Do you remember being outside for one of your school lessons? Given the way the outdoors is a fun way of translating classroom theory into real life, the chances are you will!

For World Environment Day, UN Environment’s Europe Office and the naturalist and documentary-maker David Attenborough called on schools to connect pupils with nature and hold one of their lessons outdoors around 5 June.

“This World Environment Day, I encourage you to enrich your curiosity and enjoy a lesson in the nature. We are very much a part of it - wherever you are from and whatever you are studying,” Sir David underlined in the call.

As a result, scores of schools from as far afield as Poland, Algeria, Russia, Ukraine, Malta, Republic of the Congo, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia and as many as 30 from Bosnia and Herzegovina celebrated the day by lighting children’s passion to care for the environment.

The 11th grade students from the Elias Canetti Vocational School of Economics and Management in Ruse, Bulgaria, celebrated the Day by having their English lesson in the open. The students shared their ideas of protecting the environment and raised awareness of this global issue by reading self-written essays on the problem.

Around 30 children meanwhile attended UN a visit to an Elk Farm in Russia’s Kostroma region organized by UN Environment involving animal feedings, an eco-quest and education session.

Most of the children had previously “only seen dogs and cats,” said Nadezhda Stepanova, one of their teachers. “Yet here they came into contact with the forest, listened to nightingales sing and could feed elks and their calves. I think that this connection to nature will live in their hearts for a long time,” she enthused.

In Obolon elementary and high school in Kiev, Ukraine, teachers gave an English lesson amidst nature. The students were reminded of the benefits nature provides, such as food, clothing and shelter. “Nature’s gifts are often hard to value in monetary terms, like clean air, they are often taken for granted,” they concluded.

The elementary school students discussed the importance of preserving wildlife, while secondary school students focused on how to make their nearby surroundings safe and clean to enjoy a safer, cleaner and more prosperous future. At the end of the lesson the students agreed that everyone was responsible for saving their environment.

Pupils from the Antuna Branka Šimića primary school in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina visited a farm, park and river clearly connected with nature for the day, as upon their return they decided to clean the school yard!

Biology was meanwhile taught outdoors in Gomel Gymnasia, Belarus “as a gesture of solidarity with our planet and its resources”, as well as in the Gheorghe Sincai school in Salaj, Romania.

San Lawrenz school in Malta set up a reading corner in the school orchard. There, children “either read, have lessons or just enjoy the chirping of birds in this quiet corner,” said Professor Saviour Tabone.

The Helen Keller Resource Centre in Malta also brought children outdoors for a memorable lesson amid nature, as did the E-Matthieu Institute in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo; and the Zespół Szkół 3 school in Legionowo, Poland.

We know that - if touched by nature early on in their lives - children can be spurred to protect our world and help ensure its sustainability as they grow up.

“There isn’t a child that doesn't get filled by wonder by nature, even from a very early age,” Sir David underlined.

For more information contact isabelle.valentiny@unenvironment.org or mark.grassi@unenenvironment.org

UN Environment’s Brussels Office has mobilised tens of thousands of Europeans to connect with nature on and around 5 June.

Events on the ground organised included an exhibition, a film screening followed by a panel discussion and participation in a major public event in one of the largest parks in Brussels.

Meanwhile, in order to secure political commitments for a connection with nature to be kept in future, a video campaign was launched with key European Union policymakers and politicians. There, they committed to step-up their engagement for the environment or shared their personal experiences of it.

Awareness-raising for the day began in March with the launch of a Forest City Project exhibition. Through stunning photography of forests and illustrations on 10 large exhibit cubes, Brussels citizens were invited to reconnect with nature in the city environment and join the global movement in the run up to World Environment Day. Around 30,000 citizens are estimated to have viewed the exhibition.

Diving, backpacking or strolling through urban gardens are some of the ways European Union officials connect with nature. Given the importance of their connection to it, the policymakers told of how they are committed to protect nature in a video produced for World Environment Day.

EU Commissioner for the Environment Karmenu Vella for example spoke of a plan to better manage Natura 2000 areas – the largest network of protected sites in the world. The move that will “encourage our biodiversity to recover and grow and that will bring people back to nature,” he stressed.

The video was produced by UN Environment in collaboration with the European Commission’s Natura2000 Network, the European Parliament Intergroup on Biodiversity, Climate Change and Sustainable Development and the United Nations Regional Information Centre in Brussels.

Meanwhile, over 15,000 people attended Brussels’ Fête de l’Environnement, where UN Environment had a stand together with partners. An online survey developed in three languages for the event explored visitors’ relationship with nature and its importance for our wellbeing. The marine environment is the most popular place to connect with nature, it revealed.

A CINE-ONU screening of A Plastic Ocean furthermore raised awareness on the problem of marine litter among the 275 viewers attending. A rich panel discussion take place with the film’s producer Jo Ruxton to cap off a wide variety of events and political action garnered in one of the EU’s seats of power.

To view the video with EU policymakers click here. For more information please contact alexa.froger@unenvironment.org

Bosnia and Herzegovina is doubling the proportion of land area to be classified as protected from 2% of its territory to at least 4%, in a political commitment ensuring citizens can connect with nature in the spirit of World Environment Day.

From mountain peaks to the Adriatic Sea, bubbling thermal springs and crawling beetles, plants or fish unique to the country, Bosnia and Herzegovina is truly rich in nature.

Under the move to increase the country’s protected area, the ‘Mediteranetum’ Botanical reserve in Neum, the Miljacka river spring and Govještica caves, the Livanjsko polje Ramsar site, the Rakitnica river canyon, Tišina and Mt. Orjen - Mt. Bijela Gora are all sites where development is to be strictly controlled and measures introduced to protect wildlife. New areas are shown on this map in yellow and orange while existing ones are in grey.

This major initiative is part of a project run by UN Environment and the Global Environment Facility and will allow people to connect even more nature and enjoy the benefits it brings.

Local government representatives and NGOs from each of the areas set to be reclassified were among the 150 people gathering in Sarajevo on 5 June in the Botanical Garden of the country’s National Museum.  

There, they highlighted the benefits brought by protecting nature and attended a musical and ballet performance with performers dressed ‘in nature’. A panel discussion was held with managers of protected areas, experts and researchers.

In order to celebrate World Environment Day, national parks in the Canton of Sarajevo were also opened for free across Bosnia on 5 June – handing citizens the opportunity to explore such natural wonders.

Citizens were invited to get out of the city for a day to visit natural sites including the gushing Skakavac Waterfalls, Bijambare Cave, Mt. Trebević and River Bosna’s natural spring. Some 1200 people visited the Vrelo Bosne spring alone, while more than 30 schools also held lessons outdoors to celebrate the Day.

Meanwhile, we all know that witnessing nature’s beauty can require a little patience or digging – whether waiting for an elusive bird to reappear or searching for worms or fungi underfoot.

In the same way, in order to support journalists digging for stories, a media workshop was organised by UN Environment and partners at the Šabiæi School in Nature near Mt. Bjelašnica – one of the new areas to be protected - on 31 May.

There, conservation professionals, NGO representatives and academia presented journalists with information on environmental issues rarely reported on, together with the human stories behind them.

The Botanical Garden event was organized by the Environmental Protection Fund of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is supported by UN Environment and facilitated by McCann Sarajevo.

For more information contact amina.omicevic@unenvironment.org

Towns and cities across the pan-European region joined forces to raise awareness of the need to protect the environment by lighting landmarks in green on 5 June.

Sava River bridge and Albania Palace in Belgrade, Serbia; the Kok-Tobe tv tower in Almaty, Kazakhstan; Château de Chambord in France, the Old Bridge of Mostar in Sarajevo, Bosnia – a UNESCO World Heritage site – the Mole Antoneliana in Torino, municipal halls in Milan and Venice, and the St Peter’s and San Ponziano churches in Spoleto, Italy were among the vast variety of buildings taking part.

By lighting up green, a very visible and symbolic message was sent out promoting a different way of living for the cities of tomorrow.
Watch a video of the European landmarks by clicking here.

 
Globally, Niagara Falls, Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio, the world’s tallest building - Dubai’s Burj Khalifa - and some of its oldest - the Egyptian pyramids, and many more went green on 5 June.  

For more information write to catherine.beltrandi@unenvironment.org