WORLD ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION DAY
26 de January de 2023
January 26th is World Environmental Education Day, held with the aim of raising public awareness to preserve and protect the environment.
The Declaration on the Human Environment, the final document of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment —held in the Swedish city of Stockholm on June 5th-16th 1972— states the need to use educational tools in response to the environmental problems.
This document states that the goal of environmental education is “that the world’s population should become aware of the environment and be interested in it and the problems related. They should also have the knowledge, attitudes, skills, motivation and desire needed to work individually and collectively in the search for solutions to current problems and to prevent those that might arise from now on.”
A few years later, the Assembly of the United Nations introduced the concept of sustainable development which transforms the concept of environmental education into that of education for sustainability.
In September 2015 the General Assembly of the United Nations, with the agreement of 193 countries, approved the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDGs are environmental, social and economic objectives that guide the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.
SDGs are universal, transformative and inclusive and aim to ensure a sustainable, peaceful, prosperous and equitable life throughout the world, for everyone now and in the future. Education is both a goal in itself and a way to achieve the rest of SDGs. It is not only an essential part of sustainable development, but also a key instrument for achieving it.
OSDG 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
The seas and oceans guarantee climate stability and allow the Earth to be a habitable planet. Unfortunately they are under intense pressure; they receive large amounts of pollutants, particularly from the mainland (chemicals, especially from agriculture, and all types of plastics, among others), and they suffer from over-exploitation of fish resources.
SDG 14 addresses the serious problems affecting the seas and oceans. Its aim is to protect and managing marine and coastal ecosystems in a sustainable way, with the prospect of preserving at least 10% of all these areas. Furthermore, it must be possible to preserve fishing by promoting fishing systems that enhance the capacity of ecosystems to regenerate.
Education in L’Aquàrium de Barcelona.
L’Aquàrium de Barcelona opened in 1995 with a remarkable educational vocation and with the clear objective of showing citizens the possibility experiencing the sea world first-hand. A privileged space for understanding the biodiversity of marine ecosystems and Mediterranean species, and to send a message about the need and importance of their conservation.
At L’Aquàrium de Barcelona we are sure that the best way to protect the sea and its inhabitants is by making them known and bringing them closer to the people, showing their beauty as well as their fragility.
The protection of the marine ecosystem and the conservation of its species are two of the most important tasks that have led L’Aquàrium to be recognised as a Mediterranean Marine Conservation Centre.
Under the motto “know to love, love to protect, and protect to preserve” L’Aquàrium de Barcelona wants to advertise the sea in order to raise awareness of the importance of its conservation.
L’Aquàrium de Barcelona has a long experience and career in environmental education, through activities providing support, advice and training to citizens — both at school level and for the general public —. There are ongoing campaigns of activities that encourage the involvement of citizens in the protection of the sea and living organisms, and in the conservation of the marine ecosystem.
This year L’Aquàrium de Barcelona has launched the Elegance of the penguin, a new season of activities where the penguins are protagonists. Will you miss it?
At L’Aquàrium de Barcelona we work for the sustainability and conservation of the marine ecosystem..