June 5, 2023

Environmental emergency and the need for an Education for Sustainable Development

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Email

In 1972, the United Nations designated June 5th as World Environment Day (WED) on the occasion of the first major conference on environmental issues, known as the Conference on the Human Environment, or the Stockholm Conference.

The aim was to highlight that the protection and health of the environment is a major issue which affects the well-being of peoples and economic development throughout the world. 

Since then, WED has developed as a platform to raise awareness on the problems facing our environment such as air pollution, plastic pollution, illegal wildlife trade, sustainable consumption, sea-level increase, and food security, among others. Furthermore, WED helps drive change in consumption patterns and in national and international environmental policy.

The environmental and social emergency makes necessary the transition to new models of sustainable development. Both the UN Agenda 2030 and the new generation of EU policies drive in this direction.

Education is pivotal for new generations and future leaders, highlighting the need for updated education modules and models, providing connections between the educational offer and the current environmental and social phenomena, increasing contamination between fields and engaging a wide-range of stakeholders from academia, the private sector, public agencies and more.

UNIMED is engaged in many initiatives and projects featuring Universities and other local, regional and international actors to contribute and to help the shift towards an Education for Sustainable Development according to the UNESCO principles.

You can have a look at this page to find out these initiatives and here you can discover more about the UNIMED SubNetwork on Climate and Environmental Change

This year, the World Environment Day is hosted by Côte d’Ivoire and will focus on solutions to plastic pollution, using the hashtag and slogan #BeatPlasticPollution.

To know more about WED 2023, have a look at the official website here, where you can also register your event or activity and share it with the world!