Education

Formal training may be carried out during classroom instruction or indirectly through training teachers. To support teachers, the UNCCD, in cooperation with UNESCO has produced a teacher’s kit, Learning to Combat Desertification, for primary schools and a Teaching Resource Kit for Drylands Countries for secondary schools. The kit is used as a tool in the education initiatives under the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014). It is available through UNESCO's Associated Schools Project Network (ASPnet) with a total of 8,000 schools in 177 countries.
 

Another example comes from Mongolia, where a learning kit about the causes of desertification has recently been launched by a coalition of NGOs and donors, targeted to students in seventh and eighth grade. The illustrated kit includes a teacher’s manual, student’s book and textbook, picture cards, board game and a promise tree. It is currently being tested as part of a program of eco-schools.  In Spain, the organization IPADE created an educational resource about the sources and solutions to desertification, which included an online activity where users can plant trees in  Peru.

 

 

The UNCCD’s informal education programme targets everyone, from school-age children to adults. The cartoon booklet "There is no rug big enough to sweep the desert under" by cartoonist Lupo Alberto, tells the story of drought on an animal farm, and gives examples on how to conserve water, preserve forest cover and promote sustainable agriculture.

 

The Convention also promotes non-formal education by promoting the transfer of indigenous knowledge and traditional practices across generations, exchange visits and activities that involve communities. This is done through documentation of examples and best practices of traditional knowledge submitted to the UNCCD secretariat by parties.

 

 

The UNCCD depends on the efforts of many partners as well as parties for education efforts. As signatories to the convention, parties commit to conduct education and awareness raising activities about desertification, land degradation and drought. In their reports to the UNCCD, parties are requested to report on efforts undertaken by civil society organizations and science and technology institutions, including education initiatives.

 

The UNNCD is also using new forms of communication for non-formal education. At COP 10, a Korea-based computer game development firm introduced Treeplanet, a downloadable game for smart phones. Gamers must care for the tree with water and fertilizer, and once the tree reaches maturity, sponsors donate a real tree as part of their efforts to combat desertification in Mongolia.  So far more than 100,000 users have played the game, and 50,000 trees have been planted in the desert of Mongolia.

 

 

To heighten awareness of the issue of desertification and strategically link a variety of education and awareness raising activities together, the United Nations declared that 2010-2020 the United Nations Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification (UNDDD). In declaring the Decade, the United Nations drew attention to two things: first, increasing desertification in all regions, especially in Africa; and second, its implications for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, more specifically, poverty eradication and environmental sustainability.