Environmental Education in Emergencies: A Pathway to Resilience
In a world increasingly shaped by climate-related disasters, displacement, and conflict, delivering quality education in emergencies (EiE) is more critical than ever. However, in many crisis-affected contexts, education remains reactive, fragmented, or disconnected from the environmental drivers of disruption.
Environmental education is a learning process that increases people’s knowledge and awareness about the environment and associated challenges, develops the necessary skills and expertise to address the challenges, and fosters attitudes, motivations, and commitments to make informed decisions. It enhances critical thinking, problem-solving, and effective decision-making skills, and teaches individuals to consider various sides of an environmental issue for responsible actions.
According to the Geneva Global Hub for Education in Emergencies, more than 234 million crisis-affected children and youth are at risk of missing out on education due to conflict and increasingly, climate-related disasters. Environmental education can enable learners to swiftly understand the causes of emergencies, build local resilience, and prepare for future risks. Failing to teach learners environmental information and skills makes it more difficult for communities to prepare for or adapt to incoming emergencies. Everyone will experience the effects of climate change, albeit not equally. So integrating climate and environmental education into EiE is not optional, it’s essential.
Besides, Environmental education can provide hands-on, community-based, and action-oriented learning. In drought-prone regions, for example, children can learn about water conservation, soil protection, or reforestation, building both life skills and local ecological resilience.
Environmental methodologies can provide psychosocial benefits. Activities like gardening, nature walks, and eco-storytelling can help learners’ process trauma and foster a sense of hope and control. They reconnect learners with their environment and communities, promoting constructive hope and local agency, crucial elements for recovery.
Sindh Madressatul Islam University in Pakistan designed and piloted an inclusive environmental education course for communities living in unprecedented emergencies due to extreme weather events and climate-related disasters, specifically recurrent floods and glacial melt. The pilot intentionally included diverse 40 community members in Hunza, Gilgit-Baltistan with a special focus on involving women and youth. Grounded in local knowledge and participatory methods on biodiversity conservation, geography, and climatology and atmosphere, the program enhanced students’ environmental awareness, community cohesion, and emotional well-being. The course included local narratives, real-life case studies, and storytelling rooted in the community’s environmental history which showed that even under emergency constraints, environmental education can be designed to be culturally relevant and scalable across diverse settings.
The program engaged teachers by involving them directly in co-designing and delivering its content. They helped shape the curriculum to reflect local environmental challenges and cultural context, ensuring relevance. Teachers also took part in interactive activities like discussions, storytelling, debates, and project-based learning, allowing them to share their experiences and local knowledge. Besides, teachers adopted environmental education as a whole-school pedagogical strategy, embedding systems thinking, environmental activism, and cross-curricular learning. Despite institutional challenges-limited localized teaching resources, a shortage of trained educators in inclusive methods, weak institutional support for participatory approaches, and gaps in infrastructure and internet connectivity for blended learning-teachers helped learners move from eco-anxiety to action, a transition valuable in crisis-affected settings.
Despite its potential, environmental education in emergencies remains underutilized and underfunded. Only 1.5% of global climate finance goes to education, with minimal investment in climate-informed learning, only 2.4% used for child support activities between 2006-2023. We must call for stronger coordination between education, climate, and humanitarian sectors. Environmental education approaches should be integrated into national curricula, teacher training, and climate financing for EiE and resilience. Moreover, beyond simply imparting knowledge about the environment, environmental education can serve as a powerful methodology for survival, empowerment, and transformation—especially in contexts affected by crisis or disruption. When integrated into EiE, it offers far more than basic literacy and numeracy; it equips students with practical skills and critical awareness to navigate and respond to environmental risks and uncertainties in their daily lives. Through this approach, learners gain the capacity to understand their immediate surroundings, adapt to changing conditions, and actively participate in shaping safer, more resilient communities. In this sense, environmental education becomes not just a subject but a transformative practice that empowers individuals and communities to protect both their livelihoods and their future.
Mainstreaming environmental education therefore plays a pivotal role in prevention, recovery, and rebuilding phases. Now is the time to scale up. Education that heals and prepares is education that lasts.
About the Authors
Dr. Yitayal Addis Alemayehu is an Environmental Scientist and Assistant Professor at Kotebe University of Education (KUE), based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. With over 18 years of academic and research experience, he has been serving as a coordinator for centers of emergency and pastoralist education in the institute of educational research and reform at KUE. Besides, he is the managing editor for Kotebe Journal of Education (KJE) and a member of professional networks including Future Earth and the Climate Social Science Network (CSSN).
Dr. Eyueil Abate Demissie is an Assistant Professor of Curriculum Design and Development at Kotebe University of Education and he is the Director of the Institute of Life Long Learning. He is also the regional director of the Global Childhood Network, Co-chair of the INEE Inclusive Education Working Group and the INEE Country Focal Point for Ethiopia.