Romania’s Education Minsiter Ligia Deca told an M100 Climate Neutrality Forum on Tuesday that she has promoted a series of measures as a result of climate change, including the „Green Week”, clean school buses, investing in energy infrastructure in the school network and environmental protection education.
„As an education minister, I have noticed in recent years that climate change affects education. We have noticed the devastating impact of floods in some counties, where there are schools that can no longer function,” said Deca. She added that national exams have also been affected by high temperatures and invited national and local administrations to work effectively to combat climate change affecting education.
„We also have a mandatory theme, namely environmental protection education and combatting climate change, which will be reflected in the new curriculum for high schools.”
Deca added that increasingly more students consider climate change to be the most important threats globally, citing statistics.
„We have seen a change in the mentality of young people, they are probably the most important when it comes to the need to take action against climate change.”
Ten cities out of 16 registered municipalities will be announced on Tuesday, during the M100 Climate Neutrality Forum, organised by the M100 National Hub, to join the Mirror Mission Cities Hub Romania initiative – Mirror Mission of the EU Mission „100 smart and climate-neutral cities.”
The forum is said to be a unique initiative in Romania that brings together for the first time cities, ministries, representatives of the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), together with leaders of NGOs, academic and private sectors, as well as independent experts under a common theme: supporting Romanian cities in their transition to climate neutrality.
The event will be attended by mayors and representatives of cities that want to become climate neutral by 2035, as well as members of the international jury made up of renowned professionals from various relevant fields, such as urban planning, climate neutrality and sustainable development.
The M100 Climate Neutrality Forum offers, for two days, a platform for dialogue to identify solutions and funding opportunities, opens debates and presents examples of good practices through case studies from Romanian cities, and also from partner cities: Stavanger, Trondheim and Reykjavik.
The M100 Forum is part of the project Towards Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities through Mutual Learning, Engagement and Capacity-Building, funded by EEA and Norwegian grants through the Fund for Bilateral Relations, being implemented by UEFISCDI as a programme operator, in partnership with Urbanize Hub – Institute for Local Development Association, Romanian Order of Architects (OAR), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Nordic Edge, and RANNIS – Icelandic Center of Research.
AGERPRES
