A Green Economy for Sustainable Development: Literacy, Land and Women’s Rights (3-3)

UNESCO produced a report on how the world can achieve a green economy on the basis of sustainable development which was present to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development Rio+20 which was convened on 20-22 June 2012 in Brazil. We review on this page this report due to its importance of development especially in developing countries during the coming decades. 

Climate Science and Knowledge
The objective of the science-based UNESCO Climate Change Adaptation Forum is to inform public and private sector stakeholders (national policy-makers, vulnerable communities and women, the local media, social, cultural and scientific networks and local, regional and international scientific organizations) in agriculture, fisheries (including aquaculture), forestry, alternative energy, fresh water, oceanography, environmental sciences, and coastal services of the longer-term climate projections and their potential impacts, as well as to strengthen capacities for appropriate response strategies.
Assessing Snow Glacier and Water Resources
Glaciers are an intrinsic element of the landscape, environment and culture in high mountain regions, and are key indicators of global warming and climate change. Glaciers represent a unique source of freshwater for agricultural, industrial and domestic use, as well as an important economic component of tourism and hydro-electric power production. It is therefore critical to assess and monitor all aspects of water resources in the highly important headwaters of rivers to observe changes in and consequent impacts on river regimes of the melting of snow, glacier ice and permafrost.
UNESCO-IHP has been coordinating glacier mass balance studies, research, training and capacity-building programmes in different mountain regions: Himalayas, Central Asia, European Alps and Latin America/Caribbean. ©
Summertime sea ice may become a much rarer sight in the future The Global Earth Observing System of Systems – launched at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002– has demonstrated the high societal relevance of hazard mitigation.
Through the UNESCO Geological Application of Remote Sensing (GARS) Programme, it is coordinating remotely sensed and in situ observations to provide products for managers in the field, planners and decision makers. The development of radar remote sensing satellites permits near real-time observation of landslides, tsunamis, earthquakes and other hazards, even during long rainy seasons and at night.
The International Sediment Initiative (ISI) advances sustainable sediment management at the global scale in an effort to contribute to sustainable water resources management. These include an information system, a global evaluation of sediment transport, an assembly of case studies of sediment problems and sediment management for river basins in different environments, a review of erosion and sedimentation research, and an initiative to promote education and capacity-building in the sediment field. ISI has an important role to play in highlighting the wider context of global change and the importance of such change to erosion.
A Water Knowledge Platform for Climate Change
Adaptation in Nepal
Sound institutional arrangements have always been perceived as one of the backbones of climate change adaptation. In order to cater to a similar need, UNESCO is providing technical assistance to the Government of Nepal for the establishment of a Nepal Water Forum. Its objective is to strengthen the country’s bid for climate change adaptation by creating a single platform to guide water policies and facilitate water related activities.

Climate Change Education for
Sustainable Development Programme

To promote climate change education in the context of ESD, UNESCO is providing policy and planning advice to Ministries of Education. It is also developing and encouraging innovative educational approaches to help a broad audience (with particular focus on youth) understand, address, mitigate, and adapt to the impacts of climate change; to encourage changes in attitudes and behaviour needed to put the world on a more sustainable development path; and to build a new generation of climate change-aware citizens.
Climate change is a tangible entry point to ESD. Climate change can connect the abstract concept of sustainable development to the real and immediate challenges facing the world today.
In addition to taking the lead to address specific gaps in climate change education, particularly in terms of climate change ethics, justice and uncertainty, UNESCO is developing national case studies to integrate climate change into national education policy and planning in regions that are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and Africa.
UNESCO is launching a Teacher Education Course on Climate Change Education for Sustainable Development. The course is designed to give teachers confidence in facilitating climate change education inside and outside the classroom so that they can help young women and men understand the causes and consequences of climate change, bring about changes in attitudes and behavior to reduce the severity of future climate change, and build resilience in the face of climate change that is already present. The 6-day-course helps teachers understand the causes, dynamics and impacts of climate change through a holistic lens. Teachers are familiarized with a range of pedagogical approaches that they can use in their own school environment. This includes engagement in whole school and schooling-community approaches.
UNESCO Sandwatch Programme: Learning to measure a wave, Dominican Republic UNESCO’s Green School Action on CO2 Project in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, focuses on two specific strategies: to strengthen and enrich current Green School Initiatives in Indonesia by adopting a whole-school system approach and by focusing on Climate Change Education (CCE); and to specifically target students and teachers, and support governmental and institutional experts such as education curriculum planners and policy decision-makers. UNESCO is among the nine UN agencies selected for the implementation of the REDD+ Quick Wins project to demonstrate tangible preparatory actions for future REDD+ implementation in Central Kalimantan under the interim fund management of UNDP.