UNICEF and the UN Resident Coordinator Office, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Armenia, held a discussion entitled “Biodiversity and Sustainable Development in Education” at the UN Pavilion in the Blue Zone of COP17.
The speakers included ESCS Deputy Minister Anna Babajanyan, UNICEF Education Program Manager Alvard Poghosyan, and Adviser to the UN Resident Coordinator in Armenia Arevik Anapiosyan.
The discussion brought together young delegates from Armenia, Argentina and Mexico, policymakers, education experts and representatives of international organizations to explore how education on climate change and biodiversity can move beyond stand-alone projects and awareness-raising campaigns to become an integral part of school curricula, teacher professional development and everyday learning.
According to ESCS Deputy Minister Anna Babajanyan, fostering environmental awareness among students is one of the key priorities of the education system.
“The most important thing we can do now to promote environmentally conscious approaches is to give students greater freedom to pursue their own interests and engage them in projects of this kind. In other words, we need to create opportunities and provide support to enable them to express their interests and preferences through efforts to care for the ecosystem,” she noted.
The discussion also highlighted methodological materials developed through cooperation between the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport and UNICEF, with the support of the Austrian Development Agency. These materials help teachers integrate climate change education into school curricula.
Between 2020 and 2025, more than 400 teachers from 33 communities received support through the initiative to strengthen their capacity to deliver climate change education through project-based learning. During the same period, 2,015 students implemented more than 275 local environmental projects.
“Armenia’s experience shows that climate change education can be practical and directly relevant to children’s lives when teachers receive the support they need. Our priority now is to consolidate the results achieved and make this type of education accessible to every child,” said Alvard Poghosyan, UNICEF Education Program Manager.
“We cannot expect to achieve our climate and biodiversity conservation goals without equipping people with the necessary knowledge, critical thinking skills and capacity to take action,” noted Arevik Anapiosyan, Adviser to the UN Resident Coordinator in Armenia.
During the event, participants also watched an episode of the ‘Sevanik’ animated series. The series was created with the support of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport and UNICEF Armenia, in collaboration with ‘OnOff’ Studio. It demonstrates how engaging stories and compelling content can be used to present environmental issues to young children in an accessible and easy-to-understand way.