PUPILS representing Stonar School took part in the first ever “virtual” WWF Our Planet´s Future Summit on Friday 24th April, organised by WWF and Globeducate as the first in a series of online sustainable education events to complement online schooling and the international school group´s Global Agenda project.
The workshop, usually involving face-to-face contact, immersed the pupils, aged 12 to 14, in the varied and interlinked issues that face our planet, and aimed to build their understanding of the complexities involved in bringing about change at a global level. Pupils met as a diverse group of 24 twice during the week, beginning with a briefing from WWF Education Manager Matt Larson-Daw, and were split into a World Leaders group and six smaller Biome expert groups to focus on their respective areas.
Oanh Crouch, Education Director for Globeducate, said: “It was an honour to be part of this event and to see the passion our Globeducate pupils have for our planet. The pupils had the opportunity to demonstrate their research and presentation skills as they developed a plan to safeguard the future of our planet. Their ability to adapt from it being a real to a virtual event was a true testament to their resilience as well as their dedication and commitment to the project. Collaborating together across 3 different Globeducate school settings and locations, the pupils produced an impressive summit with fascinating content and well-constructed arguments. It was a purposeful experience for the pupils and adults involved and we look forward to more joint WWF – Globeducate online events over the coming term. We are fortunate to have this partnership with a world leader in sustainability education.”
Alex, one of the World Leaders, a Year 9 pupil from Stonar School, said: “As World Leaders we had a fund of 100 Billion “World Dollars”, split equally in 5 Billion tokens; we were given briefings on food, energy and health and had to decide on our priorities and how to invest the available budget as well as what agreements to put in place, in order to ensure a positive future for the world population. I worked with fellow Stonar pupils Hannah, Year 9, and Mae, Year 8, as well as two pupils from ICS London. I was also asked to give the official vote of thanks at the end of the summit, which was really rewarding.”
Justine Skinner, Eco-Schools Coordinator for Stonar School said: “Biome or “Our Planet” experts were split into small groups, each tasked with researching one of the biomes of our planet. They then presented their case to the world leaders to inform and influence their decisions on how to invest their budget and define the future of society. Not only did the pupils have to work within an online platform that was new to most of them but this was the first time that pupils had tackled group work together at an online event with other Globeducate pupils from different schools. Everyone was very impressed with the way in which they embraced the opportunity and all of the teachers involved felt that the pupils had a fantastic opportunity to not only engage with these global issues but also to learn new communication skills that will give them confidence for the future.
Hazel, Year 8, worked on the Freshwater Team with two pupils from ICS London, producing a clear, concise and convincing case for protecting wetlands, rivers, streams, rivers, ponds and lakes, identifying threats such as chemical pollution and sewage waste, and presenting solutions such as introducing laws on protecting clean water areas, increasing recycling and promoting the planting of Galapagos leaf plants.
James, Year 9, represented the Forests teams and spoke about the value of the forests for medicines and the need to subsidise sustainable farming, fire-protection and fire-fighting, and to address tree disease earlier.
Thomas, Year 8, in the Grasslands Biome, considered the need to protect grazing animals and highlighted that a quarter of the planet is grassland. Tourism was an important factor to this team – an industry that needed both investment but also review in order to make it sustainable.
Emma, Year 7, played a crucial role as a spokeswoman for the Frozen group, working with two pupils from ICS London. Emma spoke maturely and with great conviction and emphasised how the frozen biome has between 230,000 and 250,000 different species and will cost a lot more money to fix the problem the longer it is neglected. The Frozen Biome team showed visual diagrams and maps, highlighting the real risks involved in allowing glaciers to continue melting.
Emma said: “I found this event really exciting and stimulating. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to work with other schools, and I learnt a lot about my biome and other biomes throughout the summit. One of the most difficult things was how we had to work with complete strangers, research and gather a lot of information in a very short space of time, and then also come to agreements on our “red lines”; the targets that our Biome felt must be agreed in order for the summit to be considered a success.”
After hearing from the Biome “experts”, the World Leaders group retired with Matt Larson-Daw from WWF to consider the different arguments, put their plan and budget together, then presented it to the summit ahead of more questions and final requests.
