This book gathers interdisciplinary reflections from researchers, educators, and other experts on the subject of biodiversity closer to education and learning. The book also highlights its role as an added value to strategic principles for healthy ecosystems and sustainable human development. It promotes critical thinking and foster practices and attitudes for Education for Sustainable Development reconciling education with principles of human behaviour and nature. Readers especially find this book a timely resource in light of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020, the Aichi Targets, and the new EU biodiversity strategy “Our life insurance, our natural capital: an EU biodiversity strategy to 2020”. Along with the challenge of ecosystems and public health, biodiversity conservation is essential for humanity’s continued security and sustainability, as it touches on all aspects of people’s lives.

Drawing on experiences and insights from 16 megadiverse countries, this report examines how biodiversity is being mainstreamed in four key areas.

This book offers a perspective on Education for Sustainable Development in Early Childhood (ESDEC) that is far removed from the ‘business as usual’ notion of an extended, predominantly environmental, educational curriculum for preschools. It presents a vision of sustainable development that has relevance to Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) from birth to school; it is relevant as much to homes, family support and health settings as it is to educational settings, and is as much concerned with health and wellbeing as with education. The book provides a perspective that is fundamentally embedded in notions of interdependency. It places an emphasis upon the importance of recognising the interdependency of peoples within and between nation states; the ecological interdependencies of the natural world; of humanity and nature; and most significantly the interdependency of adults and children. These emphases have their origins in the grassroots studies included in the ten chapters representing countries from around the world. The book reflects the idea that only global solutions and initiatives are capable of addressing the global challenges of climate change, environmental pollution, and global threats to ecological systems and biodiversity.

This Book presents innovative and state of the art studies developed in Environmental Education in different countries to highlight this theme and promote its implementation all over the world. It will give a scientific perspective of Nature-based solutions to promote environmental education in all citizens and a more educational perspective as to how this approach can be implemented at schools and universities. Not less important is that includes science communication as a key factor for training and disseminating about the environment. The invited authors are recognized experts with excellent work developed in Environmental Education. This contributed volume presents innovative and creative work in the area giving a step forward in the implementation of Environmental Education, namely as a target of 2020 United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development. The invitation of authors from many different countries allows the creation of a network and subsequently the book will bring concrete ideas as to how to develop operational capacities to bring added values to Environmental Education at an international level.