Forest and Nature School education: An alternative pathway to achieve the UN SDGs?
摘要
This paper draws on the outcomes of a research project which involved an online survey of Forest and Nature School in France of private programs to present the potentiality of addressing aspects of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A total of 24 educators representing 23 French metropolitan Forest and Nature School programs took part in the study. The data collection occurred from mid November 2022 till the end of January 2023. The responses of 22 participants coming from 21 operating programs revealed that whilst some topics of the 17 SDGs were tackled in Forest and Nature School programs, these were not evenly distributed across all of the gaols. More specifically, aspects related to life on land (SDG 15); quality education (SDG 4); partnerships to achieve the goal (SDG 17); peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16) were the most frequently addressed throughout the majority of the programs. The least recurrent topics were related to industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9); sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11); no poverty (SDG 1); and zero hunger (SDG 2). These outcomes shall inform researchers and policymakers and represent a steppingstone to further explore the potentiality of Forest and Nature School education as an alternative pathway to address the various SDGs.