Addressing the climate, environment, and biodiversity crises in and through girls’ education

This paper sets out the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office vision for how education is viewed in relation to climate and environment change. Addressing climate change and improving girls’ education are essential to reducing poverty and building prosperous, resilient economies and peaceful, stable societies. Often these issues are viewed in isolation, but they are closely linked.

To address these issues effectively, we must better understand how they are linked. This paper sets out a fundamental change in how education is viewed in relation to the climate and environment crisis. It calls for a new approach from national governments, bilateral, multilateral and private donors, and civil society organizations to address climate and environmental change in and through education. It provides a new framework of priority actions, particularly in low and lower-middle income countries, to build:

• school systems that are more resilient to climate and environmental changes
• knowledge, skills and agency for climate action