Copenhagen, 7 October 2020
This year, Learning about Forests (LEAF), celebrates its 20th anniversary. The story of LEAF begins in 1999, when Norway, Sweden and Finland rolled out the Forest in Schools programme. In 2000, Forest in Schools became global, implemented by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and converted into the LEAF programme as we know it today. The founding countries still play a major role in the development of the programme, as members of the LEAF International Steering Committee.
LEAF’s goal is to increase the level of awareness and knowledge about the key role forests play for diverse life forms and human livelihood on our planet. It promotes outdoor education, aiming to engage children in spending time in the forest, experiencing and observing nature, understanding the ecological web, as well as in the relationship between humans and nature, through hands-on activities, thus enabling them to make informed decisions and take responsibility for their future. The programme supports positive actions to achieves Sustainable Development Goals.
“The LEAF programme is so important because it allows us to physically engage children with the environment in a world where this seems less and less common. Learning about Forests is not only a moto, it is a way to get an emotional connection to nature that in many cases develops into a lifelong experience and affection”, says Daniel Schaffer, FEE CEO.
LEAF celebrates and promotes students’ connection to nature, which can be beneficial for children in cognitive and affective ways, leading to the improvement of attention retention, mood and health, and instilling a strong sense of responsibility towards the environment.
“LEAF is a powerful educational tool, especially in this time of environmental and health crisis, because it emphasises the role of forests as arcs for biodiversity, carbon sinks and lungs for the planet, providers of natural resources and products, as well as ecosystem services; it also highlights their cultural significance and their intrinsic connection with human health and prosperity” says Nikos Petrou, FEE Board Member overseeing LEAF.
In 2020, LEAF reaches nearly 1 million students and over 40,000 teachers in over 10,000 schools globally! We look forward to the next 20 years to come!
