“#IOSONOAMBIENTE” PROGRAMME

Area

Environmental

Summary (description and reason to be)

From 2019 and mainly from 2022, the Italian Environmental Ministry is carrying out the “#iosonoAmbiente” (“I am the environment”) programme to spread environmental awareness among young people. For that purpose, a series of educations projects will be carried out in and out of the schools to promote the preservation of the environment and let young people being informed and critic eco-citizens.

Target: Vulnerable Group (VG) and/or type of community

School stakeholders including students, teachers, school staff and families, as well as universities, research centres and all other educational stakeholders.

Application setting: context

#iosonoAmbiente stems from the desire to include the issues of environmental protection and sustainable development among the main school subjects in Italian schools and generally, when dealing with the so-called “civic education”.

Objectives

The aim is to raise awareness among young people but also to increase their knowledge in environmental matters and related educational contents, thus developing a set of activities and educational pathway with specific thematic insights on environment and ecology.

Requirements

All schools, students and teachers of different ages and educational pathways can freely participate in the programme and they can present any projects and/or initiatives that promote sustainable development and environmental protection in and out of the schools in Italy.

Performance procedures

In the frame of the “#iosonoAmbiente” programme, a fund of 2 million euros will be allocated for each year 2020, 2021, 2022 and to support different projects and activities. In addition, there are also very specific awareness campaigns such as the #IoSonoMare campaign (“I am the sea”), which is open not only to school stakeholders but also to other civil institutions and citizens in general.

Activities

Environmental projects managed by one school or by a wider network of schools may be submitted and get funded by the #iosonoAmbiente programme. These projects can also be carried out in collaboration with associations and environmental bodies. Many of the ongoing project deal with: the protection of marine areas, the protection of coasts, the cleaning of beaches, the fight against the abandonment of plastics at sea etc. The protection of green areas, the natural parks and the biosphere is strongly supported too.

Results

In the #iosonoAmbiente awareness raising projects, students are directly involved, through curricular (within the schools) or extracurricular activities and volunteering ones. The aim is to promote eco-sustainable and environmentally friendly practices and behaviours among young people in general.
Universities and research institutions also participate in several #iosonoAmbiente projects, and public police forces are actively involved too.

Year and length (duration)

From 2019.

References (Bibliography, URLs, suggested readings)