First Nation Student Success Program

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002111/211136E.pdf

An issues guide for education planners and practitioners - Climate Change Starter’s Guidebook

This guidebook is a collective effort of colleagues from UNEP, UNESCO, WHO, and others who drafted thematic sections in their areas of expertise. UNEP and UNESCO gratefully acknowledge the time and effort of the authors:

Alejandro Deeb, Amber French, Julia Heiss, Jason Jabbour, Dominique LaRochelle, Arkadiy Levintanus, Anna Kontorov, Rummukainen Markku, Gerardo Sanchez Martinez, Rosalyn McKeown, Nicolay Paus, Antoine Pecoud, Guillaume Pénisson, Daniel Puig, Vanessa Retana, Serban Scrieciu, Morgan Strecker, Vimonmas Vachatimanont, Benjamin Witte, Noriko Yamada.

Published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France
and the United Nations Environment Programme
15 rue de Milan, 75441 Paris CEDEX 09, France.

© UNESCO/UNEP 2011
All rights reserved
ISBN 978-92-3-101001-9

Foreword

Few issues over the past two decades have brought with them as many challenges as that of climate change. From shifting weather patterns that threaten food production, to rising sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, the impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in scale.

While climate change is global, its negative impacts are more severely felt by poor people and poor countries. Without drastic action today, adapting to these impacts in the future will be more difficult and costly, undermine national development efforts and hinder progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.

With the greater awareness about the unfolding impact of climate change on our countries and communities, citizens and politicians are turning to the education community as part of the response to climate change.

Teachers and education planners are increasingly being called upon to include climate change in their programmes in order to help inform the next generations and to better equip them to respond to the climate-related challenges ahead. However, teaching climate change in an interdisciplinary manner poses challenges to educators. Teachers are called upon to understand the complex emerging science and to communicate it to the next generations.

+++++++++

This guidebook is intended to support educators in developing their understanding of the science of climate change, observed and anticipated impacts, and different possible responses. The guidebook also covers the impacts on society, as well as political and educational responses to climate change.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) provides its expertise and know-how in areas such as education, culture, and the social sciences. In particular, UNESCO emphasises the role of education in support of climate change adaptation and mitigation in providing skills and capacities but also through shaping the values, attitudes and behaviours needed to put the world on a more sustainable path.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) works with countries to strengthen their ability to adapt to climate change, move towards low-carbon growth, reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, improve understanding of climate science, and raise public awareness of the changing climate. UNEP is supporting countries to seize the opportunities of moving towards low-carbon growth, while improving human health and well-being, generating green jobs and moving towards a green economy.

With this publication, the two organizations have embarked on a collaboration on climate change education that we are committed to building upon and expanding in the period ahead.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword 2
Guidebook Overview 4

Chapter 1 - The Science of Climate Change 5

1.1 What is ‘Climate’? 7
1.2 What causes Climate Change? 8
1.3 What has changed so far? 13

Chapter 2 - Society and Climate Change 18

2.1 Migration - Undermining development and uprooting people? 20
2.2 Poverty - Why are the world’s poorest the most vulnerable? 25
2.3 Health - Will climate change make you sick? 29
2.4 Gender - Are men and women equally affected? 31
2.5 Ethics - Who is responsible, and for what? 34

Chapter 3 - Responding to Climate Change 38

3.1 Mitigation and Adaptation - A two-pronged approach 40
3.2 Mitigation - Ways to reduce GHGs 41
3.3 Mitigation - Policy options to promote reduction 42
3.4 Adaptation - Facing a new reality 45
3.5 The Economy and Economics - Part of the problem and solution 48
3.6 International Responses - Policies at the global level 51

Chapter 4 - Education and Climate Change 54

4.1 Education for Sustainable Development - Taking climate change education beyond science 55
4.2 Education for Mitigation - Changing behaviour for the common good 58
4.3 Education for Adaptation - Learning to deal with local changes 60
4.4 Education for Disaster Risk Reduction - Preparing for the worst 62

Glossary of Terms Used 67

Guidebook Overview

The Climate Change Starter’s Guide provides an introduction and overview for education planners and practitioners on the wide range of issues relating to climate change and climate change education,  including causes, impacts, mitigation and adaptation strategies, as well as some broad political and economic principles.

The aim of this guide is to serve as a starting point for mainstreaming climate change education into school curricula. It has been created to enable education planners and practitioners to understand the issues at hand, to review and analyse their relevance to particular national and local contexts, and to facilitate the development of education policies, curricula, programmes and lesson plans.

The guide covers four major thematic areas:

1. the science of climate change, which explains the causes and observed changes;
2. the social and human aspects of climate change including gender, health, migration, poverty and ethics;
3. policy responses to climate change including measures for mitigation and adaptation; and
4. education approaches including education for sustainable development, disaster reduction and sustainable lifestyles.

A selection of key resources in the form of publication titles or websites for further reading is provided after each of the thematic sections.