Climate change organisations and reference resources
On this page you can find organisations, resources, and readings to support your whakaaro (thinking) on climate change.
Links to organisations with climate change information
Enviroschools
Enviroschools is a nationwide programme supported by Toimata Foundation, founding partner Te Mauri Tau, and a large network of regional partners. Early childhood centres and schools commit to a long-term sustainability journey, where tamariki/students connect with and explore the environment, then plan, design and take action in their local places in collaboration with their communities.
Specific links
- A video on the Enviroschools kaupapa in the early childhood education setting: enviroschools.org.nz/news-and-events/articles/the-enviroschools-kaupapa-in-the-ece-setting-video/
- Search all enviroschools stories or by regions: enviroschools.org.nz/creating-change/featured-stories/
- Toimata Foundation holds the vision of Te Aho Tū Roa and Enviroschools. This short film (2:32 min), created by the Te Aho Tū Roa team, encourages us to pause, listen and connect with the natural world: enviroschools.org.nz/news-and-events/articles/kia-tau-short-film/
- Te Aho Tū Roa offers environmental programmes to centres with high te reo proficiency: teahoturoa.org.nz/
NZAEE | Educating for sustainability | Te Mauri o te taiao
New Zealand Association for Environmental Education's mission is to connect and inspire educators, ākonga, and communities to learn, collaborate, and take action for Papatūānuku.
NIWA | Taihoro Nukurangi
Climate change information for climate solvers – helping you understand the science of climate change. The things we can do to combat climate change, individually, and alongside our whānau, school, and community, can and will make a difference.
Degrowth Aotearoa NZ (DANZ)
Degrowth Aotearoa NZ was formed by a small group of individuals passionately dedicated to raising awareness about the urgent need to find ways of living within biophysical limits.
Image caption: What activities that your service is involved with include kōrero on te taiao, the environment, and our influence on it?
Additional reading
Articles
The time is now: education’s contribution to a climate-resilient future
Website link: gazette.education.govt.nz/articles/the-time-is-now-educations-contribution-to-a-climate-resilient-future/
Source: Education Gazette
“You don’t wanna teach little kids about climate change”: Beliefs and barriers to sustainability education in early childhood
Website link: files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1264526.pdf
Source: International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education
The environmental impact of ECE
Website link: jitbug.co.nz/blog/2019/04/the-environmental-impact-of-ece
Source: Jitbug
Envisioning a better future through interrelatedness and whanaungatanga
Website link: nzcer.org.nz/nzcerpress/set/articles/envisioning-better-future-through-interrelatedness-and-whanaungatanga
Source: NZCER
The environment issue (Summer 2021)
Website link: akojournal.org.nz/tag/issue-06/
Source: AKO: The journal for education professionals
Effective approaches to connect children with nature
Source: Department of Conservation | Te Papa Atawhai
ACADEMIA Letters - Getting sustainable development through climate change education
Bajarang Bhushan, Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Deemed University)
Website link: academia.edu/51376052/Getting_Sustainable_Development_through_Climate_Change_Education
Source: Nandita Satsangee, Dayalbagh Educational Institute (Deemed University) Abstract
Image caption: How are your every day activities used to build mātauranga Māori and science knowledge and understanding over time?
New Zealand Government strategies
Mātauranga whakauka taiao | Environmental education for sustainability | Mahere rautaki strategy and action plan 2017 – 2021
Our agencies are committing to working together, and with others, to help all New Zealanders learn how they can take action to address the sustainability challenges we face locally and globally.
A strategy and action plan to better equip New Zealanders, especially children and young people, with the knowledge, skills and motivation to tackle environmental issues.
(Housed on the Department of Conservation (DOC) website, it’s a plan across three Ministries – DOC, Ministry for the Environment and Ministry of Education)
Te mana o te taiao – Aotearoa New Zealand biodiversity strategy 2020
The strategic plan, called Te mana o te taiao, is a plan which weaves together our ideas for restoring the biological species in our natural world, and ensuring their survival.
doc.govt.nz/globalassets/documents/conservation/biodiversity/anzbs-2020.pdf
Te hau mārohi ki anamata – towards a productive, sustainable, and inclusive economy; Aotearoa New Zealand’s first emissions reduction plan
Aotearoa New Zealand’s first emissions reduction plan contains strategies, policies and actions for achieving our first emissions budget and contributing to global efforts to limit global temperature rise to 1.5˚C above pre-industrial levels.
environment.govt.nz/publications/aotearoa-new-zealands-first-emissions-reduction-plan/
Urutau, ka taurikura: Kia tū pakari a Aotearoa i ngā huringa āhuarangi | Adapt and thrive: Building a climate-resilient New Zealand – New Zealand's first national adaptation plan
Aotearoa New Zealand’s first national adaptation plan contains strategies, policies and actions that will help New Zealanders adapt to the changing climate and its effects – so we can reduce the potential harm of climate change, as well as seize the opportunities that arise.
environment.govt.nz/publications/aotearoa-new-zealands-first-national-adaptation-plan/
Te mahere taiao | The environmental action plan for school property
This Action Plan sets our direction and reinforces our commitment to address environmental issues impacting our school property portfolio. The Action Plan will act as a point of reference for te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga | Ministry of Education to ensure we continue to make progress towards more sustainable outcomes.
International reports and agreements
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2022: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability
This Sixth Assessment Report assesses the impact of climate change at both he global and regional level and the capacities and limits of the natural world and society to adapt.
AR6 Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability — IPCC
ARNEC (2022). ARNEC statement on the recent IPCC report
In this statement, ARNEC highlights the linkages between the IPCC’s 2022 Report: Impacts and vulnerability and implications for early childhood development, that reinforces ARNEC’s call to put young children at the centre of environmental and climate actions, and for the environment to be at the centre of early childhood development.
arnec.net/resources/arnec-resources/arnec-statement-recent-ipcc-report
United Nations – Sustainable Development Goals
Adopted in September 2015, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an urgent call for action by all countries in a global partnership. They recognise that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.
