Court Hotel, Tullamore, Co Offaly - Thursday 12th December, 2013

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Development education workshop with

Tom Roche - Just Forestsin association with

Self Help Africa

Geography-the challenge!•human geography

•physical geography

People:

As global populations exceed 7billion (February 2011)

natural resources are shrinking.More that 1.6 billion

people depend to varying degrees on forests for their

livelihoods, e.g. fuelwood, medicinal plants, and forest

foods. Q. Where will we get our timber from?

Legal & Human Rights:

Indigenous(native) and other forest peoples experience

racial and cultural discrimination, are denied rights to

lands and livelihoods, to organise and to represent

themselves, and, in short, are hindered in myriad ways

from fully exercising and enjoying their right to self-

determination and access to the resources of the forest. 2

Images: pollution in Shanghai 6th December, 2013

http://mashable.com/2013/12/06/shanghai-pollution-photos/#gallery/shangai-

smog/52a8a347b589e4402c000d2a

Environmental ChallengesSustainable use of natural resources

Natural resources are the backbone of every economy. In using and transforming resources, assets are built up, adding to the wealth of present and future generations.

However, the current rate of resource use by developed and developing nations is unsustainable, meaning that future generations and developing nations won’t have access to their fair share of scarce resources.

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The ‘development’ rationale of Just

Forests work pivots around a number of

key issues and challenges: Unsustainable

resource use can also cause serious

damage to the environment and

contributes significantly to the enhanced

greenhouse effect and climate change.

The environmental impact of our resource

use patterns will only worsen once the

developing world uses resources at the

high rates of industrialised countries.

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Development education

(DE) & education for

sustainable

development (ESD)

Climate justice links human rights and

development to achieve a human-centered

approach, safeguarding the rights of the most

vulnerable and sharing the burdens and benefits

of climate change and its resolution equitably

and fairly.

Climate justice insists that all the peoples of the

world (and not just the rich and powerful) have a

right to development.

A developmental approach to climate justice

recognises this fact while also demanding that it

should be made both possible and attractive for

such development to occur in a sustainable

way., biodiversity is currently vanishing at an

alarming rate all over the world. (Source:

http://www.mrfcj.org)

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Education for sustainable development requires far-reaching changes in the way

education is often practiced today.

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Education for Sustainable Development

allows every human being to acquire the

knowledge, skills, attitudes and values

necessary to shape a sustainable future.

Education for Sustainable Development

means including key sustainable development

issues into teaching and learning; for

example, climate change, disaster risk

reduction, biodiversity, poverty reduction, and

sustainable consumption.

It also requires participatory teaching and

learning methods that motivate and

empower learners to change their

behaviour and take action for sustainable

development.

Education for Sustainable Development

consequently promotes competencies

like critical thinking, imagining future

scenarios and making decisions in a

collaborative way.

Few recognise that biological

diversity (which includes all

living things)

represents the

natural wealth of

the Earth.

It provides the basis for life,

economic development and

prosperity for the whole of

mankind.

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Education is an

essential element of

the global response

to climate change. It

helps young people

understand and

address the impact

of global warming,

encourages changes

in their attitudes and

behaviour and helps

them adapt to

climate change-

related trends.

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Finding ways to

embed a

message of

sustainability into

the curriculum is

URGENT

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7 BILLION and growing...

Cross-curricular LearningLinks to some of Just Forests on-line resources.

1.Thinking TREES: Within the context of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005 - 2014), Thinking

Trees: Development, Trees and our Interdependent World is designed for primary school pupils in Ranganna 3, 4, 5 and

6 and seeks to encourage students to explore the importance of trees and of forests in our daily lives. It also stimulates

them to think about some of the consequences of the loss of forests and trees and how, each of us can contribute

positively to sustainable development. You will find excellent supporting resources to help you facilitate the 7 activities

in Thinking TREES http://www.justforests.org/thinking-trees

2.Anatomy of a Musical Instrument - linking our love of music to our dependance on 'tonewoods' for our beautiful

musical instruments. This interactive resource is very popular with pupils as it shows just how (geographically)

dependant Ireland is on tropical timber (you will need to have FLASH installed to use this) http://www.justmusic.ie/anatomy-

of-an-instrument

3.Wood of Life Exhibition - All 22 panels of our WOL exhibition are all on-line now. You will also find an introductory

brochure (showing curriculum links), an activity sheet and a follow-on classroon project sheet with suggestions on

actions pupils can take after engaging with the exhibition. There is also a nice poster for broadcasting/advertising the

exhibition in your school http://www.justforests.org/thinking-trees/exhibitions

4.Just RESTORATION- in an effort to raise much needed funds to support our development education (DE) and education

for sustainable development (ESD) work we will run furniture restoration courses with a DE/ESD component embedded

in the workshop. This course/workshop can be delivered either here in my workshop in Rhode or at your college.This is

very much hands-on learning and will involve participants actually restoring a small piece of furniture/wood

item http://www.justforests.org/the-restorer

5.Just MUSIC/Sound of Wood Concerts - We all love music. Why not organise a Sound of Wood Concert in your school?.

Pupils can invite their family and friends to hear them. This is a lovely way to introduce our dependance on natural

resources (forests/wood) http://www.justforests.org/thinking-trees/school-concerts

6. KNOW-Wood Board- a hands on wood identification board http://www.justforests.org/know-wood-board

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Thank You

For more information on our work please

visit our website @

www.justforests.org

www.suckincarbon.com