9 June 2017: Ghana has initiated the integration of climate change into school curricula to implement Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 (climate action) target 13.3 (Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning). Two francophone Youth Climate Dialogues (YCDs) held among European and African students also contributed to the implementation of that target.

Ghana has launched a process to include climate change and green economy concepts, including mitigation and adaptation, impact reduction and early warning, into the general education system. A Core Group, consisting of government officials and stakeholders from the education sector, conducted an audit of the national school curricula and developed recommendations for further action and a roadmap for implementation. In preparation for a baseline study to assess the current knowledge about climate change among teachers and schoolchildren in Ghana, a workshop, held from 29-31 May 2017, sought to develop a survey questionnaire for the study. [UNITAR Press Release]

Climate education was also at the core of the seventh and eighth francophone YCDs held on 4 May 2017. In Europe, the events were hosted by Université François Rabelais in Tours, France, and by the UN CC:Learn Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. In Africa, the events were hosted by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Benin and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Burkina Faso. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs supported the organization of the dialogues. [UNITAR Press Release] [UN CC:Learn YCDs Webpage]