Europe and North America
Dalhousie University College of Sustainability, Canada
The College of Sustainability at Dalhousie University provides an interdisciplinary forum for collaborative teaching and learning to address global sustainability issues. The College is unique in Canada, offering an approach to sustainability issues that cuts across disciplinary boundaries and provides a common place at the centre of the community for the study of sustainability. Experiential learning is built into the curriculum, and students have multiple opportunities to work with community stakeholders on current sustainability problems.
- © Memo'Risks
Memo’Risks, France in combination with World Disaster Reduction Campaign “Disaster Risk Reduction Begins at School”, International and Digital database on disaster risk reduction education materials, International
Memo’Risks teaches a local and practical disaster reduction education.“Memo’Risks” associates the city and the educational institution in a global project for communication upon major risks.Based upon a true partnership, the project couples risk education among the children with risk awareness among the population.The method applies to natural and technological risks, and is adaptable to any territory and any language.Besides this main target, “Memo’Risks” raises adult awareness and leads the school to take all necessary preparation to face crisis.Finally, it gives the kids an opportunity to take part in public life and encourages authorities to lead more efficiently their mission of spreading preventive information to the inhabitants.This project concerns children of 11 years old and older, attending general, technical and agricultural schools. The youngest may be associated in illustrating the pole led by their elders. Initiated in 2004, «Memo’Risks» is mainly developed on the Loire catchment basin (flooding & nuclear risks) and in the French PACA & Caribbean Regions (hurricane & seismic risks/flash flooding).
- © German Commission for UNESCO
Fostering good ESD practice through awarding the status of Official German Project for the UN Decade ESD, Germany
The German National Committee, which is the central steering body for the UN Decade ESD in Germany, awards the status of Official German Project of the UN Decade ESD to successful and innovative projects in order to highlight and encourage good practice. The main aims of this are to raise the visibility of successful ESD projects, to foster innovative approaches, to promote an integrative vision of ESD and to give recognition to practitioners in the field. The scheme is carried out in several successive steps from application to awarding along clearly defined criteria. As of October 2008, more than 700 projects have been recognized. The range of institutions that carry out Decade Projects reflects the diversity of ESD: kindergartens, schools, universities, vocational and further training institutions, ministries, non-governmental organizations, businesses. The broad thematic spectrum of ESD is represented as well: there are projects with an emphasis on environmental education, on consumer education, on development education, projects that link cultural education and sustainable development, etc.. A particularly important aspect of the scheme is the stipulation that the projects subscribe to a complex and multidimensional concept of ESD. That is, for example, purely environmental projects that do not also consider some other dimension of sustainable development cannot be recognized.
ISE: Building the capacity for international partnership, Latvia and international
The aim of the project is to reorient education in general and teacher education in particular, towards sustainability. Research shall help to develop a methodological basis for sustainable development in education. In order to achieve these goals the ISE designs study programs for BA, MA and doctoral degrees in Education integrating Sustainable Development. Furthermore, two volumes of the Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability are issued which are conceived to disseminate the idea of ESD. To facilitate networking Annual Conferences on “Sustainable Development. Culture. Education.” are held in different European countries. These conferences form part of a broader European networking strategy which also includes participation in European projects such as ERASMUS, COMENIUS or the Baltic and Black Sea Circle Consortium.
- © Co2nnect
CO2nnect – CO2 on the way to school, Norway and international
Co2nnect is an international ESD school campaign to be held from March, 16 to 29, 2009. It is about engaging schools in an internationally coordinated, internet-based activity in which schools, researchers and local decision-makers cooperate on the topic of CO2 emissions from local transport. The aim is to engage a large number of schools, pupils, parents and communities in Europe to work with sustainable development in the field of climate and transportation. To this end ICT based tools including guidelines, links and a CO2 transport emissions calculator will be provided. During the campaign CO2-emissions on the way to school will be registered in a shared database and analyzed using tools on the campaign website. In a second step reflections on the local transport system, its impact and room for improvement shall be undertaken. Finally, dialogue and debate with local decision makers about the situation of local transport shall be initiated.
