Teaching Key To Better Ocean Protection, Says UNESCO Chief

UN NEWS—Education needs to be one of the key pillars for action by countries across the world to better protect the seas and oceans from damaging climate change, said the head of the UN Scientific, Educational, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Thursday.

“If we want to protect the ocean better, we must teach it better”, said Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO’s Director-General, speaking at the One Ocean Summit, taking place in the French city of Brest.

Setting it as a common objective for UNESCO’s 193 Member States, she asked them to include ocean education in school curricula by 2025.

To achieve the goal, the United Nations agency is making available to public decision-makers a toolkit with a shared reference framework of educational content on the subject.

The step will allow all countries to be in an “equal position to quickly place the ocean at the heart of teaching and increase students’ knowledge in this area, so that they become responsible and committed citizens”, added Stefania Giannini, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General in charge of education.