From Commitment to Classroom: A Review of the Draft Global Plan of Action for Education on Biodiversity

Oh, okay. I will do so. Thank you. And for those who are opening up the session, I'll ask you, you may start to sit here and then I will switch the podium speakers for the next ones. All right, everyone. Hope everyone has gotten some food. Thanks, Naim, for filming. Hope you're feeling refreshed and well fed and ready for what I hope will be an interesting discussion. Welcome to this side event that's on, we call it from commitment to classroom, and it's on the role of education, the transformative role that education can have for biodiversity. It is such a great pleasure to welcome you all, so thank you for joining. My name is Liz Mullen-Bernhardt, I'll be moderating this session and I've been honored to be serving as at the biodiversity convention Secretariat for the past year as the head of the Communications, Education and Public Awareness Unit, what we call CEPA for short. And I'm very excited to be hosting this session today because it's a topic that's very close to my heart, and I'm assuming to all of you who are here in the room, on this role that education can play to catalyze and advance biodiversity action. And it's coming, of course, at an opportune time because we are discussing these issues this very week here in Nairobi, and we're discussing in general how to accelerate progress for the biodiversity framework. And I think that education is one of the keys to that success. I'd like to thank you all for joining, and I'd like to give a warm thank you also to UNESCO for co-organizing today's event with us today. And then great to see many colleagues and friends in the room. And we do have limited time today, um, being in the middle of negotiations and a busy schedule, and we have a fantastic and a wide range of speakers and perspectives today on the topic. So, um, we really want to try to represent all sorts of different perspectives. sectors, backgrounds, organizations, and ages, and to really gather really great suggestions and inputs from what is working around the world for education. And we hope to hear from all of you in the audience. We will try to keep interventions informative but short, so I thank everyone in advance for keeping to time. And I do hope that we'll have a good time for discussions at the end. So let me start, if I may ask to advance the slide. Thank you. Let me just take you very quickly through our run of show. We will have some opening remarks by Astrid Schomaker, who is the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity. We will have a welcome statement, a video statement, from the Assistant Director-General of UNESCO for Education, from Mr. Kun Chen. We will hear from Ambassador Mer Margaryan, a special envoy of the Armenian presidency of COP17 on Armenian perspectives for implementing biodiversity education and the importance for COP17. We'll hear from Ms. Natalie Morata. Head of International Cooperation at the French Foundation for Research and Biodiversity, who is also serving as the co-chair of the Informal Advisory Committee on Communications, Education, Public Awareness. Welcome, Nathalie. And we will hear from Ms. Catalin Chipan, Strategic Advisor to the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication, also a member of our CEEPA IAC. Welcome to Catalin. At that point, we will shift the speakers and ask for our other stakeholders, actors, and participants to come to the podium. And we'll then be hearing a perspective coming from universities and civil society. That is Dr. Dorcas Otieno of the Kenya Organization for Environmental Education. We'll hear a bit about formal education, and this time at the primary and secondary level, from Dr. Christian Forein of the German School and the Schools for Earth. We will get, I think, a very interesting perspective on conservation education from Margaret Otieno of the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya. And then we have very important perspectives on the role of indigenous knowledge and the role of youth in biodiversity education, not just as gatherers of knowledge, but as contributors to information, knowledge, and communication. And that will be Ms. Wara Iris Ruiz Condori and Aurora Gomez Espinoza. You're both very welcome to our panel. Then we hope for some time for questions and answers, and then we'll have a wrap-up from Ms. Yuyu Zhu at UNESCO. With that introduction, I'm very happy to hand over to our first opening remarks from Astrid Schomaker, over to you Astrid.

Thank you, dear friends, good afternoon. So now you have two excited women standing here in front of you, not only Liz is excited, I'm also super excited. about the subject of education, and we couldn't have timed it better. We had no idea when we did the side event that it would come basically 40 minutes or so after we discussed this issue in plenary, and where we already had many, many super good inputs that can strengthen the work on education and on our action plan in many ways, including the important reminder from you that this is about education for biodiversity. That was really a great comment. So welcome to all of you to this side event. It is dedicated to the topic of education and as part of our broader communication, education and public awareness effort, SEPA is the acronym we use internally. And of course, this is in follow up to decision 1610 from the last COP at the time, ably negotiated by David Ensworth sitting there in the back, who I'm sure will also want to contribute to the follow up. So SEPA has been part of the of the CBD Secretariat since the very beginning. You know, it's enshrined in Article 13 of the Convention on Public Education and Awareness. And of course, we now also have it mentioned in a specific section K of the Global Biodiversity Framework. And that's also meaningful that there is a specific section K dedicated to communication, education, awareness, and uptake. And I think that is the key message we're discussing here. We're talking about education, and the importance of education because we need more uptake of our agendas in order to accelerate the implementation. And I think maybe just to say an extra word, obviously education is transformational, it's fundamental to uptake, but never more so as in this age of disinformation where we have to battle so many false narratives and bizarre claims of climate change not happening or everything just being a hoax. We need educated citizens with whom we can engage and that can push back against this kind of nonsense, to be quite blunt. So this is what we want to discuss here with you at SBI and have started this morning and will then continue. How can we use education also to help us accelerate? So we are super happy in the Secretariat that we can join forces with UNESCO for this event in particular, but also more broadly for our collaboration on the education subject, They were instrumental and super helpful in helping us draft the global plan of action for education on biodiversity. That is the key point for discussion. So more broadly, we thank UNESCO. We also thank all the other experts and colleagues that helped us produce the draft education action plan for consideration here at SPI 7. So in addition to UNESCO, there was IOC, there was GIBN, there was UNEP, the CBD Women's Caucus and IIFB all helping us. And IPES also made some inputs. If IPES is listening, we call on them to become more involved in future because we also think they have super important perspectives to contribute. But with all of that, we really felt that we could draw on a whole wealth experience from organizations that have both a mandate and a global reach on education. And we're also very grateful that we could then establish this new informal advisory committee on communication, education, and public awareness. And if you want another acronym, this is for us the SEPA AIAC. We can't live without acronyms. And that SEPA AIAC has done a review of the draft, and I'm happy that some members of the SEPA AIAC are actually here in the room with us. So Thanks to all of you for your interest, but also for your belief and your engagement for education. Thank you for your time, and we're looking forward to this conversation with you, and then also basically for you to help us as we round up the discussion here at SPI-7 and come out with a strengthened action plan and a good mandate on how to move forward. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Astrid, for those remarks. I'm pleased to show you a video message from the Assistant Director General for Education at UNESCO, Mr. Kun Chen. If we could show the video on the screen. Thank you. And the sound?

Just to say sometimes, but this sometimes always goes wrong. I don't want to see the person.

We've been here three times before. So let's just say, yeah, give us a moment. Should we pause? Yeah, can we pause and restart? Sorry.

Who want to teach about environment do not feel adequate attention. Thank you. It's our honor to share this message with you today. Education is key for understanding how biodiversity loss affects our lives and our planet's future. The more people understand this, the more they can change how they act and relate to nature. Yet, research shows that only 25% of national curricula across 100 countries And many teachers who want to teach about environment do not feel adequately prepared to do so. For over 30 years, UNESCO has led the way in promoting education for sustainable development, or ESD. ESD leads us to knowledge, attitudes, and skills to take action. We promote biodiversity at every level of education. and the non-formal, so that everyone can learn to take care of nature and each other. Let me share three ways UNESCO uses education to promote biodiversity. First, we promote place-based learning at UNESCO designated sites. Already piloted across 41 sites and 11 classrooms. the connection between biodiversity and cultural heritage. Second, through our green education partnership of nearly 100 countries and over 2,000 organizations, we have developed guidelines to integrate biodiversity into curricula and school environments worldwide. Third, with the CBD Secretariat and the IUCN, we are developing a global plan of action to harness education for transformative change. We are proud to serve as the lead UN agency for biodiversity education. Our upcoming UNESCO World Conference hosted by Kenya in January 2027 will build further momentum for this work. UNESPO remains committed to work with CBD to help implement to global biodiversity framework. Education and science working together can integrate biodiversity into learning everywhere. The time to learn and act for our planet is now. Thank you, and I wish you a productive session.

A warm thank you to UNESCO for those opening remarks. Um, I would also like to then go back to our presentation as I introduce our speaker who is a very busy person, I think, today and this week, and I thank you very much for joining us, Ambassador. I realize that you have another commitment, and so we'll try to get you out of the room quickly. We'd like to I'd love to ask you if you have a few words for us on education for Armenia and your perspectives, perhaps also for COP17. So over to you.

Thank you. Thank you, Liz. Madam Executive Secretary, ladies and gentlemen, it's a great pleasure to join you today at this timely side event co-organized by CBD and UNESCO. Education is one of the most powerful enablers of transformation change. Yet its contribution to biodiversity policy and implementation often receives less attention than it deserves. The Kunming-Monreal Global Biodiversity Framework rightly recognizes knowledge, education, and capacity building among the enable conditions for achieving its goals. It is therefore encouraging that education, communication, and public awareness feature prominently in the updated national biodiversity strategies and action plans of almost all parties. National reports likewise demonstrate that environmental education, citizen science, community engagement, and awareness initiatives are already contributing to the implementation of multiple targets of global biodiversity framework. Colleagues, as we prepare for COP17 in Yerevan, parties will undertake the first global review of collective progress in implementing the framework. This important milestone will help us identify where progress has been made, where implementation gaps persist, and where additional efforts are needed. It will also remind us that these gaps are not only financial or technical. They are also linked to knowledge, institutional capacity, and ability of societies to translate commitments into actions. Strengthening biodiversity literacy and institutional capacities from national decision-making to local authorities, educators, communities, and young people is therefore indispensable for effective implementation. This is why education must be understood as a lifelong process extending across formal, non-formal, and informal settings and engaging all parts of society. Indigenous peoples and local communities, women, youth, academia, civil society, and private sector all have essential roles to play in generating knowledge, shaping values, and promoting lasting behavioral change. In this context, we welcome the development of the draft global plan of action on education for biodiversity through an inclusive and participatory process now under consideration at SBI7. The draft plan provides an important opportunity to embed education more firmly within biodiversity policy and implementation by promoting learning across sectors and throughout society. Colleagues will share the view that this should remain a living document benefiting from continued dialogue, practical experience, and broad ownership as its implementation evolves. Armenia stands ready to contribute actively to this process as we prepare for COP17. As incoming presidency, we hope that COP17 will reaffirm education not as supporting activity, but as strategic investment in the long-term implementation of global biodiversity framework. Building knowledge, skills, and environment stewardship across societies will be essential if we are to achieve lasting, inclusive, and transformative outcomes. At the end, we look forward to working with parties, UNESCO, the Secretariat, and all partners to ensure that education becomes cornerstone of biodiversity action and implementation in the years ahead. Thank you for this opportunity.

Ambassador, thank you, and we look forward to continuing the conversation in Armenia in October. I would like to now pass on to from Armenia going to France and hear from Nathalie about some of the experiences that you've had in biodiversity education in France and your perspective. Over to you, Nathalie. Thank you.

Thank you for the opportunity to present France's experience on biodiversity education.

I have slides, so -- Next, yes, if we could advance the slides, thank you.

Okay, after. Next, yes? Okay. Thank you. So we can go to the next one. So in France, the biodiversity education is not a standalone policy. It is embedded in what we call the La Strategie Nationale Biodiversite 2030, so it's the National Biodiversity Strategy 2030, which is actually France's implementation for the coming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. Our strategy considers biodiversity education as a lifelong learning process. It aims not only to raise awareness among children, but also to empower citizens, professionals, and decision makers to contribute actively to biodiversity conservation. We believe that biodiversity education should not only increase the knowledge, but it should empower people to participate, make informed decisions, and take action for biodiversity. So this is really a whole of government and whole of society approach, bringing together ministries, schools, research institution, local authorities, protected areas, civil society organization, and scientific communities. We believe this integrated approach closely reflect the ambition of the draft of global plan of action. by promoting biodiversity learning across all ages and sectors of society. So next slide. So education begins at early stage through education for sustainable development and progressively evolved from discovery to critical thinking. At primary school, the students, they get a chance to participate in citizen science program. So the Museum of Natural History has adapted some citizen science program specifically for children, so where they can really study different program from insects, butterflies, and different fields of biodiversity. They also, some also can take part in what we call, it's, the translation will be residential education program, for example, where they will have a few days exploring some topics, for example, forest ecosystem, discovering biodiversity through outdoor learning, and developing a strong connection with nature. In middle school, the education area allow the students to manage a nearby natural area together with scientists, protected area manager, and local authorities. So it can be terrestrial, coastal, or marine. There are some projects, for example, with Ifremer, the French Institute for Ocean Research. And so together, the students discover how to protect biodiversity and contribute to climate adaptation also to also all these topics. As the high school students, the resource are developed, and this is where the climate comes, by the Office for Climate Education, which is actually a foundation under UNESCO. And so this foundation was initially targeting education for climate, but now they are evolving, and they help the students to better understand the link between climate change and biodiversity. also the governance and also develop a more critical analysis and thinking. There are, for example, they develop some project where they study the mangrove ecosystems, where they protect, where the students understand better the mangrove ecosystems, the climate adaptation, and also the wellbeing and the coastal communities that lives in this system. So today, around 20,000 classes participate in citizen science programs. More 1,500 education area are managed by students with the ambition to reach 18,000 by 2030. And from this year, there is a nationwide online biodiversity training program that is also available for teachers so they can better integrate this in their teaching. Next slide. So the biodiversity education continues beyond schools. So it is increasingly integrated in higher education and vocational training in universities, in agriculture topics education, marine education, and even the public administration now increase biodiversity in their programs. We also have a strong Gibbon French Committee for Gibbon in France, so young people are really encouraged to contribute to national decision-making process. Gibbon France is co-leading the French National Biodiversity Committee together with another organization. And also really France supports the participation of youth in international processes. In the right, it's the last IBES plenary where the French delegation had a youth delegate with us. And also, of course, at the next COP we plan to have a youth delegate as a lot of EU country, I think also. So through this like they organize also this local conference for youth. which permit the young people to develop advocacy skills and prepare to engage in the climate and the biodiversity negotiation. The public engagement is so raising awareness for the public is also an important aspect. And so in France, we organize every year, for example, some national day, like Fete de la Nature. And we also developed the citizen science project through which enable people of all ages to actively contribute to biodiversity conservation. Next slide. Next slide. Yes, so also France consider capacity building as really an essential component of biodiversity education. So through my organization, also our own partners, We support science-based training program for public official. So it helps to strengthen the biodiversity mainstreaming across different public policies and promote evidence-informed decision making. We also organize media briefing around the major IPBS and CDB negotiation. So this helps really journalists to better understand the scientific findings and the international biodiversity processes. Um, also beyond training, France also promote the stakeholder engagement as a key component of biodiversity education. Uh, with the French committee for APBS, for example, and other science, uh, science policy dialogue, we bring together researchers, policy makers, business, NGO, civil society to really organize some exchange of knowledge, discuss scientific assessment and strengthen the informed participation in biodiversity governance. So by engaging a stakeholder directly in these dialogues, we believe that learning goes beyond awareness raising and become a driver of collective action. Our experience really shows that biodiversity education is most effective when it combines science, participation, and action across all sectors of society. So we really welcome the global plan for action for biodiversity education, and we really see that it's something that really matters for us. It's a way for us to continue and strengthen our activities. and accelerate the implementation of the global framework. Thank you.

Nathalie, thank you so much. That's quite an inspiring example, set of examples from France, and we'd love to be able to share many of those best practices and ideas with others. So I think that will be our task from our side to help gather those examples. But thank you so much, and thank you, Ambassador, also for joining. We're now going to hear, for those of you who are following our negotiations this week, you'll be very interested to know, or you've already probably read a bit about our global plan of action on education for biodiversity. And so we're going to be hearing, just getting a little bit of an overview about what is in that plan for information in the group. Obviously, the plan itself is not being discussed here. But I will hand over now to Katalin, and thank you.

Okay, it's ready. Okay, so thank you. As a member of the informal advisory committee of SIPA, I am giving a glimpse of about the global plan of action and education. Please, next slide. Yes, next slide, please. So this will be the content, but very quickly. Next slide, please. Thank you. The mandate was given by the parties at COP 17. You could see, yeah, 16, sorry, you could see the beautiful statue that it was in the middle. And I love it. It's a biodiversity Jenga. It shows how vulnerable our biodiversity and the ecosystems are. The mandate was given to CBD, UNESCO, IBBES, GIBBEN, and other stakeholders like IUCN. So this is, IUCN CEC is supported from the beginning to have this global plan of action for biodiversity. It aims to foster action and behavioral change by strengthening competencies via education to achieve the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework. Next, please. Therefore, the purpose of the global plan is to support transformative change and provide flexible framework, including formal, non-formal, and informal education and learning, we already heard it several times, develop people competencies to understand the role of the importance of biodiversity in their daily life and their future lives, and act accordingly and support stakeholders in making informed decisions. Next slide, please. In the title of In the title of this slide, I emphasize the four because, and this goes through the entire document, because to preserve and preserve our natural assets is not needed only learning about biodiversity and hopefully ecosystems, but we have to understand the connection between the biodiversity and ecosystems, all of the elements of nature and our life, society, and even the business. So how we can bring it together. It must be understood that this is the basis of our life and we are depending on it. And it links to water, soil, climate change. So Imagine a world where we live, where we love ourself, and we love ourself with nature or in nature or as nature. Wouldn't be a different world? So let's work on it with education. Next slide, please. Let me run through to the guiding principle of the document. It strengthens biodiversity literacy because we have to know what does it mean, how does it work, and what does it mean for us. And I think it was the previous one, please. Yeah, this one. Thank you. So it strengthens the biodiversity literacy, but at the same time strengthens the decision-making capacity, leadership for transformative change of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. It is lifelong, involves wide range of actors and locations. Ideally, it bridges the education sector and the communication sector and engages other sectors, including health, economy, and whatever everybody has something to do with, because this is our basis. Pluralistic, holistic, equitable, recognize and integrate diverse knowledge system and worldviews, in particular indigenous and traditional and local knowledge, promotes co-creation and intercultural learning and intergenerational dialogue. It is context-specific. inclusive and adaptive and reflects national priorities, educational system, institutional arrangement and diverse cultural, social, economic and ecological settings. Next, please. And of course, It's grounded in experiential and place-based learning to foster direct engagement with natural, cultural, and living environments, thereby strengthening connection between human beings and nature, as well as stewardship and responsibility. Foster partnership and collaboration among parties, indigenous peoples, and local communities, engage women, youth, private sector, and other relevant stakeholders and actors to support collective action. Next slide, please. It shows a result framework. Everything is in expected outcomes, priority areas, cross-cutting enabling conditions for implementation. So it's a question how we will continue with the implementation. Next slide, please. There is a timeline. The submission for SBI happened in May. Now we are in August. We are discussing it. The plan is discussing, and we hope they will approve to put it to the COP, or probably we have to revise a little bit. Let's see how it will work. And there will be a final revision, competition transformation, translation, and it will be submitted to the COP. At the COP in Armenia, hopefully, we will, the parties will discuss and approve, we don't know, but if they approve, the implementation, the key, the main junk is coming. And in 2028, there will be a revision of the plan and also the implementation and the support system. This is a 12-page plan, a framework using the language that could hopefully approve by all of the countries. It means it doesn't hurt. But how does it work? The parties can tick the box or to take it seriously and using as a mandate to build a transformative change in their own country, to work together with and translate it to the local circumstances, to work together with the education system, the other sectors, the business sectors, to save our natural assets for the future and restore and preserve the biodiversity what we need. Let's work together to achieve the latter one. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Catherine. Thank you for your support. and for that great presentation of the plan. Indeed, we do hope it goes forward positively, and it certainly won't end in 2028 or 2030. We see it as really essential for the goals for 2050 and also to live in harmony with nature. So thank you so much. I'm going to relieve everyone here on the podium, and we'll ask for our second set of speakers to come join us while we put new nameplates up on the stage. Thank you, Franka. So I'm pleased to welcome up to join me Dr. Dorcas Otieno. Is Dorcas in the room? No? No? Okay. Is Evelyn Wemali in the room? All right. And I will skip directly to Dr. Christian Porein, pedagogical lead at the German School in Nairobi and member of the Schools of Earth. Welcome to Christian. I'd like to welcome Dr. Margaret Otieno, CEO of the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya and chair of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication. It's my pleasure to also welcome Ms. Wara Iris Ruiz Condori. Welcome, Wara. Wara is an Aymara indigenous environmental journalist and youth leader from Bolivia working on climate change, biodiversity, and agrifood systems. Wara is also a former facilitator of the International Indigenous Youth Forum on Climate Change. Welcome, Wara. And welcome also to Ms. Aurora Gomez Espinoza. Welcome, Aurora. Also a member of the SIPA IAAC. Sorry, I failed to mention that at the beginning. Welcome to Aurora of the Global Youth Biodiversity Network. And Iris -- sorry, Laura and Aurora will be giving us perspectives on their very active role that they are playing in education for biodiversity. With that, I'm going to hand over to Christian for your presentation. And I'm hoping that Christian's slides are next in our list. So let's take a look. We'll all be surprised together. If we could just show the presentation slides. Oh, first you, we can pan along the audience. Excellent. So I think Dorcas is not with us. We will just skip-skip until she comes back, and we will start right here. Christian, it's my pleasure to hand the microphone over to you and to hear a bit about the amazing work that you're doing here in Kenya and with other schools around the world. So over to you, Christian.

Thank you very much. I don't know over there if there are any slides coming up or not. I'd be surprised, too. Oh, yeah, there we go. So at the German School Nairobi, We have learned that children do not protect nature just because we teach them about biodiversity. They protect it because they experience the nature, they value it, and finally, they hopefully will protect it. So that's why we try to engage students of every age at age-appropriate activities, just as Ms. Morata just mentioned for France. So for our youngest learners, Nature begins with a relationship. So our first graders, when they enter the German school, they plant a tree close by at the Karura Forest. So while they are growing in the classroom, their tree is growing in the forest. Our school garden becomes an outdoor classroom where children plant vegetables. And they learn that biodiversity is not an abstract concept, but it's something that eventually feeds us. So as students grow older, they move from experiencing to taking responsibility. They organize neighborhood cleanup campaigns. They participate in bike trains to promote a sustainable way of mobility. And when they graduate, they again go to the forest, plant a tree, leave the roots here while they are moving out of the country. Through these experiences, we think that they understand that even though the challenges are global, they are also local, and they can be part of the solutions in simple actions. So in secondary school, what we try is what I would say authentic learning. The students, they investigate real environmental challenges. Let me give you an example from last year. Our grade eight students, they were confronted with a simple fact, water is a human right. So they tried to explore this topic through six different subjects. They talked to experts from UNEP. They talked to scientists. And at the end, they organized a panel discussion with all the school leaders and the school community. So what started as a classroom project at the end led us to our Water Agenda 2030, so a commitment to run our campus more sustainably. That might be also in the next slide. So those are also some-- you see the cleanup campaigns. We cooperate with the WeCenter to get rid of our electric waste or to reuse it. You see the tree planting donation runs. So next slide is about the water agenda, and you might see someone familiar here. Yeah. So the key, however, for us is that those are not isolated projects. We try to follow a whole school approach, and that's also what I learned about France. They try a whole country approach, that's what I understood. And it's about participation, it's about decision-making, it's about leadership, as Ms. Chipman just mentioned. So biodiversity is embedded in our curriculum. It's also embedded in our campus, and it's also embedded in our traditions. So every year, new students continue what previous students started. And let me add one final thought. So research shows that young people learn best when they experience autonomy, when they experience competence and belonging. It also shows that resilience grows when they experience that their actions make a difference. And that is exactly what we want. We want our students to feel that not only biodiversity is worth protecting, but they could also be part of this protection. Thank you.

Christian, thanks so much. I was expecting a surprise picture in there, and I thought it would be my children hiking up Mount Kenya. So I'm really pleased that it's only me in a silly pose. Thank you so much. Very inspirational. And we'll come back also to you and others in the panel to hear more about also the challenges that you might have faced in making this happen because everyone loves to talk about how everything's successful, but we all know that there are barriers and challenges also to education. So we'll come back to that. First, we will be hearing from Margaret Otieno, and I'd love to hear more about the role of conservation education for youth. You're very actively supporting that here in Kenya, and the role of wildlife clubs also. Your slides may or may not be next, and so we're going to just peek into this presentation right now and see where you're at. This is Wara. Oh, right. So my great apologies because we need your slides. If you wouldn't mind, I will, while we get your slides ready, I'm going to skip right ahead. You don't have slides.

Oh.

That's such a relief.

Margaret, I'm going to hand straight over to you without slides. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, education, ecological education connects children, connects youth, connects communities with nature, equipping them with knowledge, the values and the skills to become. are lifelong stewards of biodiversity. So we talk about lifelong stewards of biodiversity, not just for now, but with the image of sustainability in mind. So that is exactly what the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya does. The Wildlife Clubs of Kenya is the largest school and youth environmental network in Kenya, and it was the first such organization that was formed in the continent of Africa and has been replicated by some countries both within the continent and outside the continent. We work with over 4,000 students schools composed of at least 400,000 students. And Christian, I'm really surprised that we haven't run any project with you. Thank you. So we have a curriculum that supports teaching and learning for biodiversity conservation. And this covers the entire country. And we have a curriculum that not only supports the delivery of the actual conservation challenges that are being experienced countrywide. But through the curriculum, biodiversity education curriculum, we also support schools to deliver the existing school curriculum. And that makes it very, very easy for us to be accepted in schools regardless of how crowded the school curriculum in Kenya, that is especially the public schools is. And the work that we do at the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya supports GBF Target 21, I hope we all know that, 22, Target 1.12, and Target 4. Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps I should have started by saying that I'm also the chair of the IUCN CEC. And the main thing that we do, our mandate as IUCN CEC is driving positive and behavioral change for people and the planet. And that's exactly what the wildlife clubs of Kenya does. So we have diverse activities and a key one is the ecology program. This involves connecting young people and communities, especially the school communities, to nature. It's really organized in such a way that we identify the protected and conserved areas and connect young people to these biodiversity so that they can learn and be transformed and also develop skills to take care of the biodiversity within there and the others within the country. And I would also like to emphasize that Our activities create greater appreciation and understanding of biodiversity. I have mentioned that our activities help in the delivery of the existing school curriculum. There is a question that came up, that is, how would I be able to tell that we are really succeeding in this? We believe we are doing our little thing. And this little thing is really creating a lot of impact. Today, if you meet any group of people who are involved in conservation and ask them how they decided to select conservation as a profession, 90% of them will tell you that they discovered their career path through their membership with Wildlife Clubs of Kenya. So the impact of our work is instant in that I have seen schools transform because the young people are involved in activities, hands-on activities such as tree planting. And there is a challenge that was pushed by the president and they wanted to see see how many trees can be planted by the young people and by the communities in Kenya. And I'm proud to announce today that the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya was declared actually the winner. We planted so many trees. Can you imagine? Because we have the numbers. I've just talked of at least 300,000 kids. If each of that Kid can plant 10 trees with support from the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya, so I believe that we have the critical mass to create a big difference, so that as the kids plant the trees, they not only... participate in biodiversity conservation, but it also get implanted in their minds. And that's why you find that even later when they become engineers, when they become lawyers, the kind of decisions they make as policy makers are influenced by the knowledge that they acquired when they were much, much younger. So apart from having conservation action, restoration action from these young people. We have also seen how we have shaped careers. We have seen how we, entire ecosystems have been transformed. And we actually have advocates and lifelong stewards. I believe the work of the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya really emphasizes the importance of biodiversity education as an enabler of conservation. And I see this as a template that can really support conservation initiatives globally. And that's why we are in support of the Global Plan of Action for Education for Biodiversity, and we were involved in the Education Day in Colombia, and I believe that this conversation will continue later in the year in Armenia. And yeah, we fully support it because we believe that it's an enabler for everything that we are fighting for. Thank you very much.

Margaret, thank you so much. It's amazing work that you're doing, and I'm very glad you'll be also helping us take forward the topic in Armenia on Education Day on October 27th. And I'm also very glad that you're sitting next to each other, and I hope that something will be spurred in terms of action here in Kenya. It's my pleasure to hand over now to Ms. Wara Iris Ruiz Condori. And Wara, we'd really love to hear from you as rights holders and as holders of knowledge on biodiversity. I would love to hear your perspective on the role of indigenous and traditional knowledge in biodiversity education. And I'm pleased to hand over to you. And I think we do have slides for you, so let me look. Next slide, please.

So maybe the next one. Okay, thank you so much for inviting me. I am part of the Youth Policy Board of the World Food Forum of FAO, so in the team of biodiversity, and that's why I'm here, invited. I'm also working with some indigenous organizations in the global term, and also I am very proud of my roots. I am Aymara people, so I think I will be sharing my experience. So next slide, please. Okay, thank you. So, okay. With Indigenous Peoples Rights International, the global organization I am working with, we had experience before even the decision 1610. from, uh, 2023, we had a project. Um, you know, I, I think it's from a different perspective because we cannot, um, I think, um, have some training for indigenous peoples about biodiversity because we, uh, really live whole treat biodiversity and how we could lead some, uh, activities that care for environment. So the perspective was how we could learn about the biodiversity framework, this international framework that has 23 targets. That's the main topic for indigenous people sometimes, even leaders that are elders and also young people in indigenous communities. And we had that kind of trainings in Brazil, Colombia, with indigenous communities, indigenous leaders. So it was a different perspective. And, you know, the biodiversity framework should be contextualized to every country, to every community, indigenous community. So the ecosystems across territories modified the perspective of the biodiversity framework, the GBF. And also, the different perspectives or world views of indigenous peoples has transformed also the priorities of the every target. Not all of the targets are very, are the focus of every indigenous community. So that was different. And also, education must be territorial and context specific. That was the main focus. We had this project like for two years and I think it's still ongoing. It needs to be followed by the communities and they are also strengthened in some workshops for having this knowledge to the younger generations. Now we have some indigenous leaders that they are following also these international sessions of the GBF and the CBD process. And we are also defending our territories, but with the international concepts. So for us, it was a different perspective. And the next slide, please. So we had some manuals. We had a general manual for indigenous peoples to understand the GBF, the GBF framework, and also a manual made from every country from Brazilian and Peruvian and also Colombian perspective. And it was not long manual. It was audiovisual and also community radio education in indigenous languages. And also we have been using dialogues with elders. So it was a different format of sharing this knowledge. Next slide, please. Okay. I think it is not the updated one. Okay. And another thing that I wanted to share, that's a personal project that I have been leading in Bolivia with young people. It is especially for indigenous youth that are migrating to the cities because they are losing their knowledge about how to protect seeds, for example, how to harvest, how to protect the land. So we had like a training in Amazon and Andean area for indigenous young women, especially because they are leading the the protection of seeds and also agricultural food systems in Bolivia. And right now we are like 100 young women that are leading not only the protection of biodiversity, but also the advocacy of biodiversity, because we know that we can protect. We are protecting already the land, but sometimes governments are not in the same, are not aligned with us. So that's why we also are trained in advocacy in a local stage. The goal is not teaching indigenous peoples how to conserve biodiversity. The goal is connecting indigenous knowledge with international frameworks like the upcoming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. understanding national biodiversity policies, strengthening political participation locally and internationally, protecting traditional knowledge like biofactors and other traditional knowledge that we are conserving, and empowering participation, not only awareness. That's very important for us. So I think -- I don't know if we have another slide. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So we promote that we have to co-create that format of education, that plan with indigenous peoples also. And this must be contextualized into different biomes, different worldviews, and it must be rights-based. the education plan that we could have in the next year. So thank you so much for this.

Thank you so much. It's a very inspirational example also the project that you mentioned. So I'd love to know more about it. And I thank you for your inputs and your flexibility also with the slides. So thank you. With so much of the world's biodiversity in the lands and the hands of indigenous peoples and local communities, the perspective that you've given is obviously essential. So thank you for joining us. And another essential group, it goes without saying, is youth. As Aurora boldly reminded the entire plenary just about an hour ago, you're not just another stakeholder group. You are the stakeholder group, I would say, and certainly the ones carrying forward the work in the future. So we're glad you're here. Thank you for joining us. Thank you for being on the SIPA AIAC. Thank you also to your organization for inputs to the draft plan. And thank you for your perspectives that you'll give us right now. So I'll hand to you. Thank you.

Okay. I don't know if you got my presentation.

No.

Okay, no. Okay, let's improve. What can I say? Given it's part of the CBD, we began existing here. And we do that we're already orbitating here in this space and ask if it was possible to create this community. That is in 2009, 2010. Now we have 70 chapters at national level and also organized at regional level, as you already see. I came from Mexico. We are the first national chapter actually in the story of GIVN. And we have been creating not just learning, we create so much different tools. We advocate in collaboration with national and subnational and local governments. We participate in universities. I lose the count how many times I've been not just the one learning, but the one sharing knowledge, talking about the CBD. The first time I do after this framework was adopted in 2022, I came back from COP15 and I go directly with the secretary of my state, the environmental person that directs my state. And I told her about this framework. She was not aware about this. And from there to now, we build this relationship that now is becoming in projects that are recovering biodiversity in the city, creating this local and at legal level. programs that we are fostering for citizen science for also this kind of how to enable people to change their behavior, their action. So what we propose at the plenary was this tiny change about education on biodiversity to for biodiversity because that's who we are advocating for. And maybe what nature is requiring for us is not just know about her, but learn from her if you decide to tell her. So how we can learn from nature or what we need to know, what we need to feel to actually advocate. And I want to ask you to each one of you, in which point you decide to take action, you decide to care for other being nature. Maybe it was At a really tiny age, maybe was with a grandparent or someone around you that showed you or where you share a important moment in your life. We are talking about transformative education, how to change the views, this domain view that right now we see in the world, and how we can transform people, institutions, organizations, governments to actually sustain in a different way. When you go and see what given is as organization, we have these values that are based on reciprocity, are based on beyond human, more than human, understand us as part of nature, and this kind of principles that are the ones that should be the guide to identify if the education we are leading is actually to that direction or is just a topic. Because it may be what nature requires for us is not just learn about their cycles, but we can learn also and understand time in other dimension. Me as biologist remember the time that Earth has been here and gonna be here after us. It's a place where I can also find refuge. But maybe it requires also to decide to have a political statement about things, to decide to care about health, care about other topics that are not directly related maybe apparently with nature, but so are the underlying causes. So we know that this is this political, social, ecological crisis. It's beyond everything, but it's based on nature. At the end, this is what we have. Here is where we live. It's what we are. So for me, nature and education, transformative education, it's about to lead this desire to take action, this desire to care for others, care for ourselves, and in that, We as youth are already doing that. We are bringing this information, we are creating the tools, we have the CBD in a nutshell that it's understand how this place works, not just to know where to find the room or how to go inside the plenary, but how to have impact, meaningful impact in what we are doing. And we have doing until now, you know us, we say giving and people know what we're talking about, we have some good experiences. at local level also, that is so important that we have, we are raised from local, we get here at global level, and then we came back to the local, and we still advocating in our reality. So just if you, if I can decide, just stay with one thing after my intervention is that you not only see us as the recipients, but co-creators with you, because we also have wisdom that came from different realities, came from you, came from, or even like what the Earth is requiring for us, that it's in the present, not on the future. So yeah, we are already here. Thank you.

Aurora, you're a natural, even without slides. Thank you so much. I understand we've been joined by Dorcas Otieno, founder and executive director of Kenya Organization for Environmental Education. So for the sake of time, I wanted to just request if Dorcas is here, please, we'll make space for you here, but please stay up while we open up for questions from those of you in the audience. Thank you, Astrid and Iman. So let me open up to see if there are any questions while we ask if Dorcas would like to join us up on the podium. Are there any, yes please. There are some microphones.

Yeah.

Over to you. Please introduce yourself and let us know if there's a specific person you would like to ask. A comment. No problem.

Hello everyone, my name is, okay, yeah. Um, I'm Bira Kamau with the African Wildlife Foundation, and I'd like to make two comments on the global plan of action for biodiversity. the intervention given made on the floor earlier is starting to be adopted. So we're very grateful for that. One note when you look at the draft is technology is not really featured. We know technology is not a silver bullet, but the current plan makes no mention of it as an enabler for supporting education or even as a recommended tactic. I know Astrid mentioned earlier that right now we have very many false narrative and the fake And one way it is being driven is through technology. So how do we ensure that the global plan for action for biodiversity education features technology? The second one is, I note especially very many countries today were saying that it needs to be based on national needs. The reality, especially I'm from Kenya, is that biodiversity really, education on biodiversity really happens in isolation. For example, we're partnering with WCK, yeah, on a project called the Young Conservation Heroes that is down in the southern part of the country near one of the largest national parks. And we know that if you just go and advance education alone without taking care of challenges like infrastructure, then it's not going to land. So that's why for Young Conservation Heroes project, for instance, there was even a provision to build boreholes for these schools, to build an ICT lab, because if you don't build these boreholes, then whatever you're trying to advance then does not become transformative. So I'm glad I also heard from some parties that biodiversity education cannot happen in isolation. We have to take care of these other connections, like infrastructure, for instance. Yeah. So in the global plan and Unfortunately, as it is right now, it does not strongly champion for that integration. So those would be my two interventions. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Excellent points, in particular about the need to look at things like technology and infrastructure when thinking about education. So I appreciate that very much. And we welcome those comments when we open up the plan for additional feedback, which you'll see very soon. Are there any other questions from the audience? Any questions for the panel? All right. I would like to give a few minutes just to Evelyn. And that means we need to jump back to the slides. Oh, we found them. Thank you so much to the fairies who are controlling this in the background. If I may skip to the next slide. So Evelyn, welcome. Thank you. I'm sorry about the challenges finding the room. Welcome to our our event. Evelyn Wemali Chechi is a lecturer in environmental education and climate at Kenyatta University. You're very welcome. We would love to hear your perspective on the role of biodiversity education in Kenya. And so the floor is yours in just very, very few short minutes, like four. Yeah, three. Okay, let's go.

Thank you, thank you, I appreciate. As you've been told, my name is Evelyn Maimale. I'm glad to be in this forum this afternoon. Maybe we can, I'm doing this on behalf of Dr. Sotieno, who is there. Dr. Sotieno, you may want to say hi to the. Welcome. Okay, next slide, please. So we are trying to tackle this, what role can NGOs play to advance education for biodiversity? And we are saying through empowering communities and schools for biodiversity restoration through the eco schools. And Dr. Adoka Sotieno is the director of eco schools in Kenya. Thank you. Next slide. So we are trying to contextualize our presentation and we are saying that Biodiversity education is well anchored in our national policy in this country through the competency-based education, which is emphasizing quite a lot on sustainability and environmental education as one of the pertinent and contemporary issues that is being handled at our education level. You're saying that when we look at our country as such, we have the opportunities and you also have, you're also vulnerable because of our various different climatic conditions across the country. And then those climatic conditions are having unique species, unique ecosystems that need to be conserved. And therefore, the need for all of us to play a role And that's where we are coming in now from the CEOs, okay, from the CSOs to try and see how do we partner with the education sector to be able to conserve biological diversity. Next slide. So COA is doing this through various approaches. One of them is using local actions through the eco schools. And as you can see from those photographs, we have like in the Gidiga Senior School in Kiambu, Kiambu, I think they're in Kiambu here in Nairobi. Yes, they have planted over a thousand Hass avocado trees as part of and food security and greening initiative, serving as a and also serving as a living learning resource for ecosystems and forests. Then also there's a project in Limuru Girls Senior School, Kiambu. And they have developed diverse woodlots that support biodiversity while serving as an outdoor living environment and also is a carbon sink. And then now in Umoja One, those of us come from Nairobi here, you may be conversant with those areas where they are promoting biodiverse conservation through aquaponics, fish farming, agroforestry, and tree planting. Next. Co is also doing this through resource mobilization and public action, and they're very, we are very much involved in global and environmental days, trying to leverage World Environmental Day and International Forest Days to mobilize schools. and communities. And so far, we have been able to plant various across the various areas that spaces that we have been involved. And then now through community corporate outreach, whereby we engage multi-sector groups, schools, CSOs, and so on, to try and also include activities like sports, tournaments, and in the school exchanges to try and create awareness. Through those forums we are able to try and we are able to create awareness about biodiversity and the need to plant trees, the need to care for them. And so by so doing, we are trying to empower the young, to empower the children, the learners in school to appreciate biodiversity in their various spaces. And then also through educational toolkits, a lot has been done by COI developing ESD toolkits, which also about the green enterprise development and guidebooks. A lot has been done to try and bring up these views on biodiversity conservation education. Next, please. Next slide. Okay. Okay, so we are trying to argue that biodiversity education will work best when it is experiential. Yes, so, and so let people get involved in doing something, not just in being aware, but in doing something. So you're talking about experiential, and then should be locally relevant. so that we are able to conserve what is in our local environment, because some people said, think globally but act locally. So we are saying, can it be locally relevant? And then the need for curriculum integration, so that these aspirations of biodiversity are integrated in the curriculum. And I'm glad that our own curriculum, CB, here has done that all the way from, I think, grade one. because I was involved a bit in doing that. And we have ensured that there are aspects of biodiversity, although you may not be calling it biodiversity, we are calling it living things in PP1 to PP3, I mean to grade three. And then now at the senior school, we are calling it biological diversity in grade 11 as we get there. And then now we are also saying that learning should become a more powerful Let us become more powerful ambassadors for biodiversity conservation. You can see those pictures. I was involved there in doing one of the activities in biodiversity conservation, how to manage bamboo. is here trying to help the young people plant trees. But over and above that, we are saying, let us embed biodiversity across the school curricula, both the formal and the non-formal, and even the informal. across the three dimensions, a curriculum dimension. And then we are saying, can we invest in teacher professional development? Because when you talk about experiential learning, there's a process, there's a way of doing it, not just going to plant trees, but engaging learners through experiential learning. It is a process and maybe some of our teachers may not be very much and maybe knowledgeable about how to do that. So we are talking about investing in teacher professional development and then supporting whole school approaches such as the eco schools that we have talked about and then promoting outdoor and nature based learning. I'm glad the presenter that was presented before I came in talked about that. We are not going to achieve this in a classroom situation like this one here. Let us go outside there and be able to demonstrate that which we know. And then we are saying empowering youth leadership. I'm glad as I came in, one of the presenters, the youth, they're talking about it and this makes me very happy about it. Then we are talking about strengthening partnerships among government, civil society, private sector, and local. communities. It will start, it will happen from the ground, not happening elsewhere, happening from the ground. And then develop indicators that measure behavior change and not just only awareness. We rest our case. Next slide, I think is the last one. Thank you.

Ellen and Dorcas, thank you so much for these examples. They are very inspirational and I think find great resonance with what many of us are thinking and feeling in the room. On a personal level, I would say it's very inspiring to hear from all of you. I love hearing what's happening on the ground, what is possible, and I really look forward to more of these discussions over the coming years as we really try to advance education. We are, we won't have a lot of time in today's session, so I have just one question for you before I will ask my colleague, Yu Yu from UNESCO to help us wrap up. But it seems to me that we have excellent examples, we have excellent educators, we have wonderful students, we have amazing information, we have good policies, and so why, why isn't our job yet complete, right? What do we still need to do? And that's my question for everyone who'd like to answer it now. What is one barrier? What is one thing you think needs to be done in order to really advance education for biodiversity or on biodiversity? Sorry, I have to go with the COP decision tells me. Let me know, what is missing? What do we need to do more of? What's holding us back? And that's what I'm going to ask you before we wrap up. Not an easy question, maybe, but I'm going to start. I'm just looking right here at Aurora because she's right next to me, and then you can expect you'll all be next. Thanks.

Okay. I think what we need is open the space to all who are already making something. We are already doing the job. So recognize us as right holders, not just stakeholders. And from there, you're going to find governments, institutions, organizations, so much people and so much things that are already there to be used, to be scaled, to be collaborated, the synergies. So I think it's really open how to collaborate, how to contribute. We have so good, not like the normal, but we have some good examples. Some of you have some good examples. So you're gonna have an excellent experience if you start to see us as collaborators, civil society, youth, women, indigenous people. And yeah, we have so much creativity, so much ways. We already know how to do so much with so little. that, yeah, it's gonna be awesome if we are able to have this level of participation we didn't have until now. Thank you.

Thank you. Now I'm looking at you, Margaret. Are you ready? What is one thing you think we need?

Thank you. The one thing that I think is still missing is that There has to be intentional integration of biodiversity education in the school curriculum, uh, starting from the lowest level possible up till university and colleges. We also need to avail finances to build the capacity for the educator so that we have more educators and so that we address the concerns of the intervening variables such as the school infrastructure and generally making the schools a green learning space. I think if we address those two, we'll be able to achieve even more results. Thank you.

Thank you, Margaret. Evelyn, over to you. The mic is still warm for you.

Personally, I think that let's begin with the teacher. If the teacher understands and loves biodiversity, then we'll be able to impact the learners. And I can imagine the many learners that go through a teacher's hands. So if this teacher embraces biodiversity education, then he'll be able to impact the learners, and then the chain will continue. Thank you.

Thank you so much. I'll hand over to the teacher right now and let Christian respond.

Yeah, I can strongly agree. It's not the lack of commitment by the teachers. Teachers care about young learners and their futures. So I was very happy when I read building capacities for teachers. I think that's really something useful for us. Also, university, I researched There was a study in Germany that throughout 63 universities, in 86% of the teacher education program, sustainability was not present, absent. So it needs to go to the universities first, then to the teachers, and then to the classroom. And let me add something else that I heard so many times, but maybe to just put it in a nutshell, I think nature is also such a great learning environment. There are so many studies showing that if you learn in nature, you learn better. So let's use that strength to not only protect biodiversity for the nature, but also for the education side.

Thank you, Christian. And now, Laura, I would like to ask, what is one thing that you think is missing? What's needed? What do we need to do more or less of? Over to you.

That's a very difficult answer, I think, because for many years as a young people I have been like, youth is always improving workshops, some experience, natural experience with all of the young people. And sometimes the work is still there, there, there. And maybe sometimes we say that the work never will be done. Sometimes it's very difficult. And I think we must be resilient about that as nature. So for me, it's never ending work, I think. And that's like a compromise sometimes because, and I think that will be one thing I will recommend the intergenerational work, young people, elder people must be very interconnected in the knowledge sharing. And sometimes it's very difficult because we are from different areas, more digital and other not that digital. So I think that's a challenge, but we have to be very resilient about that. We must be with intergenerational connections and also taking into account the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples. And I think we don't have, like our elders are teachers, our teachers. And the teachers are not only in the schools, are in our homes, in our community. So maybe thinking about outside that we could have a community and maybe see us as a community and not just a school, it could be awesome. So the knowledge could be not only done in the school, but also every day and every minute for the, for young people and all of the children. So let's keep working. Yeah, be resilient. Be resilient. I think it's very difficult, but be resilient because nature deserves our work. Yeah, thank you.

Thank you so much. Several of you mentioned the word awesome, and you've all been extremely awesome, so I really appreciate everyone's perspectives. And I think that also Catalin would like to just say a word. Yes, what's one thing, Catherine?

The question was on Natalie's slide.

So if we think that.

Okay, the education we can think about teachers, teacher education, and schools, but she mentioned media and the public officers.

So.

If we extend the education in the formal and non-formal and informal education, and the whole society supports that, Otherwise, what we learn in the school, we stay like marks and everything, one subject, and we live in a different way. So to have a big school creates synergies between these different arenas.

Absolutely. Role of media. Many people talked about radio also. I mean, yes, absolutely right. So we have a big job ahead of us. I hear what you're telling me. I'm ready. and I'm happy to take it on with all of you. Thank you for your inputs. It's my pleasure to hand over the microphone to my co-organizer and colleague from UNESCO, Yu Yu Zhu, who will be giving us some closing remarks. Over to you. I give you the podium.

Thank you, Liz, for the podium. I wouldn't be bold enough to summarize such a wonderful conversation here. I'm so touched, and this is everything that UNESCO stands for, communication, and also young people and community-based education and connect our formal and informal education on the sites, in nature and in every space that we can find at all levels. So before we let you go, just perhaps one word on how UNESCO got here and also try to answer this question from our perspective. Of course, it starts with with decision 16/10, but not only that. We were here because of staggering reality that education has always been sitting on the edge of conservation. Our ADG have talked about how many countries have integrated nature into their curriculum, so which means 18% of countries haven't done so yet. And even for the teachers who wanted to do so, for the most of times we heard from them, they don't know how. They haven't been given material, they haven't been given expertise. They wanted so much to do it. Even from developed countries like Canada, they were still struggling how to make it happen at national level and local level. So here we are. We were summoned by this reality. We were summoned by you through this COP decision, but also by your colleagues from Ministry of Education at your capital. They have once been sitting in another negotiation room and give UNESCO this mandate of education for sustainable development, where nature and biodiversity education is the key pillar of that work. So since 20 years, UNESCO has been doing that work with what was a global network of Ministry of Education, institutions, teachers, like what we bring you here today, and also communities. and our local partners, and have been trying to do so with also UNESCO designated sites, which are designated space and rooms that have infrastructure for this kind of education to happen. So the mandate already exists, it's yours, but what hasn't been done enough is that we haven't been working together enough. We have this ESG document, well, this ESG mandate there that we're working with all of our capacity, but it hasn't been able to get so many different partners together if CBD didn't invite us to do this together. So colleagues, what we have been discussed today will be brought to your event. This is just a prologue, not a conclusion. So here I'd also like to address you with a warm welcome to the education day at COP17. which will take place on the 27th October. So what are we going to do with this day? We want you to go home with something that you can put to work immediately, with a plan, with a clear clue that who you can go to when you need help, and with all kind of inspiration ideas that you can do with classrooms, in nature and with communities. So that is the purpose of this day, and that is also our request to you, if I may, to share with us your concerns, your suggestions, your best practices, so we can make this event truly relevant and useful to all of you. So that's it. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you to our wonderful panelists and to all of you who stayed till the end with us. Thank you, everyone. Yeah. Yeah. But I know that it's a really big event. Everybody's looking forward to seeing it. It's such a beautiful thing.