Education for Sustainable Development
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) departs from traditional nature studies by seeing the human environment as intricately related to the natural environment. The participatory teaching and learning methods adopted are aimed at triggering action that departs from the one-off sporadic activities of traditional campaigning. It aims at empowering individuals and communities to become agents of change to achieve the well-being of the human race without compromising that of future generations. It applies holistic approaches to target the environmental, economic and social well-being of the human race and the whole planet.
Nature Trust (Malta) (NTM) runs several programmes of the FEE (Foundation for Environmental Education) of whom it is the national representative, and runs an ESD programme at Xrobb l-Għaġin Park and Sustainable Development Centre. All programmes adopt methodologies that offer opportunities to develop knowledge, skills, attitudes and values that develop an aptitude for change in individual and community practices that leave no harm which cannot be recovered in the present or in the future. This is possible because NTM’s programmes promote competencies like critical thinking, imagining future scenarios and actively participating in decision-making.
The SD themes approached through NTM-ESD programmes include waste management, water and energy harvesting, land and marine biodiversity and ecology, amongst others, in the local and global contexts. Key SD matters such as climate change, poverty reductions and consumer responsibilities feature high on the agenda of both the FEE programmes and ESD at Xrobb l-Għaġin.
The FEE programmes run by NTM are EkoSkola (www.ekoskola.org.mt/), Young Reporters for the Environment(YRE) and PressKids (www.yremalta.org/), Learning About Forests (www.leafmalta.org/), Green Key (site under construction) and Blue Flag (www.blueflagmalta.org/). Further details on ESD development at Xrobb l-Għaġin is available at http://www.xrobblghagin.org.mt/educational-visits-services/ . Updates are also available on social media portals for NTM and the specific programmes, for instance, https://www.facebook.com/xrobblghaginparkNTM?ref=bookmarks.