Schools for Sustainable Development

Greenways serve to promote active involvement of local communities in nature conservation, cultural heritage protection and environmental education. For this reason, Greenways provide the context or framework for numerous educational initiatives and projects focused on children and youth. These include tree planting, various competitions, seminars, workshops and other events, which aim to draw attention to the need for environmental protection in every-day life, both in the school and in the community. The Schools for Sustainable Development program promotes and advises on educational projects and initiatives targeting schools along Greenways.

Schools for Sustainable Development on Greenways

The national Schools for Sustainable Development program has been coordinated by the Polish Environmental Partnership Foundation since 2001. The program goal is to promote environmentally-responsible behavior among young people and local communities by involving them in the design, planning and implementation of practical environmental improvement initiatives and projects. The approach is to build partnerships in and around schools with the aim of promoting community-based projects and environmental problem-solving in the school. In this way, aside from its formal educational activities, the school becomes also a ‘living example' of sustainable development - a Local Environmental Action Centre.

The ‘Schools for Sustainable Development on Greenways' project (supported by the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management from 2007) involves schools in implementing small, community-based initiatives focused on environmental problem-solving. Once demonstrated in the school, environmental solutions can be applied also in the home, promoting community-wide contributions to reducing environmental impacts. Schools can also become attractions for visitors to Greenways and examples of ecotourism and heritage tourism development.

For more on Schools for Sustainable Development see: www.ekoszkola.pl