The European Week for Waste Reduction

For a number of years the Foundation for Environmental Education has been invited to sit on the jury for the European Week for Waste Reduction (EWWR). This year Rachel Boyle, International LEAF Director, sat on the jury with three other representatives from the environmental sector who were recognised at the European level, as well as professionals in the field of waste management. Each member of the jury represents one of the Action Developers categories: Administration/Public Authority, Association/NGO, Business/Industry, Educational Establishment, Citizens, and Others. The Foundation for Environmental Education represented the Educational Establishment category.

The EWWR was launched in 2009 with the support of the LIFE+ programme of the European Commission. The aim of the EWWR is to put forward the concept of waste prevention, reuse and recycling during one week each year, by coordinating awareness-raising actions organised by a variety of sectors.

24 March 2015, the EWWR Awards Jury met in Brussels to determine the finalists and the winners of the EWWR 2014 Awards, the meeting was hosted by ACR+, the leading EWWR project partner. For all six categories of Action Developers, three actions were chosen as finalists.

27 May 2014, the EWWR rewarded the best actions implemented in 2014 at the awards ceremony in Budapest. Six of the most outstanding actions implemented were selected, one from each of the categories of Action Developers. Rachel Boyle, International LEAF Director had the pleasure of announcing the winners from the Educational Establishment and Others categories. The Foundation for Environmental Education was thrilled to be part of such a wonderful project and wishes to congratulate all those who participated!

To find out more visit: www.ewwr.eu

Follow ACR+ on Twitter https://twitter.com/2EWWR and Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/ewwr.eu?fref=ts

Friends of the Forest Romania

April 2015, pupils of class III A, guided by Livia Nitu-Maerean, a teacher from George Bacovia, Secondary School, Bucharest, Romania in partnership with the National Village Museum ‘Dimitrie Gusti’, Bucharest, learned a great deal of information regarding ‘wood civilization’ about the usage of wood on farms in Romania.

The activity was named ‘Friends of the Forest’. Participating students were very impressed by the ingenuity of the Romanian peasant, the respect shown to the wood and the diversity of different objects that can be created from the forest's wood. Students have now given a new meaning to the words ‘Forest is the green gold of the planet’, this is wealth of the earth, one that can provide shelter, means of transportation, meals, and well-being necessary for a clean and healthy living. 

Celebrating 15 years of LEAF in the Czech Republic

This year we celebrate the 15th anniversary of our LEAF programme in Czech Republic. In 1999 we started with just several active teachers who used to cooperate with TEREZA, nowadays we have more than 380 participating schools from all regions of our country!

We believe that spending more time outside is really important for children’s health and also for learning quality .So we developed teaching plans for school teachers in order to include environmental education and outdoor learning into our school system.

At the beginning, we only made simple working sheets on themes such as “Summer in the forest” etc. Now we offer a whole service including methodological materials, seminars, website and regular newsletter for all participants.

We are so glad with the positive feedback from our teachers and pupils! For example, our newest teaching plan for seven & eight-year-old pupils is very popular now. There is a story about household dwarfs who get lost in the forest and the pupils help them to return home safely. They explore and learn about forests together. In the pictures below you can see what they have learned about forest ecosystem.​

LEAF Day of Action Cyprus

2 April 2015, a Learning about Forests (LEAF) Day of Action was celebrated at the KEAN Factory in Cyprus. KEAN is the main sponsor of LEAF. The event was jointly organised by CYMEPA, the LEAF National Organisation in Cyprus, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Forestry Department and KEAN.

The event was a huge success, 200 children and several participating teachers showed great interest and enthusiasm for the four stations of active participation and the hospitality of KEAN. They expressed their total satisfaction on having the opportunity for a unique experience of the forest, its flora and fauna.

The first station comprised of a knowledge testing board game where a bulb lights up when the question is connected to the right answer.  At the second station, the children were given blocks of wood and painting material to express their feelings and thoughts about the forest. They took away the finished drawings as a souvenir.

Several fun games were organised at the third station for the children which thrilled and excited them. While at the last station which was manned by the Forestry Department, children came in contact with various aromatic herbs. Using their senses they were guided in identifying the various herbs and classifying them. The Forestry Staff gave out a multitude of appealing posters and leaflets that were met the gratitude of the children and Teachers.

KEAN Manager Mrs Evi Papadopoulou stressed that LEAF offers the possibility to children to know and love the forest and to develop respect for nature. KEAN supports sustainable development as its products come from nature. She thanked CYMEPA for the perfect organisation and the excellent cooperation, as well as the Forestry Department and the Ministry for their support.

Finally CYMEPA announced that the LEAF Award Ceremony will take place at KEAN on the 5th June 2015, celebrating the UN Environment Day.

Forest Olympics Latvia 2015

In April, LEAF International was invited to join the final of the Forest Olympics in Tervete Nature Park, Latvia. It was a really great day and we were delighted to be part of it!

The ‘Meža Olimpiāde’ (Forest Olympics) is for teachers and students between 1st & 9th grade which takes place outside and each year the lucky winners go on an exciting nature expedition abroad!

To participate, teachers need to involve forest in their lesson as a place or theme and register this lesson for the ‘Forest olympics’. Round 1 takes place in December, in a first round 462 teachers submitted lessons from 146 schools! Each year the ‘Forest olympics’ has a particular theme, this year it was SOCIAL SCIENCES IN THE FOREST. The most successful teachers enter the semi-final, where students compete in an online game ‘Mežotājs’ (The Forester).

The ten most successful students and their teachers from six schools participate in an unforgettable final competition in Tervete Nature Park! The goal of the ‘Forest olympics’ is to urge the teachers to include in the learning process themes and subjects related to gaining knowledge and experience in the forest and surrounding environment.

The winners of this year’s Forest Olympics were:
1st Balvu State Gymnasium (nature expedition camp in Norway)
2nd Gaigalava Elementary School (cruise from Riga to Stockholm)
3rd Zvejniekciema Secoundary School (educational excursion in Tervete Nature park)
4th Kr.Valdemara Ainažu Elementary School
5th Vecumnieku Secoundary School
6th Jelgavas 2nd Secoundary School

Perfect synergy of FEE environmental educational programmes in Bulgaria

A special demonstration lesson “A fairytale about a tree”, dedicated to forests and forest products, was held in the Andersen Kindergarten in Burgas, Bulgaria . The lesson was based on the common LEAF theme 'Products, benefits and services from the forest'.

Children presented interesting facts about trees and their fruit, took part in quizzes and competitions.

Many guests attended and actively participated in the lesson, including the Bulgarian National operators of the Learning about Forests and Eco-Schools Programs. The present teachers and parents shared their satisfaction of the knowledge and environmental consciousness of their children as a result of their active participation in the Bulgarian Blue Flag Movement initiatives.

The Movement supports schools and kindergartens united in the Bulgarian “School network of the Learning about Forests and Eco-Schools Programs”.

The lesson was held in the open-air classroom, specially built in the green schoolyard for environmental education lessons.  This unique classroom was funded by the Wrigley Foundation through the Eco-Schools-Wrigley cooperation as an individual project, which gives the great opportunity to teachers to take the children outside and have inspiring lectures and games on trees, forest animals, forest fires, orientation, etc.

The classroom is used in every season and its schedule is really busy. It is a great idea which can be copied in every other country involved in FEE Programs.

Learning about Forests now present in 22 countries

LEAF International is delighted to announce that LEAF is now present in 22 FEE member countries. The Learning about Forests programme was officially launched in Trinidad and Tobago just last week.

In keeping with its commitment to environmental education, Asclepius Green, Associate Member of FEE and National Coordinator of FEE programmes in Trinidad and Tobago has launched the LEAF programme on June 5th 2015 in commemoration of World Environment Day.

After one year of implementing the Blue Flag programme, Asclepius Green has had growing interest in activities that are geared towards protected marine area while enhancing forests area that are intercepted by rivers and wetlands. This “ridge to reef” approach would provide a more relevant and holistic application of the programme that focuses not only on the terrestrial but as well as the coastal ecosystem. This concept has been widely used to manage environmental issues and is a great way to link the Blue Flag and LEAF programmes.

The LEAF launch initiative was propelled by the interest to collaborate with the Junior Chamber International (JCI), Tobago Chapter on the first forest cycle of the LEAF programme in Trinidad and Tobago. JCI Tobago is a local non-governmental organisation that is a part of Junior Chamber International (JCI), formerly known as ‘Jaycees’. JCI comprises of a global network of over 200,000 young active citizens, 18-40, aimed at empowering young people to create positive change and provide sustainable solutions to the many problems that exist in their societies.

For the first forest cycle, Asclepius Green has identified the LEAF “Forest and Water” theme with a focus on wetland forests, an area of importance to JCI Tobago. Here, wetland refers to transitional areas where land based and water based ecosystems overlap. For Tobago, wetlands perform a variety of functions of vital importance to the local environment and its culture. For many Tobagonians, wetlands provide a livelihood and popular pastime for young boys. The wetlands of Tobago are a habitat to the blue crab, that is now critically endangered due to habitat destruction and a high demand for the popular local cuisine: “Crab and Dumplings”. Additionally, the wetlands of Tobago provide many wildlife nesting sites and other critical habitats for a variety of fish and wildlife species as well as recreational opportunities to local and foreign visitors. Currently many of functions of the wetlands of Tobago are compromised by land development activities. The implementation of the LEAF programme, seeks to improve the management of the wetlands of Tobago.

Asclepius Green and JCI have announced their collaboration on the “Rise & Shine” segment on the Tobago television channel, Channel 5. Also announced during the television interview was the commitment from some divisions within the Tobago House of assembly to assist with the first cycle of the LEAF programme. The buy-in from the relevant stakeholders safeguards a successful implementation of LEAF and other FEE programmes.

Rachel Boyle, International LEAF Director, welcomed Trinidad and Tobago on board and looks forward to working with them over the coming years.