Introduction

Governmental and non-governmental agencies in China are taking measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, steering towards sustainable economic growth, and implementing green travel and transport. Yet, for any development to be truly effective, the broad public must be included in the effort to change our habits.

Thus, climate change education is essential for sustainable development, informed decision-making and action on environmental issues. The Climate Change Education project focuses on strengthening this learning in schools across China.

In response to the challenges of climate change, and with the support of RBF, Shangri-la Institute for Sustainable Communities (SISC) is working in partnership with China’s Ministry of Education to design Climate Change Education for China (CCE). This project is focused on encouraging mitigation and adaptation to climate change through teacher training and curriculum development.

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Minyong Glacier, Yunnan, receding based on the latest data.

Furthermore, we are developing a network of universities and schools who are working with local communities to develop innovative approaches to education that explore key concepts of CCE and develop the knowledge, skills and values that enable informed decision-making and active citizenship.

With ongoing input from educational experts, the project aims to develop a set of national guidelines for CCE by integrating local indigenous knowledge and practice with the scientific, social and ethical concepts.

CCE is currently being implemented in primary and middle schools in seven areas of China: Shangri-la, Chongqing, Lhasa, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Hubei, and Beijing.

Today, a total of 14 primary and middle schools are participating in the project. So far approximately 7,000 students directly participated in CCE in 2014, with roughly 15,000 indirect beneficiaries.

CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION JULY 2014

Yunnan

Guangxi

Guizhou

Tibet

Xinjiang

Gansu

Qinghai

Inner M

ongolia

Heilongjiang

Jilin

Liaoning

Hebei

Shandong

Jiangsu

Zhejiang

Fujian

JiangxiHunan

Hubei

Henan

Shanxi

Shanxi

Sichuan

Guangdong

Hainan

Taiwan

Map of

Yangtze

       Rive

r

Yellow  River

Yellow  River

Yellow  River

Shangri-la

LhasaShanghai

Guangzhou

Chongqing

Climate Change Education

Beijing

Wuhan

National Overview of CCE Locations in 2014

Beijing

As political and cultural centre of China, Beijing offers great potential for Climate Change Education. 2 pilot schools joined the programme. 432 students directly participated in activities, reaching almost 4000 community members. Activities were focused on fighting against climate change with geoengineering methods, such as desert afforestation, seaweed farms and others.

Shanghai

Due to its low lying land, Shanghai is one of the areas most vulnerable to the effects of climate change in China. With 4 pilot schools, 1 youth centre and more than 3300 participating students, several thousand community members were reached through activities on CCE, environmental research, contests on innovative climate efforts, and the formation of the Climate Education Alliance to further help protecting the environment.

Chongqing

Chongqing is a famous water transport hub that encompasses a wealth of water reserves, mineral resources, abundant flora and fauna and the famous Three Gorges. 2 pilot schools organised activities for more than 1500 students, focusing on environmental, economic and social changes.

Wuhan

Home of the Three Gorges Dam, the region plays a key role in production and trade in China. 860 students from 2 pilot schools participated in activities reaching about 6500 community members, spreading informations on environmental education and sustainable development.

Guangzhou

The most industrialised area in southern China faces an increasing number of serious environmental challenges. Thus, the 2 pilot schools have motivated 411 students to further study climate change and act as environmental electives in the region, stimulating local efforts.

Shangri-la

The Greater Shangri-la region is of great importance to all those who rely on the Yangtze, Mekong and Salween rivers for their livelihood. 2 pilot schools had 420 students participating in activities, reaching an additional 200 stakeholders. The schools researched the impact and challenges of global warming on high altitudes regions.

Lhasa

Tibet is the highest region on earth and home to mighty rivers. The launch of CCE in Lhasa focused on spreading information to the surrounding schools and communities.

CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION JULY 2014

Resource Development

As an integral part of the Climate Change Education project, new resources are being developed to facilitate the integration of CCE into the curriculum by teachers all over China.

Thus, project cases of individual school activities all over China have been collected for distribution and as an inspiration and motivation for others. As participating teachers already developed materials, the reports, questionnaires and summaries were collected and made available to all stakeholders.

Ongoing Development

Cooperating with China’s Ministry of Education and the People’s Education Press on the national curriculum reform, we are developing National Guidelines for CCE. Our ongoing work with teachers, students, and partner organisations include the following projects:

• The ESD centre of East China Normal University has continued its work on the Teachers’ Handbook for Climate Change Education. The handbook is encouraging primary and secondary school teachers to implement CCE into their curriculums based on localised environment issues, needs and opportunities.

• Our writing teams are working on a Student Activity Pack on CCE for primary and secondary schools. The activities have been collected during the last national workshop and are currently being revised.

• Many pilot schools are participating in the creation of a global climate change knowledge quiz. The various questions are based on regional activities and experiences of our pilot schools.

• Regional reports are being developed to spread relevant environmental data for each region to the stakeholders. The Chifeng Regional Report was completed and distributed. Illustrations of geographic and historic highlights in near Chifeng

Regional Report of Chifeng

In 2014, at the annual meeting in Chifeng, an extensive regional report of Chifeng Region in Inner Mongolia was completed. It was presented and distributed during the workshop, serving as an important case study and example for other regions.

The report is based on scientific studies and publications, summarising the area’s historical development from various perspectives. Introducing not only the regional geography, but also explaining and illustrating the climate changes in the region over the centuries, as well as describing the cultural heritage from as early as the neolithic era, this report will be a valuable resource for many teachers, stakeholders and community members.

Regional Teacher Training Workshop in Lhasa Community Centre.

Teacher Training Workshops

Teacher training workshops cover a broad range of topics and remain the first step for students to learn the skills, knowledge and techniques necessary to fully participate in climate change education. They are also a platform for participants to exchange and share ideas and experiences on the implementation of the programme.

National Teacher Training

This year, the national workshop focused on developing a national network and sharing experiences on how to kindle and promote good practices in CCE in schools. The participants were eager to know how other schools implemented projects and what could be learned to enhance their own planning.

The teachers discussed the draft of the national implementation guidance on Climate Change Education and advised to develop an ad hoc group to revise the draft.

Regional Teacher Training

Several regional teacher training workshops were organised in late 2013 and held in the first half of 2014:

• Hubei: Informational event about environmental changes and Climate Change Education

• Chongqing: Workshop on regional projects in 2014

• Tibet: Project launch ceremony and workshop

• Yunnan: Workshop on regional projects in 2014

• Shanghai: Workshop on regional projects in 2014

In particular, the teacher training workshop held at the Lhasa Community Centre launched the CCE project in Tibet. 18 participants from various Tibetan schools attended the workshop. The main topics were project objectives, drafting new school activities, and discussing their impact on climate change education in Tibet.

Local Teacher Training

Furthermore, as an integral part of school activities, teachers have locally organised targeted training to match the specific circumstances of each school. Teacher training workshops are essential to ensure the smooth implementation by various teachers into the school curriculum.

CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION JULY 2014

Achievements in 2014:

1) Experiences and activities of 2013 and early half year in 2014 were shared.

2) The instruction planning materials on the key concepts related to CCE were collected and evaluated.

3) Exchanges between teachers from project pilot schools and schools in Inner Mongolia lead to the latter joining a meeting on project implementation.

4) The national implementation guidelines draft for Climate Change Education in China was discussed. As a result, a review team will be created to revise the draft.

5) Potential opportunities and a work plan for 2015 and 2016 were conceptualised.

Local Teacher Training Workshop at Haitang Xi Primary School in Chongqing

Shanghai ActivitiesHengde Primary School and Putuo District Youth Centre

• Climate change and environmental protection are now part of the curriculum.• Schoolwide Meteorological Festival • Meteorological Knowledge Contest

Caoyang Middle School • Climate Change Educational Fair for primary and secondary classesHuaping Primary School • "Experiencing a Low Carbon Life, Imagine a Green Future" technology festival

• "Small Changes in Family Life for Social Progress" low-carbon life science weekThe Affiliated Primary School to Xinsu Normal University

• Research on the impact of dust particles• "Low Carbon Life" day-trip and big school competition• "Low Carbon Family" activities and visit to Shanghai Museum• One Dollar Social Activities

Chongqing ActivitiesHaitang Xi Primary School • Following the traces of Old Huangjue Road

Green Maps of Old Huangjue RoadUse of open space planting flowers for a Green School"Green Peas" school-based teaching seminarsLeadership Training Courses

South West University • Courses and seminars for a deeper understanding of environmental subjects, followed by student research presentations

• Various environmental contests: “Water saving logo design”, “Posters and advertisement design”, “Knowledge”, and “Nature Notes”

• Related activities, such as “Handiwork”, “Birdwatching”and others.• 2014 Earth Hour and Non-smoking campaigns• Day-trip to Beibei district waste treatment plant• Celebrate "6.5" World Environment Day activities

Hubei ActivitiesYangtze University • Tree Planting Day

• CD action• World Environment Day publicity• New Green Moat action• Waste battery recycling

Shashi Middle School • Climate change education research• Practical CCE action in the community

Guangdong ActivitiesThe Affiliated High School of South China Normal University

• Elective climate change education classes• Writing graduation papers on climate change• Weather observation

Huizhou No.3 Middle School • Household consumption survey• From climate change to carbon footprints and green travel• Design and production contest on "Creative Reuse of Waste Materials"

Beijing Activities in Beijing AreaFangcaodi Primary School • Environmental musical "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow"

• "Turning waste into treasure"Guangqumen Middle School • "Let us understand climate change" - educational activities

• Paper Life Cycle research

Yunnan ActivitiesDukezong Primary School • “Climate change and lessons to be learned”Diqing Middle School for Ethnic Minorities

• "Changing with Climate Change", a national architectural model contest and dress making competition

Tibet ActivitiesA teacher training workshop in Lhasa was conducted to launch the project.School activities have yet to be implemented.

School Implementation

In the first half of 2014, the 14 pilot schools held more than 50 activities. More than 7,000 primary and middle school students participated directly in CCE activities so far in 2014, with roughly 15,000 indirect beneficiaries.

All activities were localised based on regional issues, needs or opportunities and cover a multitude of subjects, as shown in the following table:

CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION JULY 2014

Case Study: Old Huangjue Road

All participating pilot schools organised various CCE activities and exchanged their experiences during teacher training workshops. The fructuous impact of these workshops can be shown in the outstanding case study of the Haitang Xi Primary School in Chongqing.

In a first step, as an introduction, an outdoor trip was organised to the nearby “Old Huangjue Road”, an ancient forest path. As the teachers didn’t provide much additional information, many students ended up wondering how they knew so little about their immediate natural surrounding.

• In the following weeks, the broad subject of nature and climate change was integrated into the curriculum of many different subjects:

• Reading about various nature related topics in literature classes and preparing environmental handouts,

• Explaining statistics and using fractional multiplication to solve climate problems in math classes,

• Exploring the flora and fauna in biology classes,

• Expressing the students’ ideas and visions in arts classes, creating “Green Campus Maps” and designing environmental protection advertisements.

• Discussing benefits of planting trees in english classes, and

• Conducting water surveys in science classes.

Fully equipped, the students then went outside of campus onto the streets to distribute handouts, to introduce their environmental knowledge, and to ask community members to save water. The proficient students did so with motivation and persuasion.

Finally, the students and their relatives were invited on a second trip to the “Old Huangjue Road”. After having learned so much about nature and climate change, the students had a much better understanding of their surroundings: they recognised plants and animal trails, explained their insight to impressed relatives, and even discussed environmental topics.

Presenting their own environmental advertisements in public displays.

CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION JULY 2014

One of the students’ “Green Map of the Old Huangjue Road”.

Delighted students on a class pictures in the old Huangjue forest.

Distributing handouts and asking community members to save water.

CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION JULY 2014

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www.shangrilainstitute.org

Shangri-la Institute for Sustainable Communities is a member of IUCN and an Official Partner of the EarthCharter Initiative. Key Partners of Climate Change Education for China include Rockefeller Brothers Fund,the National Centre for School Curriculum and Textbook Development: Ministry of Education of China(MOE-NCCT).

Next Steps

We will continue to focus on strengthening learning and teaching for CCE in China. In the second half of 2014, we will expand on this by:

• Expanding the scope of the project to involve more schools and pupils.

• Enhancing project impact through the link among schools and school-community.

• Developing a standard CCE curriculum package aimed for primary, middle and high school students.

• Devising and promoting the national implementation guidelines on climate change education in China.