
Italian Ministry for the Environment and Territory
Education for Environment and Sustainability
Activities of the Italian Ministry for the Environment and Territory
The Italian Ministry of Environment and Territory, as required
by its institutive law (law 349/1986), is actively engaged in the field of education
for environment and SD, especially focusing on promoting public awareness. Education
is considered a crucial tool to support environmental and sustainable development
policies, aiming at promoting public consciousness of environmental matters
and behaviours in harmony with the nature and human beings.
In order to bring together the various actors involved in activities of environmental
education, the National System for Environmental Education, Information
and Training (INFEA) has been established in Italy. It is an innovative
integrated system directly involving State and Regions in the programming and
financing of initiatives. The System operates on the ground through a network
of “Environmental Education Centres” (about 140 centres), established by local
institutions and managed in cooperation with various stakeholders, like environmental
associations, private enterprises, universities. The centres, some of them located
within protected natural areas, promote and support projects of environmental
education for various categories of learners. Projects for children are carried
out within or in cooperation with schools, on specific themes like water, waste,
air pollution etc. The activities carried out are focused, inter alia, on the
dissemination of information on the local and global state of the environment,
on the ways to achieve sustainable development objectives, the changes required
in individual and collective behaviours; they operate in a synergetic way with
the concrete measures of environmental policy. Recently, the centres have also
undertaken the role of facilitating the dialogue between civil society and local
administrators within Local Agenda 21 processes.
http://www.minambiente.it/SVS/infea/infea.htm
The Ministry for the Environment publishes every couple of years a national
report on the state of environment. In 2002 an ad hoc version for kids
of such report, named RSA Junior, has been produced for schools, aiming at promoting
the environment-related knowledge in all its complexity. The main objective
of this educational process is to avoid an approach based on the “sense of disaster”
and to promote behaviours that lead to the prevention of environmental problems
or, at least, to the identification of the best solutions to face them. http://www.minambiente.it/Sito/pubblicazioni/Collana_RSA/RSA_junior/RSAjunior_indice.asp
The role of school is fundamental, as the first context of
personal growth and development of a correct and healthy behaviour. Education
for sustainable development should neither only be a separate teaching subject,
nor should it be identified by some specific contents, since it is a dynamic
and cross-cutting process, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary. It therefore
requires the involvement of all relevant governmental sectors and stakeholders.
Well-structured inter-ministerial cooperation between the Ministry for
the Environment and Territory and the Ministry of Education, University and
Research is in place since 1987. It has leaded to a Chart of
principles on environmental education, approved in Fiuggi in 1997 http://www.minambiente.it/SVS/biblioteca/cartaprincipi.htm.
On this basis the 1st national conference on environmental education has been
jointly organised in year 2000 in Genoa; the second national conference
will be held on 17-20 November 2004 in Tuscany (Lucca). An agreement between
the two Ministries is under way, aimed at developing training programmes
for teachers on the topic of sustainable development.
In year 2004 the Italian Ministry for Environment has become partner to the
MEDIES Initiative (Mediterranean Education Initiative for Environment
& Sustainability). The Italian version of the educational package
“Water in the Mediterranean” has been presented during the “International Forum
on Partnerships for Sustainable Development” held in Rome, 4-6 March 2004.
Among other initiatives promoted by Italian Ministry of Environment, the REC
(Regional Environmental Centre for Central an Eastern Europe) project
“UMANA DIMORA”, aiming at facilitating networking between environmental
NGOs in South-Eastern Europe, includes training activities. http://www.rec.org/REC/Programs/SEE_Networking
Bilateral cooperation with China in the environmental sector
includes a project for the creation of an environmental education centre and
training for local authorities
Italy will host the 3rd world congress on environmental education
in autumn 2005 in Turin.
For more information on the Italian Ministry for the Environment and Territory
please visit http://www.minambiente.it/Sito/home.asp Last Updated Thursday, June 10 2004 @ 10:55 AM PDT
|