Live Lessons focus on Biodiversity and COP15

Coinciding with Biodiversity COP15 in Montreal we have facilitated a week of Live Lessons to highlight how magnificent and vital every part of or living planet is, and how important it is for us all to work hard to ensure nature is protected.   And on today, 9 December, we hosted an online celebratory assembly.

Included within the series of Live Lessons were presentations from Jasper Hughes from Highland Wildlife Park RZSS and acclaimed author and eco-journalist Sarah Roberts who shared her experience working in some of the most extreme and attractive places on Earth.  We were joined by 2,500 children and young people during the course of the week, along with Armadillos, rhinoceros and hissing cockroaches from Edinburgh Zoo and wildcats and arctic foxes from the Highland Wildlife Park.

At the assembly, where we celebrated the work and learning from the week, Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity Lorna Slater gave a pre-recorded update.  Ahead of her going to Montreal in Canada for COP15, to meet with politicians, activists and scientists from all over the world, she said, “We all know that animals are going extinct, and habitats are being destroyed, but we can change that.   At COP15 I hope we can come to an international agreement to stop the extinction, to significantly protect 30% of land all over the world. And to start having a serious conversation about nature restoration; about putting things back the way they should be and about leaving something better to you and to your kids as well.

“We know that we have a climate crisis.  We also have a nature crisis. We need to stop the extinctions and we need to build a better world, for future generations.”

Our Deputy CEO Catherine Gee commented, “Taking action to maintain and restore biodiversity is about he future of our planet and humanity.  We all have it in us to take actions to drive the changes needed in Scotland and across the world to protect animals and plants.  We have been inspired by all the activity carried out across schools this week, and are very much looking forward to our 2023 series of Live Lessons.”

You can see recordings of the lessons from this week, and others we have delivered this year by visiting the  Live Lessons pages on our website.  We have also a number already planned for 2023 so do put the dates in your diaries.

As always, we are grateful to our partner organisations Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and The Scottish Book Trust for supporting our programme of Live Lessons, as part of our Climate Action Schools framework, during 2023.