Understanding and mapping the impacts of climate change on territories, starting from schools and using open science to build collective knowledge.
Context
The report “Risk Analysis. Climate Change in Italy” by the CMCC Foundation found that the probability of climate risk in Italy has increased by 9% over the past 20 years, with projected losses by the end of the century ranging between 0.5% and 8% of GDP.
The latest report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) reports more than 140,000 deaths from climate-related disasters between 1980 and 2020. 91% of these deaths were caused by the 2003 heatwave, which resulted in around 80,000 fatalities. Italy ranks third, with 21,000 deaths and €90 billion in losses.
Heatwaves, intense rainfall, droughts, rising sea levels, and invasive species all require urgent adaptation and prevention policies.
The project involves 11 schools across five Italian regions, in dialogue with communities in Colombia and Iraq, connecting the local and global dimensions of the climate crisis.
Project
The objective is to increase awareness and strengthen the knowledge and skills of teachers, young people, educational communities, and institutions, fostering active global citizenship in both climate mitigation and adaptation.
Eleven schools across the country will be involved in participatory monitoring activities of extreme events linked to climate change. The data collected will be integrated into a georeferenced mapping system, providing an overall view of the phenomenon. Involving regions with very different natural and urban ecosystems will allow communities to understand the impacts not only at a local level but, through dialogue with international communities, also from a global perspective.
Providing students and teachers with an educational programme based on open and participatory science approaches, as well as experiential learning, will connect global dynamics with the local impacts of climate change. This will help disseminate the skills needed to adopt behaviours that contribute to climate protection and the reduction of environmental impact.
The observation of these phenomena will be accompanied by efforts to prepare, adapt, and share good practices, helping territories become more resilient to extreme events, which are increasingly frequent and severe.
Furthermore, the activation of educational communities in developing and adopting Community Education Partnerships (Patti Educativi di Comunità)focused on climate preparedness and adaptation, together with the adoption of a strategic plan to institutionalise climate education, will support the long-term embedding of new awareness and skills across territories.
Resources
- Discover the project, news, and tools on the Climate Sentinels Blog (in Italian)
- Explore the training programme for teachers and educators (in Italian)
- Explore the participatory map for monitoring extreme climate events (in Italian)
- Visit the glossary of extreme events (in Italian)
- Download all educational material (in Italian)
Info
Duration: 2023-2025
Funding: AICS – Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo
Coordinator: A Sud
Partners: Cospe, Un ponte per, Resilea, Palmanana, Docenti senza frontiere, CDCA, Società Meteorologica Italiana, Ismed – CNR
Participants: lower and upper secondary school students, educational communities, third sector organizations, and public institutions
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Le opinioni espresse nei contenuti e nei documenti prodotti nell’ambito del progetto Sentinelle Climatiche non impegnano in alcun modo l’AICS, che non è responsabile per l’uso che potrebbe essere fatto delle informazioni in esso/in essa contenute.
Co-funding: project supported by the Otto per Mille della Chiesa Valdese
