE extends and encompasses the Commission's past work on Education for Conservation (EfC). Rather than being a one-size-fits-all, NbE aims to function as an educational ecosystem that encompasses a variety of complementary initiatives that bring nature to the core of learning.
The Abu Dhabi Roadmap for Environmental Education and Education for Sustainable Development, which has emerged as a key outcome of Parliament, is urgently needed to increase ambition for EE and ESD by 2030. IUCN CEC is recognized as an important network for advancing the advancement of environmental education. , nature-based education, which puts nature back at the core of learning, is listed on the roadmap as essential to addressing the biodiversity loss crisis.
CEC's WEEC delegation and a series of four design dialogues were supported by WEEC's organizer and organizer, Abu Dhabi Environment Agency.
The 13th WEEC will be held in Perth, Australia in 2026.
WEEC CEC Highlights
- CEC members Jaime Zapratos Ehrenberg, Brenda Kessler, Dominic Lester and CEC Chair Sean Southey host a workshop on schoolyard greening and outdoor learning, an international movement led by CEC members. Did.
- Katalin Czippán, CEC Advisor and Co-Chair of the Nature Education Specialist Group, led a workshop on gamification in environmental education.
- Bryce Kuhn, Director of Education at IUCN member EARTHDAY.ORG, supports the importance of climate education in the future of EE and ESD and new high-level policies to deliver quality climate education to school systems. led a panel discussion on the organization's efforts to
- Kartikeya Sarabhai, Director of IUCN member CEE India, with support from Dr. Vasanthi Rao, Co-Chair of Nature Education for Sustainability at CEC, announced a new collaboration for environmental education resource sharing and partnership. Announced the South and Southeast Asia Environmental Education Network (SASEANEE), a network. Regional Vice-Chair for South and Southeast Asia;
- Katalin Chippan shared her expertise at a roundtable discussion on research on student and teacher views on sustainability and support for evidence-based sustainability education development.
- CEC Chair Shaun Southey and member Sabiesachi Bharti lead a two-hour feature workshop on environment, film and education, drawing a large audience of experts from around the world and youth participants from local schools in Abu Dhabi. I did.
- Sean Southey announced great results with partners on an ambitious environmental education program in AlUla, Saudi Arabia.
- Firas Abd al-Hadi, CEC's Natural Education for Sustainability Co-Chair and West Asia Regional Vice-Chair, discusses how environmental education can support the transition to a green economy, using the example of his country Jordan. shared. In an interview with the UAE daily Al-Etihad, Abd Al-Hadi said that through WEEC, IUCN has established links with the experience of this conference and aims to mainstream nature-based education in school curriculum and education. He explained that he aims to demonstrate the benefits of learning environment.
- CEC member Radhika Suri shined as a plenary speaker on WEEC's main stage, sharing how EE and ESD can be mainstreamed in early childhood education across India and the world.
- James Bertram, CEC member and former director of education for the Canadian Wildlife Federation and Parks Canada, will serve as expert moderator of the High-Level Panel on Professional Development for Education for Sustainable Development and Climate Education. I served.
- Diana Garlitska, CEC European Regional Vice-Chair and Co-Chair of the Youth and Intergenerational Partnerships Expert Group, along with CEC Young Expert Member President Kotoko Yadomaru, are the leaders of the energetic Youth Environmental Education Council (YEEC). Assisted WEEC organizers in facilitating the Youth Summit. The next decade of change in Japan.
- Luis Camargo, member of the CEC Steering Committee and co-chair of Nature Education Experts, will host a roundtable discussion on nature-based education networks and the transformative efforts of his organization OpEPA and other partners in Colombia. Introduced.
- CEC members celebrated World Wetlands Day 2024 with a nature walk in Abu Dhabi's Jubail Mangrove Park, followed by a guided visit to the Abu Dhabi National Aquarium by the Education and Conservation Team to learn more about the aquarium's conservation efforts in partnership with the Environment Agency. I learned. – Abu Dhabi.