Green Academies

The academies are physical infrastructures which promote practical and replicable environmental sustainability inside educational-premises. The Academies focus on youth education on the importance of ecosystem services and how to adapt to change. They will be set up in schools, colleges or universities.

UNESCO Green Academies are based on four pillars of sustainable development – Water Security, Recycling, Clean Energy and Biomass Production. The Academy is built upon the foundation of youth engagement, to encourage active participation in achieving a sustainable way of life and promoting this more widely in their communities. The impact of this will be specifically to youth and community education as well as reducing the environmental footprint of these buildings.

A lack of resources and a lack of practical knowledge in how to implement sustainable practices are often a constraint to environmental sustainability in schools. The Academy is centred on youth education, with the belief that sustainable practices can permeate from the youth to families and to wider communities.

Information

About

Closing the gap between classroom teaching and real life

In 2019, global youth powerfully expressed their concerns that not enough was being done to keep the planet’s ecosystems in balance. Those voices have been heard, plain and simple.

 

Environmental science is taught in schools using theory and laboratory sessions. This approach leaves a gap between school work and real life. In UNESCO Green Academies, students experience practical action and learn how they can contribute to improving their own living conditions. The first UNESCO Green Academy was inaugurated in 2016 in Ethiopia. Since then, UNESCO has put even more effort into environmental education.

 

The Green Academies focus on practical and replicable action. The intersectoral initiative touches on biodiversity, climate, water and capacity augmentation via education for sustainable development. The Green Academies are simply arranged with a mix of puzzle pieces that, when put together logically, will provide climate resilience based on science and education. The initiative benefits from a multiplier effect by providing training and communicating knowledge from schools to communities, so that large numbers of people will learn and apply their new skills. We encourage all schools to modify their buildings and premises as Green Academies.

 

Climate change is real and climate resilience is a global issue that needs local communities’ involvement. Recently youth worldwide visibly demonstrated to governments and the United Nations the urgent need to do more on climate change in order to protect their future. It is time to take action based on the scientific knowledge that is currently available. UNESCO Green Academies will provide environmental knowledge and climate-resilience skills to achieve this goal.

 

UNESCO Green Academies engage young people and their communities to transform existing buildings, for example schools, into climate-resilient structures, equipped with simple, affordable and replicable changes.

 

Green Academies foster active youth participation to achieve a sustainable lifestyle in their schools feeding back into their communities. Students will be empowered to identify their specific needs, focusing on four pillars: Water security, Clean energy, Biomass production and Waste management. Students, together with their teachers, will develop and implement their own “Sustainability Plan”.

 

The Natural Sciences Unit at UNESCO Bangkok promotes UNESCO Green Academies in Asia-Pacific. Our prime focus is on schools located in cities as well as in UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in the following countries: Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. We also suggest the UNESCO Associated School Network (ASPnet) make use of these guidelines. Since climate change is a global issue, any educational institution (kindergartens, schools, colleges and universities) and other buildings worldwide can be retrofitted as prescribed in these guidelines to enhance their climate, biodiversity, water and waste footprints. These guidelines are globally applicable. As a matter of fact, the Natural Sciences Specialists in several UNESCO field offices, including Bangkok, Beijing, Brasilia, Cairo, Jakarta, Kingston, Nairobi, New Delhi, San José, and Venice have started a discussion on ‘UNESCO Green Academies’ as an inter-regional activity in support of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves, and using the momentum of the ‘Open Sciences’ to foster the involvement of the youth and the general public.

 

Eventually, every Visitors Education and Interpretation Centre of UNESCO sites, and as many schools as possible should embrace the guidelines, or parts of it, of the UNESCO Green Academy concept.

Blog

Bangkok To Addis To Zurich

2021-04-07

UNESCO Green Academies around the World 12:15pm in Zurich, 18:15pm in Bangkok, the interview begins....

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Green Academies teaching skills for our survival on a planet in crisis

2020-12-08

Deprived of air for three minutes, water for three days or food for three weeks,...

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Closing the gap between classroom teaching and real life

2020-07-15

In 2019, global youth powerfully expressed their concerns that not enough was being done to...

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Media Library

Videos

Videos

Play Video

World Science Day 2020 – Watch the full event

Play Video

A Word of Respect for Nature – Charlie Winston

Play Video

Hearth – Andrew Amatavivadhana

Presentations

World Water Day 2021, Bangkok, March 2021

Valuing Water for Enhanced Water Security | Mukand S. Babel
Water issuses in Thailand and Mekong Countries | Sucharit Koontanakulvong

World Science Day 2020, Bangkok, November 2020

Celebrating World Science Day for Peace and Development in Asia and the Pacific Region | Shahbaz Khan
Green Academy Africa - A key to more Sustainable Cities | Felix Matschie
World Science Day for Peace and Development 2020: Science for and with society | Benno Böer
UNESCO Green Academies | Benno Böer
SEAMEO UNESCO Collaboration: Southeast Asian Versions of Green Academies | Dr Ethel Agnes P Valenzuela
How to develop methods for convenient and more sustainable packaging? | Supawadee Theerathammakorn
Kids to forests | Illias Animon
Greening STOU | Supawadee Theerathammakorn
Publications
UNESCO Green Academies - Guidelines for Climate-Resilient Schools
UNESCO Green Academies - from rhetoric to action
Better Buildings - enhanced water-, energy-, and waste-management in Arab urban ecosystems - globally applicable
Great Taste No Waste recipes eBook
Sayings on Nature from Different Religions
Pathways to Green India: Innovative Ideas from Students, Volume I
Pathways to Green India: Innovative Ideas for Public Spaces, Volume II
Pathways to Green India - Ways to Protect Our Species, Volume III
Restore Our Earth: Rejuvenating Water
Climate Literacy: Beyond the Written Word
Pathways to Green Cities: Innovative Ideas from Urban India, Volume I
Pathways to Green Cities: Innovative Ideas from Urban India, Volume II
Founding Members & Support