IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) Newsletter, December 2023

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IUCN CEC Newsletter, December 2023

Message from the Chair

I am happy to reach out to you at the close of COP28 in Dubai where IUCN’s Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) members showcased the power of climate and nature education as a conservation essential and as a pathway to progress at the nexus of the biodiversity and climate crises. CEC Members presented at numerous locations including the UNESCO Greening Education Hub, the Ukrainian and Moroccan Pavilions, the UNFCCC Innovation Hub, the IUCN Pavilion, and more.

CEC’s technical brief, Nature-based Education for Planetary Health, supports IUCN’s COP28 Position Paper and presents to the IUCN Community and to the world’s envoys how new educational approaches are taking root to restore our connection to the natural world and accelerate Nature-based solutions.

Earlier this fall, we built momentum for Nature-based Education at the GEF Assembly in Vancouver, partnering with the Canadian Wildlife Federation, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), and Earth Day to gather leaders for a season on Mainstreaming Environmental Literacy, and to convene a High Ambition Panel on Climate and Environmental Education.

November brought me to Fontainebleau, where the IUCN community gathered to celebrate its 75th anniversary. I presented the CEC’s progress and work plan to the IUCN Council, highlighting the growth of #NatureForAll, the momentum of Nature-based Education (NbE), CEC’s leadership across IUCN Commissions in youth engagement, and our Commission’s forthcoming series of 10-Step Guides on communications, greening school grounds, engaging youth in international convenings, and more.

A big congratulations to CEC Steering Committee Members Luis Camargo and Tommy Garnett whose transformative work is being recognized around the world. Below, respectively, you’ll read about.

Nature-Based Education Networks of OpEPA (Colombia) selected as one of six winner of the 2023 WISE Awards, and in Sierra Leone, the Environmental Foundation of Africa (EFA) has been recognized as one of 23 Awardees, out of 600 applications, of the 2023 Inclusive GEF Assembly Challenge Program. Another Steering Committee Member, Katalin Czippian, Strategic Advisor & Nature Education for Sustainability Co-Chair, has been elected by the UNESCO General Congress to become a board member of the International Bureau of Education.

Long-time CEC Member and IUCN Indian National Committee Member Kedar Gore received India’s prestigious 2023 Sanctuary Wildlife Service Award for his over 25 years of conservation commitment.

I will now travel to Nepal for the first ever CMS Vatavaran environmental film festival with our partners the Center for Media Studies, IUCN Nepal and many others! I will update on this exciting event in our next newsletter!

Sean Southey, CEC Chair

CEC Chair Sean Southey presenting at the Nepal-CMS VATAVARAN Film Festival and Forum on Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Action in Kathmandu, December 2023

News from the Regions

Nature-based Education Networks - OpEPA

Nature-Based Education Networks by OpEPA (Colombia), an organisation founded and led by CEC Vice Chair for South America, has been selected as one of six winners of the 2023 WISE Awards. This project is innovative, transforming urban learning communities into living classrooms, embracing natural ecosystems as spaces for immersive learning experiences through nature-based education. Since its inception in 2009, the WISE Awards have recognized and promoted 90 innovative projects, from over 150 countries, that are addressing global educational challenges.

Stavros N. Yiannouka, CEO of WISE, commented: "Nature-Based Education Networks by OpEPA is a shining example of how education can be reimagined to foster a deeper connection with the environment. This innovative project in Colombia not only educates but inspires students to become stewards of the natural world. We are excited to recognize their efforts and celebrate their success at the upcoming WISE Summit in Doha."

Luis Camargo, Director, expressed: “We are thrilled and grateful to receive the WISE Award for our project Nature Based Education Networks. This award celebrates the work of our inspiring teachers who create meaningful and engaging learning experiences for children and youth in urban environments. We believe that nature is not only a source of knowledge, but also an ally for developing skills, values, and attitudes that are essential for the future.”

Luis and OpEPA’s work on nature-based education has been recently recognized by Children and Nature Network with the 2023 Richard Louv Prize and as part of the 2022 and 2023 HundrED Global Collection of education innovations. Luis currently co-leads the IUCN CEC Nature-based education for Planetary Health initiative which will bring attention to the importance of bringing nature into the centre of learning.

IUCN Interregional Committee for Europe, North and Central Asia meeting in Armenia

One of the key motivations of IUCN Commission members is engaging with other members to learn and exchange their expertise while networking internationally. Yet, more often than not, these opportunities do not allow for the deep engagement that a subregional gathering has to offer. Thus, the work of IUCN agents of change like the IUCN Interregional Committee for Europe, North and Central Asia (ICENCA) is so important. The ICENCA was only formally approved by the IUCN Council in June 2022. This year the first ever ICENCA meeting took place in the heart of the picturesque Caucasus in Yerevan, Armenia from October 16-18, 2023. It brought together IUCN staff, members from all Commissions, IUCN member organisations and other conservation professionals for a rich set of talks, presentations and engagement opportunities. Diana Garlytska, CEC West Europe Regional Vice Chair attended the meeting and led various sessions. She says that the event allowed the attendees to network, understand the IUCN structure better and fostered collaboration among participants. Diana Garlytska is happy new members have joined the commission in her region after the ICENCA meeting and that some new projects are stemming from fresh partnerships.

We are excited to have worked with the wonderful hosts of the Festival, the Foundation for the Preservation of Wildlife and Cultural Assets, to help deepen youth engagement opportunities within the ICENCA Meeting.

#FreetownTheTreeTownCampaign selected as Inclusive GEF Assembly Challenge Winner, led by CEC Steering Committee Member

Congratulations to the Environmental Foundation for Africa (EFA) Sierra Leone Country Program, led by Mr. Tommy Stephen GARNETT, CEC Steering Committee West and Central Africa Regional Vice Chair and active CEC Member since 1996.

The EFA’s #FreetownTheTreeTownCampaign, an urban greening program for a resilient Sierra Leone, which was chosen as one of 23 Awardees out of 600 applications as part of the 2023 Inclusive GEF Assembly Challenge Program! The EFA Campaign will increase resilience in Freetown by restoring the city’s green space and vegetation cover, through partnerships with local communities. The project is committed to planting and growing one million trees, restoring 3,000 hectares of degraded land, and sequestering approximately 69,000 tonnes of CO2, all using disruptive, low-cost digital innovations for tree-tracking, while creating green jobs, especially for women and youth.

IUCN CEC partnership with SASEANEE

The South and Southeast Asia Network for Environmental Education (SASEANEE) was first launched in 1993 by Centre for Environment Education (CEE) in partnership with IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) to bring organisations and people together to share environmental education resources.

SASEANEE Connect was relaunched in 2023 at the International Conference on Sustainability Education in New Delhi. SASEANEE Connect is a collaborative consortium of partners aimed at scaling and promoting environmental literacy, skills, and sustainability across the region. SASEANEE Connect has been established through the joint efforts of leading global organisations such as CEE and core partners like Mobius Foundation, Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE), Global Environmental Education Partnership (GEEP), Earth Charter and IUCN CEC with a vision to foster education, innovation, restoration, and advocacy of green initiatives throughout South and Southeast Asia. IIUCN CEC was represented at the launch by CEC Chair Sean Southey and Dr. Cheryl Charles, CEC #NatureForAll Co-Chair.

CEC Steering Committee Member Katalin Czippán as a member of the Council of UNESCO-IBE

At the 42nd session of the General Assembly of UNESCO, held from 7 to 22 November 2023, Katalin Czippán, the strategic advisor of the IUCN CEC chair, was elected as a member of the Council of the UNESCO-IBE, the International Bureau for Education of UNESCO.

The governing body of the UNESCO-IBE is the Council, which is composed of six representatives of Member States elected by the UNESCO General Conference for a four-year term, and six other members appointed by the Director-General of UNESCO. The Council is responsible for approving the IBE's draft programme and budget for submission to the General Assembly for each two-year period and for ensuring that activities are consistent with and complementary to the strategy and programmes of the education sector.

CEC Member, Kedar Girish Gore, receives India’s prestigious 2023 Sanctuary Wildlife Service Award

The Sanctuary Wildlife Awards honour India's Earth Heroes every year. Active CEC Member, Kedar Girish Gore was recognized this year for his invaluable contributions as a conservationist, environmental educator, and strategist for nature. Looking at a tiny bird through his binoculars when he was just 10 years old opened Kedar’s eyes to the fascinating natural world, and to his future. His passion as a birdwatcher won him a Master’s in Zoology, which flowed organically into a full-time, committed involvement with India’s conservation movement in 1996. Today, with over 25 years of experience under his belt, he is a leader and a driver of conservation actions across India.

In 2009, Kedar took over as the Director of The Corbett Foundation (TCF) established by the late Dilip D. Khatau, a former Member of the National Board for Wildlife in India, and his wife Rina Khatau in 1994. The NGO is dedicated to wildlife conservation and its purpose is to involve, consult and work with local communities, whose knowledge Kedar says is vital to all conservation objectives. Kedar credits Dilip Khatau’s close oversight and shared beliefs for the ongoing success of The Corbett Foundation, and its continuing ability to walk the tightrope between nature conservation imperatives and ensuring human-wildlife coexistence.

Kedar’s nature conservation repertoire is extensive – human-wildlife interactions and mitigation, biodiversity and ecosystem protection, responsible ecotourism, sustainable livelihoods, environmental awareness, strategy planning, resource management and hard core administration. A tough, but immensely likeable leader, he has been involved with conservation issues across the Indian subcontinent, including the Terai Arc Landscape, Western Ghats, the central Indian landscape, and the Northeastern states.

Kedar’s passion, expertise and commitment is well represented by the many hats he wears. He is a member of multiple IUCN Commissions – Commission on Education and Communication (CEC), Species Survival Commission (SSC) Bustard Specialist Group and World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA).

Read more about Kedar here

Raising awareness for nature is key at Innsbruck Nature Film Festival

IUCN CEC has partnered with the Innsbruck Nature Film Festival for the last two years. CEC Regional Vice Chair for West Europe, Diana Garlytska is particularly proud of the partnership and the impact the event has had in the region. She says: “Education through art and connection to nature through cinema is transformative. A film takes us on a journey and allows us to discover the wild on the screen leaving nature intact. Isn’t that a beautiful way to explore biodiversity in a respectful way?”

The festival, held in October 2023, has gathered filmmakers, producers, activists and the public in the Austrian Alps for 22 years.

In mid-October, the Innsbruck Nature Film Festival (INFF), Austria’s premier nature and environmental film festival, invited film professionals and visitors to Innsbruck, Tyrol, for the 22nd year. Over five days, 70 new international films were screened; most of them Austrian premieres. Outside the cinema halls, up in the mountains and down in the city, two dozen Masterclasses and workshops were offered, accompanied by regional cuisine partnerships.

"How can we treat our nature and our planetary resources with care? – The language of film speaks directly to our senses, emotions and values. At the same time, experiencing a sense of community boosts our understanding, courage, and confidence“ says the Festival’s Founding Director, Johannes Kostenzer.

The festival language is English. More than 3,300 guests and visitors came together for exchange, discussion and were amazed. Oscar nominated director Christian Berger will be a guest and will premiere his "Visual Finger Exercises" in Innsbruck.

During the Innsbruck Nature Film Festival, a conference about Light Pollution and Dark Skies was held. Ruskin Hartley, the Executive Director of Dark Sky International, held a talk as other experts did, too. The Wild Women Award acknowledges female directors and filmmakers in nature and environmental film. This year German filmmaker Sönje Storm was awarded.

Furthermore, filmmakers can hope for awards in the fields of Best Film on the topic of soil, Grand Prizes of the City of Innsbruck and Best Animated Film. The INFF is politically independent and is organised by a non-profit association. Contact INFF at hello@inff.eu to learn more.

CEC Youth member in China Promotes Youth Conservation Education through Public Welfare and Art Activity

Dongman Li, a member of IUCN CEC, organised a charity art exhibition promoting youth conservation education. Around 300 paintings from nearly 1,000 collected on subjects including biodiversity, water resource protection, clean energy, etc. were exhibited at Beijing in August 2023.

On August 19, sponsored by China Charities Aid Foundation for Children, "Green Sustainable, Childlike Creativity - the Second Youth Volunteer Service Art Exhibition" was opened in Beijing. A member of IUCN CEC Dongman Li is one of the organisers of the art exhibition.

The exhibition encourages young people to convey their understanding of Sustainable Development Goals issues through art and creativity, including biodiversity, sustainable cities, clean water and sanitation, affordable clean energy and so on. More than 1,000 paintings were collected from all over China and nearly 300 were exhibited, including paintings by SOS Children's Village in China and the Yi children in Liangshan, Sichuan province. In addition, there were kindergarten children giving an environmental fashion show using clothes made from waste recycling and lectures on insects and fossils given by teenagers. Young people are using their ways to call for environmental protection and sustainable development.

Meanwhile, at the opening ceremony, Dongman delivered a speech encouraging contemporary teenagers to care more about the planet and the living system and start to view themselves as problem-solvers for world issues so as to take further responsibility for shaping a better world. The effect was very good, many experts and audiences were shocked by young people's knowledge reserve and cognition of environmental knowledge. Through this activity, the international vision and responsibility of youth are effectively cultivated. For more information, contact CEC Member Dongman Li.

#NatureForAll

Share your #NatureLoveStory

Everyone experiences nature differently, and everyone has a unique story to tell about their connection to nature. Thousands around the world have joined the movement to share their #NatureLoveStory!

#NatureForAll is gathering, sharing, and celebrating stories from around the world about love of nature and how that love inspires us to conserve nature! This will lead into the #NatureForAll Love Fest, which will take place in February 2024. The Love Fest will encompass several sessions and events, featuring some of the most inspiring content received throughout the year.

Use the resources available on this Trello board to take part in the campaign, share your story and encourage others to share their love of nature. If you’d like to find out more, contact info@natureforall.global.

Nature Education for Sustainability

Nature-based Education at the GEF Assembly in Vancouver

The IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) is proud to have partnered with the Canadian Wildlife Federation, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), and Earth Day to hold two events in late August in Vancouver during the GEF Assembly. The first event, Mainstreaming Environmental Literacy, aimed to deepen our collective understanding of the challenges and opportunities in promoting a more comprehensive, systematic and holistic approach to education from the national and international perspective. Working across countries and organisations, and encompassing both climate and environmental education, the sessions utilised panels, table and group discussions, and good practice presentations, to shed light on new opportunities that exist to urgently scale a reimagined approach to education that leverages the new Global Biodiversity Framework and the increased interest in education as a whole of society solution from many stakeholders worldwide.

The second event, the High Ambition Panel on Climate and Environmental Education, comprised two panels with David Cooper (CBD); Grethel Aguilar (IUCN); Michael Zinck (ECCC), Rick Bates (IUCN Council Member/CEO CWF), Melina Sakiyama (GYBN) Sean Southey (IUCN CEC) Kathleen Rogers (Earth Day), Derrick Mugisha (Earth Day) James Bartram (IUCN CEC), Breanna Ridsdel (GPE), Laura Frigenti (World Bank), Jonathan Dewsbury (UK DfE).

These panels explored how we can collectively work together to articulate and realise global climate and biodiversity objectives through environmental education. Participants reflected on the significance of education in mitigating social crises, climate change, and biodiversity loss. Participants stressed the need to build global collaborative partnerships that can work in partnership with both formal and non-formal education systems, to help optimise collective investment and best practices.

Nature-based Education for Planetary Health: CEC’s Technical Brief IUCN’s COP28 Position Paper

With leadership from the CEC, global experts are re-envisioning environmental education. We are working together to explore what we are calling “Nature-based Education” (NbE). NbE potentially offers a more holistic approach to learning that helps people, especially children, connect deeply with and learn about nature. NbE acts as an ecosystem of blended educational strategies bringing nature to the centre of learning and encompassing traditional environmental education, indigenous ways of knowing, climate and biodiversity education, education for sustainable development, outdoor and experiential education, place-based education, mindfulness, and socio-emotional learning.

The CEC was invited to submit a technical brief on Nature-based Education to support IUCN’s COP28 Position Paper. The technical brief, Nature-based Education for Planetary Health, provides context and rationale for the importance of climate and nature-based education in addressing the interlinked climate and biodiversity crises, and proposes Nature-based Education approaches for implementation of the KM-GBF and the Paris Agreement.

Read the full series of COP28 technical briefs prepared by IUCN’s Commissions. This is only the beginning – the CEC continues to advance Nature-based Education at COP028, at the World Environmental Education Congress, and in the lead up to the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Abu Dhabi in 2025. To learn more, share your ideas, and get involved, please contact NatureBasedEducation@opepa.org.

Youth and Intergenerational Partnerships

Invitation for input on new CEC Guide

Youth engagement is central to the mandate of the CEC and of the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), and youth voices are vital at convenings of leaders and policymakers.

Building on the momentum of the #NatureForAll movement, CEC and WCPA experts have been supporting the design and facilitation of Youth Dialogue Spaces - or Youth Oases - at major convenings around the world in recent years. After over 15 successful Youth Oases, experts have come together to share best practices and bring together common design features of successful youth dialogue spaces.

The culmination of this knowledge is a 10-Step Guide to Creating a Youth Dialogue Space at Your Event.

The Guide, to be published in early 2024, will be a resource for NGOs and governments alike, providing templates and design guidelines, best practices, testimonials, and event ideas. Building on existing resources and experiences, the Guide consolidates practical steps and tools to support the design and launch of impactful Youth Oases within larger events, conferences, and forums.

The draft of the 10-Step Guide to Creating a Youth Dialogue Space at Your Event is currently being circulated for input. The CEC Youth and Intergenerational Partnerships Specialist Group would greatly value input from other CEC Members on this document. Please feel free to consult the draft and email your input and comments to cec@iucn.org through January 1, 2024.

A New Task Force: IUCN SSC CEC Behaviour Change

Considering the critical role of human behaviour and decision-making in driving the unprecedented rate of species extinction we are witnessing today, the IUCN through its Species Survival Commission (SSC) and Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) created the inter-commission IUCN SSC CEC Behaviour Change Task Force. The Task Force will focus on distilling multidisciplinary evidence and providing specialist knowledge. It will produce a series of pioneering guidance materials to disseminate best practices in the field of behaviour change towards biodiversity conservation.

Learn more about the Task Force, and join the IUCN Commissions to participate and share your expertise.

Calling all Members!

New Video Supports Recruitment for IUCN Commissions

The CEC collaborated with the IUCN Secretariat and 6 other IUCN Commissions to produce a new video to inform the public about IUCN and the work of the Commission, and to inspire new Commission members. You can watch and download the first three language versions here: English, French and Spanish.

We need your help! We want to share this video in as many languages as possible. We have many language versions already being done and you can find out what languages are currently being produced here. Can you help translate the video text into a language you speak? If you want to help, please write to cec@iucn.org and let us know what language you’d like to contribute. All translators will be recognized on the IUCN webpage. Let’s work together to show how diverse our Union is! Share this video across media and audiences!

Commission Membership Experience Survey

IUCN Commissions are committed to improving our interaction and engagement with you, our members. To help inform how Commissions work, we urge you to please take part in the first of an annual member experience survey. Your valuable input will be used to improve and plan future Commission membership initiatives. The survey takes about ten minutes to complete the survey, and your valuable input will be used to improve and plan our future work to better support Commissions. Please note that your responses will be kept strictly confidential, combined with the rest of the respondents’, and will be reported as a group. Please find the survey here.

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