The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), through the Autonomous Agency for National Parks and the National Centre for Environmental Education, the Biodiversity Foundation and the Spanish Office for Climate Change, and the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, have today submitted to the Council of Ministers the Environmental Education Action Plan for Sustainability (PAEAS). a key tool to strengthen the role of society as an agent of change in the ecological transition process.
The PAEAS contains the strategic lines of environmental and sustainable education in Spain for the next 5 years, offering a coordinated framework to reinforce, from the mechanisms of social and cultural influence – communication, education, training and participation – those policies that must face climate and environmental challenges.
The preparation of the PAEAS seeks to reflect the diagnosis of the current situation of environmental education in Spain and to promote the strategic areas of action, as well as the objectives, main measures and specific actions to be developed by the different Administrations, entities, organizations and agents involved.
Among the main objectives of this plan are the promotion of information, awareness and awareness of society to increase their participation in decision-making processes; to promote a change in our way of relating to the environment, which allows us to deepen and accelerate the ecological transition; and to reinforce the role of environmental and sustainable education as a tool for the social, cultural and economic transformation that the climate and environmental emergency require.
CONTENTS OF THE PAEAS
The plan has 6 operational axes. The first refers to the mainstreaming of environmental and sustainable education in public policies, the second is related to innovation and research, and the third focuses on the integration of sustainability in the education and training system. The fourth axis deals with the professionalization and consolidation of the EAS sector, while the fifth refers to the specific scenarios and spaces of intervention. The last axis addresses communication, dissemination and citizen action.
The 6 axes bring together a total of 61 key actions to be developed by the General State Administration, different entities of the public and private sector, autonomous communities and local entities over five years from the moment of their approval, as well as work guidelines and proposals for action for other sectors and agents involved.
A NEW SOCIAL AND LEGAL CONTEXT
With the preparation of the PAEAS, the Government complies with the commitment contained in the “Government Declaration on the Climate and Environmental Emergency”, approved by the Council of Ministers on 21 January 2020.
On the other hand, the approval last December of the new education law incorporates for the first time explicit references to Education for Sustainable Development and Education for Global Citizenship, reflected in the United Nations 2030 Agenda, to which Spain committed itself in December 2015.
In this context, the need to promote innovative environmental and sustainable education, aimed at addressing new challenges and accompanying the just ecological transition, involving citizens, is evident.
PUBLIC INPUT PROCESS
A process of public contributions through a questionnaire to assess the draft document has been essential for its preparation, as well as the possibility of including new actions to the Plan or modifications to those proposed. After analysing the comments, which were very enriching for the plan, about 70% of the proposals received were included.
