Tomorrow today; 2010 - unesdoc - Unesco

millions of the world’s most disadvantaged, vulnerable and marginalizedchildren”.The report highlights the inequities that are keeping us from reachingthe MDGs, including universal primary education. Foremostamong these are disparities due to poverty, gender and geographiclocation. In Liberia, children from the richest households are 3.5times more likely than children from the poorest households andurban children are twice as likely as rural children to attend primaryschool. In Pakistan, girls from poor, rural households are far lesslikely to attend school than boys in the same situation. These threefactors are inextricably linked with key environmental issues such asland degradation, forced migration, increasing urbanization, pollutionand climate change. 3,4Quality education provides all learners with the capabilities theyrequire to become economically productive, develop sustainablelivelihoods, contribute to peaceful and democratic societies andenhance individual well-being. It is key for bringing about thechanges in knowledge, skills and behaviours necessary for climatechange adaptation. For example, education contributes to betterhealth and longer life expectancy, reduces social costs of health,criminal justice and social security, and fosters social participationand social cohesion. 5 A single year of primary school increases thewages people earn later in life by 5-15 per cent. For each additionalyear of secondary school education, an individual’s wages increaseby 15-25 per cent (Global Campaign for Education 2010).This is even more so for girls’ and women’s education. Educatingyoung women is one of the key determinants for climate changeadaptation and, according to the latest research, can even neutralizethe impact of increasingly extreme weather events. 6UNICEF promotes countries’ development of qualityeducation through the Child-Friendly Schooling (CFS)approach. The CFS approach is a pragmatic pathwaytowards quality education that has evolved (and is stillevolving) from the principles of children’s rights. Thepragmatic, flexible and comprehensive nature of theCFS approach has facilitated the inclusion of contextspecific and relevant elements of climate change adaptationinto school curricula, facilities, construction andoperations.Currently, UNICEF Education is supporting countriesto address climate change adaptation throughclimate change education in child-friendly schoolingin the following ways:• Supporting child-centred relevant education thatincorporates disaster risk reduction, climate changeand environmental curricula to empower childrenwith the knowledge, skills and values that preparethem for a disaster situation in the short term andhelp them adapt to, thrive, and live sustainably in achanging environment in the long term• Promoting sustainable facilities at schools, suchas school gardens, rainwater harvesting andalternative energies, as a way to enrich the educationexperience while improving the school environment• Retrofitting and constructing structurally soundschools, which are resilient to disasters caused bynatural hazards, such as heavy rains, earthquakesand cyclones.Image: © UNICEF/NYHQ2006-2459/Giacomo PirozziA primary school classroom in Tarawa, the capital of the Pacific Island Republic of Kiribati, where children lack health care and education and areunder threat from natural disasters[ 130 ]