The Hon. Minister Gilbert Licudi welcomed over 40 international delegates to the University this morning to launch a two-day ClimACT project meeting.

ClimACT is a three-year, European Union funded initiative that supports activities that encourage sustainable development in education. It sees the University of Gibraltar collaborate with four partner institutions from Portugal, two from France and another two from neighbouring Spain.

Minister Licudi addressed an audience that included the ClimACT partners, representatives from schools, senior staff from the Dept. of Education, the Dept. for the Environment, Heritage and Climate Change as well as colleagues from the European Programmes Secretariat. During his address, Minister Licudi praised the ClimACT partners on their progress to date and thanked local stakeholders for their involvement in the initiative. He said: “This collaborative project is of huge importance to Gibraltar generally and to the University of Gibraltar. We have for several years, introduced various initiatives through our schools aimed at educating our children on the need to move towards a low carbon economy. The partnership between the University of Gibraltar and international institutions through ClimACT allows us to exchange experiences and ideas with educational establishments in other areas.”

Locally, the ClimACT project seeks to build upon ongoing school activities, by converting existing practice into shared school experiences. Some of the activities linked to the project include Sustainability Weeks; the running of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle campaigns and plastic-free initiatives in local schools.

ClimACT serves as a good practice example of combining environmental, research and educational approaches to facilitate the integration of sustainable development in curricula, raise environmental awareness and educate students and adults in sustainable practice.

The progress meeting will see delegates taking part in workshops relating to education for sustainable development and feature discussions about environmental assessment tools between researchers and teachers. Delegates will visit local schools to meet the pupils and teachers involved in the project and experience some of the outcomes first hand.

The ClimACT collaborative project is a finalist for a prestigious RegioStars Award. Click here to vote for ClimACT: