LIFE & Environmental education The EU LIFE Programme The LIFE Programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment. Since 1992 it has co-financed pilot and demonstration projects that contribute to the implementation and development of EU environment policy and legislation. Of the 4 171 projects supported by LIFE to date, 207 have organised specific educative activities and developed material for environmental education, targeting schoolchildren, young people, teachers and/or families; many of them are Nature and Biodiveristy projects. The launch of the LIFE Information and Communication strand in 2007 has increased opportunities for awareness-raising campaigns and knowledge-sharing projects. Many of these have developed interesting and creative tools of pedagogic interest, in addition to targeting the wider public. Projects have highlighted actions people can take in their everyday lives to save water and energy, prevent and reduce waste and help tackle biodiversity loss and climate change. Two of the most successful projects are profiled below, followed by a list of 14 other notable projects. For further details about LIFE projects on this topic, visit: ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/ using “environmental education” as a Keyword; find tools and interesting documents in the Read More” section, or by searching with “pedagogical tools” within the e-library: ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/. Title: COM-U - Communicating environmental actions to children and youth Project number: LIFE07 INF/S/000901 Contact: Ingela BERGGREN Email: ingela.berggren@hsr.se Website: www.hsr.se
Title: Eco-Animation - A cutting edge cartoon to raise awareness on climate change and sustainable use of natural resources among European children Project number: LIFE07 INF/UK/000950 Contact: Luigi PETITO Email: luigi@bs-europa.eu Website: www.animate-eu.com/eco
COM-U
Eco-Animation
COM-U made an important contribution to improving teaching in Sweden about environmental issues and EU environmental policy. It promoted a more balanced and practical view of the challenges and possible actions to be taken to address them, focusing on how to integrate environmental issues into school curricula. It developed training material and organised training for 29 000 teachers and other school staff.
The Eco-Animation project aimed to produce a cartoon to encourage European children aged 5-8 to engage with simple environmental actions. It wanted to find out which messages worked best with this target group, directly engage with them through a medium they would enjoy and indirectly reach their parents and teachers. The innovative edutainment format of the cartoon would teach the children that small actions can improve quality of life and the future of the planet.
The project also reached more than 600 stakeholders (mainly comprising municipal school administrations, teachers’ organisations and environmental interest groups) and set up a nationwide network of coordinators to support this work and to promote the issues beyond the project. The project contributed to 1 200 schools and pre-schools joining the Swedish Eco-Schools programme, which is run independently of the LIFE project by the beneficiary. The results of the project have been made available to a large number of stakeholders and will also be used to promote the Green Flag environmental certification system. The project website is also a popular means of spreading the message and contains the teaching and information materials produced by the project. The beneficiary estimates that nearly 350 000 schoolchildren were reached by the project’s actions and are now better informed and educated about issues related to EU environmental policy. It is hoped that this increased knowledge and awareness will lead to long-term environmental benefits.
The right kind of communication is crucial to the success of this idea. Children need a greater understanding of important topics, such as where their energy comes from, why species are in danger of extinction and why water is scarce, before they can be motivated to become more environmentally friendly. Most importantly they need to be shown how their actions can have a positive effect on the environment and what advantages this will have for them. The challenge is how to communicate the complex but pressing issues to children, when they are often too complicated and just too gigantic for young people to identify with, or to understand. “My Friend Boo” is about a magic dog who uses a magic carousel to take his friends Lucy, Ben and Jaq on adventures to show them the consequences of pollution, water shortage and waste. The cartoon successfully brought the messages to millions of children, parents and teachers across the EU. At the end of the project broadcasting deals were secured in 19 countries, in 17 languages.
Environment
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SELECTIVE LIST – PROJECTS ON ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CLIMATE CHANGE
NATURE
CHANGING THE CHANGE
Thalassa
LIFE+campaign ‘Changing the change’. The Galician agriculture and forest sector facing climate change Coordinator: Unions Agrarias - UPA
Thalassa Campaign: Learn, Act, Protect/Awareness, Educational and Participation Campaign for Marine Mammals in Greece
www.unionsagrarias.org/ life+cambiarocambio/
www.thalassa-project.gr
LIFE07 INF/E/000852
Coordinator: MOm/Hellenic Society for the Study & Protection of the Monk Seal LIFE09 INF/GR/000320
Netze des Lebens
CCCRP Climate Change Community Response Portal Coordinator: Ilmatieteen laitos
www.fmi.fi/cccrp
Coordinator: Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland e.V. (BUND) LIFE07 INF/FIN/000152
www.bund.net/ biotopvernetzung
LIFE08 INF/D/000032
URBANBEES
R.A.C.E.S Raising Awareness on Climate change and Energy Savings for teachers, families and stakeholders Coordinator: Municipality of Firenze, Direzione Ambiente www.liferaces.eu
LIFE07 INF/IT/000487
Urban bee biodiversity action plans Coordinator: Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique
www.urbanbees.eu
LIFE08 NAT/F/000478
BIRD MIGRATION AND TRAPPING
WASTE
Changing cultural attitudes to Trapping in order to facilitate implementation of the Birds Directive in Malta
UP&FORWARD COMS Urban Participation and Focus on Reusing Waste and Recycling Development of Communications Coordinator: Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority www.recycleforgreatermanchester.com/upandforward
Biotope networks - networks of life: promoting a forest corridor system with a European perspective
LIFE11 ENV/UK/000389
Slovenia WEEE campaign
Coordinator: BirdLife Malta
www.birdlifemalta.org/
LINDA Limitation to the negative interactions between dolphins and human activities
Raising awareness of the importance of environmentally sound management of WEEE among identified target groups in Slovenia
Coordinator: WWF France
Coordinator: ZEOS, ravnanje z električno in elektronsko opremo, d.o.o.
www.lifelinda.org/accueil/
LIFE10 INF/SI/000139
EWWR European Week of Waste Reduction Coordinator: Agence for l’Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l’Energie
LIFE07 INF/MT/000554
LIFE03 NAT/F/000104
WATER / ENERGY WATLIFE Bratislava Enhancement of Public Awareness of the Importance of Water for Life, its Protection and Sustainable Use in Accordance with the Water Framework Directive Coordinator: Vyskumný ústav vodného hospodárstva / Water Research Institute
www.ewwr.eu
LIFE07 INF/F/000185
www.vodajezivot.sk/
LIFE08 INF/SK/000243
WASTEPrevKit
RENEW
Waste Prevention Kit for enterprises, education and households
Regional Environmental Networks for Energy & Water Coordinator: Energy Saving Trust Limited
Coordinator: Helsinki Metropolitan Authority YTVl www.hsy.fi/en/fiksu/background/Pages/default.aspx
© European Union, 2014
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LIFE05 ENV/FIN/000539
www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/ Organisations/International/
LIFE07 INF/UK/000932
Visit the LIFE website: ec.europa.eu/life
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www.b trappin the_pr