That same year, the IDEA Public Association and Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Education’s Center for Environmental Education and Practice continued implementing their joint environmental education program for schoolchildren named “Protect the Environment Together.” The program aimed to instill a respectful attitude towards nature in the younger generation, enhance their environmental knowledge, and engage them in solving environmental issues. Throughout 2016, the program involved organizing trainings in eco-clubs at pilot secondary schools in the capital, covering topics such as ecology basics, plant and animal ecology, human ecology, urban ecology or future cities, climate change, alternative energy, waste management, biodiversity and its protection, forest ecology, and eco-friendly green tourism.
It is globally recognized that poverty elimination measures must be taken alongside efforts to boost economic growth and address a range of issues in education, healthcare, social protection, and employment, as well as combating climate change and protecting the environment.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev declared 2024 the “Year of Solidarity for a Green World,” making the hosting of COP29 in Azerbaijan a significant event that underscores the country’s role and importance in the global green movement. In anticipation of the eco-forum, there is a fundamental review of strategies and approaches to environmental issues that have been considered problematic in our country for years.
For example, issues such as illegal logging and destruction of greenery for construction, as well as challenges related to the reduction of drinking water and lowering of the Caspian Sea level are being addressed. In preparation for the forum, city authorities are tackling air pollution by expanding pedestrian areas, reducing the number of cars in the city center, and Azerbaijan will soon transition to the Euro-5 fuel standard, encouraging citizens to switch from old vehicles to environmentally friendly transportation options such as bicycles and scooters.
Additionally, there is active promotion of a healthy lifestyle and environmental preservation in middle educational institutions. The main goal of this initiative is to enhance environmental education and awareness of critical ecological issues among children, teenagers, and the youth in general.
Concepts such as mentality and value systems are being updated, which need to be instilled from early childhood so that children can carry this information and practical skills throughout their lives. Therefore, environmental education should cover all ages and become a priority. In this modern era, forming and studying the system of environmental education in higher and middle educational institutions and various industrial sectors is the most important task in addressing these issues.
It is noted that in the 1970s and 1980s, Baku schools had so-called “young naturalist clubs” (akin to European “scouts”), and during labor classes, boys crafted birdhouses from plywood, conducted joint community clean-ups, during which students and teachers together cleaned the school territory, painted and planted trees, and planted flowers. Puppies and kittens were brought to the schoolyard, children played with the animals, and teachers explained how to care for them, teaching respect and love for our smaller brothers, and children shared information about their pets.
Typically, all these practical activities were part of the “Nature Study” lesson. After the fall of the Iron Curtain in the late ’80s and ’90s, the school curriculum changed many times, and gradually, practical lessons on love for nature disappeared. However, in 2008, the Ministry of Education began to consider reintroducing ecology lessons in schools, as the educational process and the foundation of good are laid in the earliest childhood. Periodically, lectures and seminars were held in schools, students were informed about the ecological state of Azerbaijan, and they received answers to their questions.
Today, in the run-up to COP29, ecological education is being taken very seriously. Within the framework of educational projects in Baku and its surroundings, various events will be held, including ecological workshops, sorting and studying seedlings, setting up containers for plastic waste management, tree planting and coastal clean-up campaigns, and development of small-scale environmental projects by children and teenagers. These practical activities will help develop specific skills among teenagers, as today, more than ever, humanity faces the need to change its attitude towards nature and ensure the appropriate education and upbringing of the new generation.
Moreover, Dr. Zahid Mammadov, in his interview with Report, made an interesting proposal for creating a “Green” university, which, according to him, would help form a qualified workforce necessary for ensuring a “green” transition in a timely manner, as there is currently a shortage of professionals in green banking and insurance in Azerbaijan. In this sense, creating a “Green” university in Azerbaijan is a necessity. On one hand, this would alleviate the “staff hunger,” and on the other, it would instill a “green” culture in society. This is necessary because Azerbaijan is essentially a paradise on earth, a country that contains all climatic zones, many beautiful lakes and rivers, forests and mountains, mud volcanoes and the Caspian Sea. All this is our heritage, which must be preserved by the current inhabitants and their descendants.
Yana Madatova
This article was prepared with financial support from the Azerbaijan Republic Media Development Agency under the “Physical and Spiritual Development of Youth” program.
Translated from Minval.az
