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A Critical Review of Environmental Education for Sustainable Development Goals, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and Child-Friendly Schools Gulsah Dost, University of Durham, United Kingdom The European Conference on Education 2021 Official Conference Proceedings Abstract Global warming and other acts of environmental destruction have had significant consequences on our lives in recent years that will most likely continue in the future. Therefore, it is very important for children to have access to information about environmental education and the ability to apply this knowledge practically. Environmental education builds awareness, creates the skills and knowledge essential to express complex environmental problems, helps students understand how their choices and actions influence the environment and promotes ways to keep the environment sustainable and healthy for the future. Environmental education should be considered and not limited to schooling but added to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and Child Friendly Schools (CFS). For this reason, this study will examine the role of environmental education within the scope of SDGs, UNCRC and CFS, and will critically evaluate the relationship between environmental education and each concept. Keywords: Environmental Education, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Sustainable Development Goals, Child Friendly Schools iafor The International Academic Forum www.iafor.org Introduction Environmental damage has significant impact on the lives of children today and future generations as the severity of the damage increases in the absence of preventative action. According to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report (IPCC, 2021), scientists are observing changes in the Earth's climate in every region of the world and in the entire climate system. Their findings show that there are new estimates of global warming exceeding 1.5°C in the coming decades and up to 2°C if necessary measures are not taken. Thus, increasing the number of environmentally literate individuals is important for the protection of the environment and the sustainability of environmental resources (UNESCO, 1978; Wheaton, Kannan, & Ardoin, 2018), and for this purpose, environmental education can serve as a critical tool in tackling environmental problems (e.g., Potter, 2009; Palmer, 1999). Environmental protection is seen as an important goal at all stages of environmental education. Michelsen and Fischer (2017) stated that environmental education should be seen as an indispensable necessity if we want to successfully promote sustainable development. Therefore, nature-based environmental education, which provides discovery through learning by doing, aims to develop students' emotional relationship with nature, their attention to ecological issues and social relations, and encourages them in this field (e.g., Ballantyne & Packer, 2002). Children's rights violations caused by environmental damage can have lifelong, irreversible, and even intergenerational consequences. Therefore, the UNCRC provides a strong normative framework for the realization of children's rights through a healthy environment. Children, parents and adults working with children should be familiar with the international framework of children's rights and should be encouraged to receive an education that respects the natural environment and raises their awareness (Blanchet-Cohen & Elliot 2011). Here, rights based, child friendly education systems and schools come into play; these schools are characterized as a child-friendly schools, inclusive, healthy and protective for all children, impactful, emotionally safe, and relevant to families, communities and children and are covered in the UNICEF Framework. Therefore, this study explores in-depth and broadly links and synergies between environmental education, the SDGs, the UNCRC and the CFS from a critical perspective. Outcome of Environmental Education Environmental education comprises ecological and environmental learning, nature awareness, forest pedagogics and other terms (O’Flaherty & Liddy, 2018; Rauch, 2000; Weiss & Rametsteiner, 2005). Environmental education is a significant educational mission and field for every institution at every stage of education. Based on environmental education, it is understood that human life includes the biological life in the world and that individuals are in harmony with this biological life and nature, and by raising understanding of this from early childhood, protecting the environment will facilitate the life of future generations (Kharrazi, Kudo & Allasiw, 2018; Sinakou, Boeve-de Pauw, & Van Petegem, 2019). This education aims to increase self-confidence and responsibility in individuals, increases environmental awareness and individuals’ conscious of the environment (Liu & Guo, 2018; Erhabor, 2018). Environmental education includes a number of components such as awareness, knowledge and attitudes towards environmental threats, the skills to identify them and the ability to find solutions to environmental problems, as well as participation in activities that lead to their resolution (Ramadhan, Sukma & Indriyani, 2019; Law, Hills & Hau, 2017). Additionally, this education improves their problem-solving and decision-making skills by providing individuals with the ability to look at a subject from different perspectives through critical thinking (EPA, 2007). Environmental education has had many positive effects, from improving academic performance to personal growth and the development of critical life skills such as confidence, leadership and autonomy (Chen, 2018; Browning & Rigolon, 2019; Ramadhan, Sukma & Indriyani, 2019). Bodzin et al. (2010) state that being in a relationship with the environment and exposure to environmental education, individuals can improve their academic development by strengthening scientific inquiry, arithmetic and developing language arts through writing and speaking. There are studies showing that environmental education increases civic participation and positive environmental behaviours. For example, Powell et al. (2011) assessed a middle school-focused residential outdoor program that emphasized character development and environmental education. The study discusses the links between environmental education and positive youth development in light of the findings on character development, environmental responsibility and leadership. Stevenson et al. (2013) also discuss how environmental education goes beyond mere understanding and conceptualization. They state how it goes to develop learner agency, including a problem-solving orientation. Through focus groups and surveys with environmental education participants and practitioners, West (2015) identified numerous and varied outcomes for both groups, with an emphasis on knowledge as well as social outcomes among participants. Researchers who have closely examined some environmental education programs have found that environmental programs involve providing individuals with environmental awareness, attitudes, skills, intentions, enjoyment, and behaviours that include citizen participation (Ardoin et al., 2020; Stern et al., 2014; Ladwig, 2010). Environmental education, which provides individuals with attitudes, values, knowledge and skills to take environmentally friendly actions, encourages individuals to improve the sustainability of human-nature interactions over time (Mastr ́angelo et al., 2019; UNESCO, 1978). Environmental Education for Sustainable Development The ideologies of environmental education contained in the Tbilisi Declaration include the basic values of sustainable development: adopting perspectives both at the local and global level; promotion of international solidarity; considering the social aspects of the environment and the close links between economy, environment and development (UNESCO, 1978). Sustainable development is the overarching framework of the United Nations and this framework has four dimensions, which are society, environment, culture and economy (WHO, 2016). These dimensions are not separate from each other but are intertwined. Sustainability is a paradigm in which social, environmental and economic issues are balanced in search of a better quality of life that includes future goals (Schaltegger & Wagner, 2017; Epstein, Elkington & Herman, 2018). For example, a prosperous society provides food and resources and relies on a healthy environment, aiming to provide its citizens with safe drinking water and clean air. The 2030 Agenda consists of seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets that will guide policy and finance for the next nine years (United Nations, 2015a). This Agenda includes acting in collaborative partnership with all countries and stakeholders, from ending poverty, reducing inequality, to building more peaceful, wealthy societies by 2030. These targets and objectives are “global in nature and universally applicable, taking into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development and respecting national policies and priorities” (Matte et al., 2015, p.6). The UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda envisions inclusive equality, justice and well-being within the environmental framework and places a significant emphasis on education as set out in Goal 4. Education is recognized as an aim for education in Goal 4.7 with sustainability as a means to accomplish the remaining 16 Goals. Target 4.7 “By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and nonviolence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development” (UNESCO, 2019, p.68). Education and environmental sustainability are not only closely related to each other, but also strongly linked by a cause-effect relationship; therefore, what is typically caused by the former naturally affects the latter (Howe, 2009; Walid & Luetz, 2018). In this categorisation, education assists as a tool to achieve environmental sustainability goals. Although in theory this seems like a reasonable and logical conclusion, in practice it turns out to be a much more unstable relationship network. After exploring the broader historical relationships between environmental education and Environmental Sustainability and Sustainable Development, the SDGs show the story of a worsening relationship between education and the environment. Within the SDGs, education is included in Goal 4: “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” (United Nations, 2021, p.11). While this goal deals with development from a social and economic point of view in its main statement, it does not make any special reference to the environment. In other words, sustainable development (SD) seeks to grasp and explain the relationship between society and economy to promote the transition to sustainability. However, environment was not mentioned in this SDG statement on education. The complexity of sustainability as a concept makes it challenging and ambiguous making it difficult to relate SDGs to educational learning outcomes with what Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) endeavours to achieve. While the multiple targets detail individual targets, SDG Goal 4 does not address environmental sustainability and does not make a single explicit reference. This raises several important questions and the most important is; if environmental sustainability is not even a target, can education be expected to deliver results in environmental sustainability? In other words, can education achieve its real purpose related to the environment without including sustainability? Sustainable Development Goals cannot be fulfilled without addressing children's rights (United Nations, 2015a, 2021). It covers and applies to children, even if not explicitly stated in all goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda. Therefore, it is essential that the implementation of the 2030 Agenda promote, strengthen, protect, and fulfil the realization of children's rights by integrating a children's rights-based approach that respects and promotes children's rights (Arts, 2019). Using both main structures in synergy will strengthen their mutual practices and ensure that children's rights are realized in a meaningful way. All world leaders strive to fulfil their 2030 commitment, striving to secure healthy and quality education, a clean world and more for children all over the world (United Nations, 2021). More than 100 Member States have reconsidered their promises to children's rights to ensure the implementation of the SDGs (United Nations, 2021). UNICEF collaborates with governments, other UN agencies and partners to help countries guarantee that the SDGs deliver equal results for and with every child, for present and future generations. On a national basis, some countries have explicitly embraced the right of the child to participate in their constitutions and domestic laws (Parkes, 2015). In many court decisions, UNCRC and regional documents, the child's right to participation is clearly cited and discussed (Geary, 2012). Considering the processes and
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