Meet Mexico’s eco-schools

Eco-Schools is an environmental education programme backed by the United Nations and going back 20 years. It has currently been introduced in 58 countries, with 18 million students taking part in almost 48,000 schools all over the world.

The programme rewards those schools that have demonstrated their commitment to preserving the environment.

In Eco-Schools, children and young people are the stars and the main agents of change. But the idea is that families, teachers and local authorities should also get involved in activities aimed at improving the environment and local communities.

On the basis of the environmental situation of the school, annual plans are drawn up to establish activities linked to the curriculum and aimed at improving the school and its social and environmental setting. Progress is periodically assessed and reported to the whole of the educational community. There are three levels of reward the school can obtain according to its achievements: bronze, silver and the green flag, which is the highest award.

Mexico recently joined the Eco-Schools Programme. Six hundred government schools in Mexico, Quintana Roo and Morelos states have been selected to take part in the pilot programme and prepare the groundwork for introducing the programme nationally.

Their website has news about the project, information about the campaigns under way, advice for a healthier environment and even a calculator for measuring your greenhouse gas emissions and ideas for reducing and compensating them.