Background
Sustainability issues in the eastern Africa region, like in the rest of the world, cut across domains ranging from climate change, deforestation, air pollution, biodiversity loss, food waste, unsustainable energy through fossil fuels, ocean acidification, reduced inequalities, water scarcity and pollution, unsustainable agriculture and water management, among others. These are compounded by lack of policy and governance and coherent inter-sectoral strategy to address the challenges which present in varied in degrees across countries in the region. The Leadership for Education for Sustainable Development (LEAD-ESD) initiative is anchored on several national, regional, continental and global policies, frameworks, guidelines and goals to address sustainability issues through education.
Climate change, as defined by the IPCC[1], involves long-term changes in climate properties mainly due to human activities. Climate change results from global warming, impacting both conservation and socioeconomic aspects. In East Africa[2], the average annual surface temperature increased by 0.7°C-1.0°C between 1973 and 2013, with marine heat waves doubling along the Somalian coast from 1982-2020. The region experienced short rains (October-December) from the 1960s to 2017, while long rains (March-May) became drier between 1986 and 2007. This variability has caused intense wet spells and widespread flooding in countries like Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, and Tanzania. Kenya, for example, faces frequent natural hazards, with over 70% of disasters linked to extreme climatic events. Major droughts occur approximately every ten years, and moderate droughts or floods every three to four years, leading to significant economic losses, such as the $2.8 billion loss from the 1998-2000 drought[3]. Climate change also poses a risk to food security in central Africa, affecting the yields of key smallholder crops like maize and cereals. Adaptation strategies, including regional markets, strategic food reserves, and new cultivars, are suggested to help farmers cope with these changes.
Since 2005, drought frequency in East Africa has increased from once every six years to once every three years[4]. This has led to significant socio-economic impacts, such as the $2.8 billion loss from the 1998-2000 drought. Floods, causing the greatest loss of human lives, and droughts have heavily affected disaster-prone areas like Baringo, West Pokot, Kisumu, and Laikipia in Kenya. The 2019[5] short rains were among the wettest in recent decades, affecting over 2.8 million people. Climate change has reduced maize, and wheat yields by 5.8% and 2.3% respectively from 1974-2008 and caused acute food insecurity from 2015-2019. Glaciers on Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya, and Rwenzori are receding. Malaria-bearing mosquitoes have expanded to higher altitudes, and climate change is reducing pastureland biomass and water quality. Rainfall and river discharge variability have negatively impacted water-dependent sectors, with rising water levels in Kenya’s rift lakes since 2010.
Climate change is a real and ongoing issue with diverse and far-reaching effects on social, economic, and environmental dimensions of human well-being. It impacts health, water availability, food security, and the biophysical environment. Prolonged droughts and frequent floods affect all aspects of human life. Countries must ensure their populations adapt to these changes to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Key intervention areas include climate change adaptation, mitigation, science, finance, and education. Education for sustainable development aims to provide transformative learning, equipping people with the knowledge and skills needed for climate action[6].
The East African Community (EAC) aims to address climate change through collaborative efforts to mitigate its impacts, prioritize adaptation strategies, and build regional resilience by promoting sustainable development practices across sectors like agriculture, energy, and water management, with a focus on capacity building, policy development, and access to climate finance to safeguard the livelihoods of its member states and ecosystems[7]. Guiding these efforts are the EAC Climate Change Policy Framework (Objective 2.2) and the African Union Agenda 2063 Aspiration 1 which aims “to build a climate-resilient Africa by promoting sustainable development practices, mitigating the impacts of climate change, and adapting to its effects, all while ensuring that future economic growth does not further harm the environment, with a focus on protecting vulnerable communities and prioritizing renewable energy sources”.
The LEAD-ESD project is further informed by several developments. Globally, there has been a rallying of global efforts towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 with a growing recognition of the central role of education in the attainment of all the 17 SDGs. It is within this context that, in the Transforming Education Summit (TES) held in 2022, six Calls to Action were issued, among which is the Greening Education Partnership (GEP) – Getting Every Learner Climate Ready. The Greening Education Partnership is structured around four key pillars of transformative education – Greening schools, Greening curriculum, Greening teacher training and education systems’ capacities, and Greening communities. These interventions are rooted in UNESCO’s longstanding work in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), with a particular focus on education’s role in tackling climate change. UNESCO aims to equip individuals and communities, with the skills, values, and attitudes for shaping green, low-emission, and climate-resilient societies.
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is UNESCO’s response to the urgent challenges facing our planet. Human activities have changed the Earth’s ecosystems so much that our survival is at risk, and these changes are becoming harder to reverse every day. To prevent global warming from reaching catastrophic levels, we urgently need to act. ESD empowers people with the knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and behaviours to live in a way that is good for the environment, economy, and society. It encourages people to make smart, responsible choices that help create a better future for everyone. ESD also aligns with the UNICEF Sustainability and Climate Change Action Plan 2023-2030, which seeks to protect the lives, health and well-being of children and the resilience of their communities by adapting essential social services to a changing climate, more frequent disasters and a degrading environment, as well as empower every child through their life course with the developmental opportunities, education and skills to be a champion for the environment.