Eco Schools – Green Flag Award

We are exceptionally pleased to host today’s event and to support strengthening the green culture across the education system. Having in mind such an aim, I am convinced that we are at the right place today – at the UN Eco House, a great example of a sustainable, or as many call it – green building.  This building with its special panels, geo thermal heating and cooling and highly efficient air circulation, also hosts the organisations that put sustainable development as their core mandate.

Why is it important to link education and green initiatives like this?

Dear friends,

There is no space for doubt that the world is getting warmer. The impact of climate change is already evident.  An exponential increase in Carbon dioxide emissions is creating global warming. Glaciers are retreating, floods and fires are common threatening lives and property in many corners of the World, and we can expect sea levels to rise followed by more extreme weather events – with periods of cold and heat waves.

You all saw pictures from United States these days and the disaster which hurricane Florence left behind, including 17 dead. Almost simultaneously in south east Asia super Typhoon Mangkhut, in just couple of hours, killed 66 people. That is more than all of us gathered in this room today.

The forecasts are not optimistic at all, and Montenegro is no exception. The country is expected to become hotter and drier in the future – especially in the summer. Climate models suggest that if emissions continue to increase, the period between 2040-2070 will be between 1 and 1.5° warmer throughout Montenegro during the summer. By the end of the century, the increase in temperature and decrease in precipitation would be even more severe.

It has now absolutely clear that the climate change poses substantial risks to agriculture, health, water supplies, food production, nutrition, ecosystems, energy security, tourism and infrastructure.

Although Climate change has been addressed for couple of decades already, many of the tools for tackling this phenomenon have proved limited or unsuccessful. Though, some progress has been made on many fronts including behaviour, businesses, politics, mindset, and so on. Still, it’s far from enough.

The good news is, though, that there is something quite powerful for addressing climate change that hasn’t been used enough. That is education. Education is a priceless investment in our new generations of change agents, our young people.

And that’s why we are all here today. To add one more brick to that fortress. A fortress of educated people of the future who are aware of the consequences of climate change, but also well prepared to address this greatest challenge in human history. Making schools green will, without doubt, strongly influence the environmental culture of the students and can have long-term effects on their mindsets and attitudes.

Other good news is that the world is taking threats seriously. People and leaders of the planet, with the support of UN, jointly crafted the vision of better, sustainable world. This future is embedded in the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the 17 Goals. Linking climate action to the SDGs is key to achieving the 2030 Agenda. And vice versa – the effects of climate change constitute a major threat to achieving the SDGs. It takes a coordinated and collaborative approach to linking Climate Action and SDGs programs through national implementation strategies - institutional coordination, financing an monitoring, evaluation and reporting to achieve results. Education, for sure, is a key precondition and foundation for all these processes to happen.

We also believe that – if Montenegro wants to strengthen its response to growing climate challenge and to further establish itself as fully sustainable destination, more than anything the country will need well educated and mindful citizens who will be true catalysts of sustainable development.

That is why it is so important to turn their schools into Eco Schools.

Let me finish by sincerely congratulating to all the schools which fulfilled tough criteria for gaining the Green Flag, hoping that more will come. Thank you.