The Salzburg Statement on Nature-Based Education

The world is facing multiple global crises that interact and amplify each other. There are environmental crises, including biodiversity loss and climate change, crises of social justice on every continent, and a crisis in education as our systems struggle to equip children with the skills they need to thrive. 

Nature-Based Education (NBE) offers a feasible, immediate, and hopeful solution to many of these complex, interconnected challenges. Nature-Based Education is a collection of educational strategies that bring nature to the core of learning, resulting in healthier, happier, smarter people who become better stewards for a healthier planet. 

Inspired by the urgency of the climate crisis, leaders from conservation, environment, and education came together at Salzburg Global to combine their energy and expertise to develop a roadmap for expanding Nature-Based Education and tackling multiple global challenges. 

This Salzburg Statement asks education leaders to commit to embedding nature into our education systems. It invites educators, families, school leaders and all other stakeholders to exercise their agency and imagination to integrate NBE at scale to deliver benefits for people and the planet. 

Salzburg Global Fellows are committed to building and supporting a global network of collaborators from diverse sectors with the shared goal of bringing nature into the heart of learning. Through this Statement, they encourage all of us to start by taking a bite-sized moment of connection with nature and urging leaders to accelerate the adoption of Nature-Based Education in all schools and communities to address the learning, well-being, and planetary crises.

The Salzburg Global session was designed in partnership with the TUI Care Foundation, International Union for the Conservation of Nature Commission on Education and Communication, Canadian Wildlife Federation, and other partners.