“Climate Action is a priority for Climate Change, and education is crucial to promote climate action.”
UNESCO
The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement and the associated Action for Climate Empowerment agenda call for education and empowerment relating to climate change. Mainstreaming Climate Change Education, through projects that are being implemented in many European countries, and teachers’ capacity building can be one of the most important and effective means of developing capacities for addressing the climate crisis.
However, Climate Change Education remains under-theorized and nascent, as it is considered independently from other long established educational fields such as Environmental Education, and Education for Sustainability (or Education for Sustainable Development).
Climate Change Education is about learning in the face of risk, uncertainty and rapid change. To that end, Climate Change Education addresses social and environmental urgent issues, and supports people to build resilient, creative, adaptable and well-informed sustainable communities.
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015 as Agenda 2030. This ambitious action plan brings social, ecological and economic aspects under a common roof for the first time. In its approach, the 2030 Agenda represents a new and more interconnected understanding of poverty and inequality, environmental degradation and climate change, modes of production and consumption or decent work, and calls for a comprehensive transformation – to which all states must actively contribute. It expresses the conviction of the international community that global challenges can only be solved together. The 17 goals are interdependent and therefore considered indivisible. In addition, the premise applies that no one should be left behind.
The FOOD RESCUE project aligns it’s work with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – especially focusing on SDG 4 “Higher Education” as well as SDG 12 “Responsible production & consumption” as well as SDG 13 “Climate Action”.
SDG 12.3. even specifically refers to the importance of reducing food waste:
“By 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.”
That food waste is also a very big ecological problem, we understand if we take a look at the numbers:
10% of global greenhouse gas emissions can be traced back to food waste. For comparison: This is roughly the same share as global road traffic. As if one wastes food – one wastes all the resources and inputs for the production, for the packaging and transportation of this good as well!