The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has conducted Third Regional Conference titled “Education and Awareness of Climate Change in Europe and Central Asia” with participation of more than 136 representatives from government, non-governmental and international organizations from different countries.

The objective of the event is to advance the climate education, awareness and engagement in Eastern Europe and Central Asia region building upon the outcomes of UNDP’s regional climate education initiative “Climate Box”. Virtual regional dialogue aims at providing background to and sharing knowledge among countries and stakeholders. The conference consisted of 3 sessions focused on the following topics:

• Promoting regional knowledge sharing and promoting good practices on climate education;
• Promotion and encouraging success stories, achievements and innovative climate projects implemented in different schools and communities across the region;
• Providing recommendations and views on future work on climate education and awareness in the region.

The conference was attended by representatives of such renowned international organizations as UNESCO, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the European Union, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, well-known scientists and researchers on climate change, and others who noted that young people also strive and have the rights to participate in the planning and implementation of climate change measures.

The conference was also attended by teachers, who shared their experiences of distributing the climate box in their schools, involving young people in discussions on climate change and lessons learned. Climate Box is a comprehensive learning toolkit developed for teachers and school children about the climate change, which includes information materials and teaching tools on climate change designed for primary and secondary school children. The toolkit was developed as part of the UNDP’s regional education initiative, which covered 8 countries in the region. In general, a positive result was highlighted from the introduction of the manual into the curriculum, since it contributed to a better perception, greater interest of students in the problem of climate change and other related subjects.

Turkmenistan was represented by the country’s education system experts: Durdyyev Sapargeldi, head of the department for advanced training of education workers of the National Institute of the Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan, Batyrova Maya and Rotaru Tatyana, teachers of secondary schools of Ashgabat. The active participation of the Turkmen delegation in discussions and dialogues, as well as organizations of statements was facilitated by the UNDP project "Supporting climate resilient livelihoods in agricultural communities in drought-prone areas of Turkmenistan" jointly implemented with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection of Turkmenistan and the GEF Special Climate Fund. The project, together with other UNDP projects and partners, is undertaking measures to raise awareness of climate change issues in the country.

On the second day of the conference, statements by young advocates from “Climate Box” partner countries were presented, who spoke about their personal contribution and implementation of projects on climate issues.

On this session Turkmenistan was presented by Leyli Yagshiyeva - young ambassador of SDG 13 and Gaffurova Nurana - a student of the Ashgabat secondary school #27, who spoke about their contribution to measures in combating climate change, their opinion on the Climate Box introduction in the educational process and projects for the future.

It is worth to note that an adapted version of the Climate Box was published and distributed with the assistance of UNDP among educational schools and educational institutions of Turkmenistan.