Climate change education and mitigation in primary schools in Guangdong Province

  • Country: China
  • Organisation: Zhongshan Xiaolan Low-carbon Development & Promotion Center
  • Support area: Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions
  • IKI funding: 107,085 euros
  • Project start: 01/01/2023
  • Project end: 31/12/2024
  • Website: www.zcllc.cn

Zhongshan City is located in the Pearl River Delta Region of Guangdong Province in China. Compared to other low carbon initiatives, climate change education can still be greatly expanded. The IKI Small Grants project promotes climate change education and emissions reduction in primary schools in Zhongshan City. The organisation trains teachers and develops training materials for children’s needs. 212 primary schools benefit from the education project, while NGOs and teachers outside Zhongshan City get access to the training materials.

INITIAL SITUATION

Children are the most vulnerable and likely to suffer from climate change. Moreover, education is an essential component and a catalyst for responding to global climate change. Climate change is a challenging subject for many teachers, especially at primary schools. Also, there are no training materials tailored to the situation in China, the age of the children and their needs. The IKI Small Grants Project therefore promotes climate change education and emission reduction in primary schools in Zhongshan City.

TARGET GROUP

This IKI Small Grants project targets schools in Shenwan and Xiaolan town, working closely with them to develop training materials. Subsequently, the training materials will be used to implement low-carbon education in ten primary schools. Indirect beneficiaries of the project include 212 primary schools (335,000 students) in Zhongshan City, parents and relatives, as well as NGOs and teachers outside Zhongshan City. These have access to the peer learning network and help to improve the project.

APPROACH AND ACTIVITIES

The IKI Small Grants project strengthens the climate change education in primary schools in Zhongshan City. Students of at least 10 primary schools are equipped with the knowledge on climate change and the skills of climate mitigation. They learn how to draw up a campus greenhouse gas inventory report and about the main sources of carbon emissions. All primary students in Zhongshan City have access to climate change education and get the ability to make changes in the campus and to act as multiplies by introducing and inspiring sustainable practices in their families and households. More specifically:

Teachers and students receive training material regarding climate change education and mitigation of greenhouse gases. The training material is jointly developed with the guidance of external experts. The project team further improves and perfects the training materials while assisting the teachers in carrying out climate change education. The training material for climate change education is available online.

The project includes capacity buildings for teachers and activities for students. All partern schools  will be supported in carrying out climate change education. The project team assists them in establishing a lecturer team of science teachers and volunteers. The lecturer team is responsible for organizing and coordinating training, second class activities and extracurricular activities. The project team conducts a training of trainers program to strengthen the lecturer team’ capacity to deliver accurate information, integrate local content, promote critical thinking on climate change and show ways how to take action on climate change mitigation.

A training further supports the partner schools to carry out a greenhouse gas inventory report. This helps to identify carbon emission sources, to collect the valid data, and to calculate the carbon emission. The project team launches low carbon champions awards and encourages the ten primary schools to draw up a carbon reduction implementation plan of their campus according to their greenhouse gas inventory report.

ABOUT THE ORGANISATION

Founded in 2011, Zhongshan Xiaolan Low-carbon Development & Promotion Center (ZXLDPC) is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to sharing knowledge to promote regional sustainable development. It researches and shares global best practices with local governments, enterprises, and the public. As a link, ZXLDPC connects them closely and provides them with a platform for joint planning and implementation of low-carbon projects to advance the realisation of low-carbon goals. Its mission is to promote the sustainable economic, social, and sustainable development of the city.