The collaboration between Unesco and Biodiversity Gateway (https://www.biodiversitygateway.it/) focuses on Ocean Literacy, follows the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN Agenda 2020: SDG 14 (‘Life Under Water’) and SDG 13 (‘Acting for the Climate’) https://oceanliteracy.unesco.org/.
The ‘Biodiverse Trips’ project is coordinated by CNR-ISMAR within the Biodiversity Gateway promoted by the National Biodiversity Future Center (NBFC), the national centre committed to studying and preserving ecosystems and biodiversity.
This project proposes an educational pathway that takes place during the 2024/2025 school year in collaboration with various museum institutions in Venice and the Sestante cooperative in Venice.
It is aimed at primary and secondary schools and will run from March to May 2025. This project proposes a programme of itineraries in an intensive version concentrated in just a few days, offering the opportunity to delve into the scientific/naturalistic aspects of the Venice lagoon and to capture the city’s specificity with a focus on biodiversity aspects.
The composition of the days includes three activities:
- DAY 1 with UNESCO. Ocean Education. Visit to the Centre for Ocean Education at the San Servolo site
- DAY 2 with Venice. Venice and Nature. Visit to Venice on an educational tour of your choice from the following:
- Palazzo Fortuny – Venetian textures: The art of textiles and the observation of nature
- Fondazione Querini Stampalia – Venetian gardens: Venice and water yesterday, today and tomorrow
- DAY 3 with CNR. Biodiversity Gateway. Educational boat tour in the Lagoon and visit to the Biodiversity Gateway headquarters
Participants will be given notebooks to compile a ‘travel notebook’ shared by the class to be completed with the best photos collected and printed on site.
Students will be invited to upload their photos via the iNaturalist platform.
One of the objectives in synergy with UNESCO will also be to use the planned activities to encourage schools to join the international Blue Schools network, an initiative of the European Commission, promoted by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO), and the IOC UNESCO Ocean Education Programme ‘New Blue Curriculum: a toolkit for policymakers’ with the aim of including ocean themes in the school curricula of 194 countries by 2025 (https://oceandecademed.org/ocean-literacy-blue-schools-network/).
The activity is open to third grade secondary school classes and all secondary school classes. Participation is free of charge, but board, lodging, transportation and costs to reach Venice are excluded. Registration is open until March 28, 2025, for more information and to register, please visit UNESCO’s website:
https://oceanliteracy.unesco.org/it/gite-biodiverse-cultura-della-biodiversita-e-ocean-literacy-a-venezia/
