Prioritising climate-resilient education builds a sustainable future for all by Anja Nielsen

 

The Commonwealth is at the height of its Year of Youth. This is an inspiring opportunity that is seeing young people from across the network energise, engage, empower, and envision a secure, fair, and sustainable future for all. This future is one that must be built with, by, and for young people. Key to this is action in two areas that undoubtedly – and primarily – affect young people: climate change and education.

Climate-resilient education covers both these factors, ensuring education systems are prepared for the impacts of climate change while delivering an education that promotes and teaches the skills young people need in a changing world. Climate change has consequences for what happens both in and to education systems. The Commonwealth family must act on both fronts to deliver a better future for the 1.5 billion young people who call it home.

Why climate-resilient education matters in the Commonwealth

In the Commonwealth over 730 million children under 18 live in countries at extremely high risk of the impacts of climate change.[1]

For every one of these children, and for many more around the network, the consequences of climate change could disrupt their learning – or even spell the end of their education altogether. Climate change-related destruction, damage, disasters, and displacement can all cause children to leave their learning behind.

At the same time, education has huge potential to change children’s futures and the future of the planet itself. Improving educational outcomes could reduce climate risks considerably for 275 million children globally.

Quality foundational learning helps children to gain the basic skills they need to stay in education and to develop the further and higher skills they need for employment. This includes green skills – which estimates suggest only one in eight workers have, despite growing global demand.

But education, particularly when school-based, offers more than education alone. Schools are often hubs for services, with children receiving mental health support, nutrition, and other health interventions in and through their education setting.

These interventions are not only important for learning but have a significant return on investment. For instance, a recent report from UNICEF indicates that for every dollar invested in social and emotional learning in crises, $225 of lifetime earning loss is averted.

The Commonwealth as a leading voice in the climate education space

Already, stakeholders from across the Commonwealth are recognising and delivering on climate-resilient education.

In Bangladesh, for instance, the National Adaptation Plan (2023-2050) includes an adaptation intervention on building climate-resilient education infrastructure to reduce the risk to education during disasters. These interventions include floating or boat schools and home-based learning solutions.

In Antigua and Barbuda, following the devastating consequences of Hurricane Irma in 2017 (which destroyed 95% of Barbuda’s structures), all Barbudan students were integrated into schools on the island of Antigua.

And in Samoa, the national Climate Change Policy (released in 2020) includes a standalone objective on promoting and implementing ‘effective awareness, education and advocacy activities on climate change issues’, as well as the integration of education into its objective on climate change mainstreaming across sectors. The Ministry of Education, Science, and Culture has already delivered an education programme on nature and climate change which covers both western and traditional knowledge and practice, and continues to develop other relevant resources.

These are just some of the countless examples of how the Commonwealth is – and can continue to be – leading the way on climate-resilient education.

Acting on our promises, for now and for the future

While the Commonwealth and its expertise are vast, the network is close. This connection makes the Commonwealth a prime place to bring together the climate change and education agendas to drive change for children and deliver on the promise of a secure, fair, and sustainable future.

The coming months offer two key moments to bring together these important agendas: COP28 and the Global Refugee Forum. At these fora, the Commonwealth can elevate the challenges and solutions for climate-resilient education.

Looking to 2024, Samoa’s leadership of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), with its focus on resilience, will be a key moment to set out a clear agenda to deliver a sustainable future in and through education.

The next Commonwealth Education Ministers Action Group (EMAG) meeting and the Education World Forum in London in May and COP29 later in the year are further opportunities for commitment and follow-up.

Call to Action

My clarion call to action, however, is this: the Commonwealth must continue to collaborate, connect, and drive forward this integrated agenda between and beyond global events.

Bringing together Environmental and Education Ministers, alongside other relevant Ministries, experts, youth, and organisations, on a regular basis should be a priority. The outcomes of these connections should be clear, evidence- and experience-driven policy solutions and programmes to future-proof the Commonwealth education space.

Commonwealth Education Partners have a clear role to play in helping to facilitate these connections and support and monitor the implementation of outcomes. Success is dependent on all partners, coming together to drive and deliver climate-resilient education.

The Year of Youth is demonstrating the immense energy, knowledge, and power within the youth of the Commonwealth. To deliver on this potential, the Commonwealth must prioritise climate-resilient education, for now and for the future.

 

[1] Author’s calculations based on UNICEF data on population (https://data.unicef.org/) and UNICEF’s Children’s Climate Risk Index (https://www.unicef.org/reports/climate-crisis-child-rights-crisis). Countries considered high-risk are those scoring over 7 in the index. Children are considered under age 18.

 

 

 

Anja Nielsen is an independent Education, Child Rights and Sustainability Policy Advocacy Consultant. She is a trustee of CEC, the Council for Education in the Commonwealth, where she leads the organisation’s climate-resilient education work.

She is the co-author of several reports, including Futures at Risk: Protecting the Rights of Children on the Move in a Changing Climate and has worked with and for a number of organisations including Sustainability at School, UNICEF, and The Royal Commonwealth Society.