New environmental book for Kazakh schools

A new textbook on environmental education and climate change, the first of its kind in Kazakhstan, has been prepared for students in secondary schools thanks to a British Council and European Commission (EC)-funded project implemented by the Central Asian Regional Environmental Centre (CAREC). The textbook, "Environment for Future Generations", was written by a team of teachers and NGOs specialising in the field of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), including experts from the UK-based NGO Field Studies Council on Environment Education (FSCEE). Tatiana Shakirova, a CAREC programme manager, told IRIN on Tuesday that there was a strong need to develop teaching materials on environmental science in Kazakhstan, given the current lack of thematic books that raise awareness of environmental issues in schools. "That's why we launched this initiative," she said. "Textbooks and methodological guidebooks on ecology used in the learning process are outdated and do not always reflect the specific environmental problems of Kazakhstan," Shakirova added, noting the relevance of the new publication. Her comments came a week after representatives from CAREC and the British Embassy in Kazakhstan, including the British ambassador to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, James Sharp, met to discuss the next phase of the "Posters and Video on Climate Change" project. The meeting focused on the distribution of the textbook in Central Asia through training for teachers, and the presentation of posters and videos on climate change. "This area is particularly topical for Kazakhstan given the country's environmental situation. The United Kingdom is supporting a number of projects aimed at averting climate change and we are financing the work of the Centre for Climate Change in Kazakhstan," Brian Wilson, the UK prime minister's special representative on overseas trade, who also attended the meeting, said.