Overall Aim of Sustainable Development Goal 13

Climate change is now affecting every country on every continent. It is disrupting national economies and affecting lives, costing people, communities, and countries dearly today and even more tomorrow. Weather patterns are changing, sea levels are rising, weather events are becoming more extreme and greenhouse gas emissions are now at their highest levels in history. Without action, the world’s average surface temperature is likely to surpass 3 degrees centigrade this century. The poorest and most vulnerable people are being affected the most.

Affordable, scalable solutions are now available to enable countries to leapfrog to cleaner, more resilient economies. The pace of change is quickening as more people are turning to renewable energy and a range of other measures that will reduce emissions and increase adaptation efforts. 

Climate change is a global challenge that requires solutions needed to be coordinated at the international level to help developing countries move toward a low-carbon economy.

To strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, countries adopted the Paris Agreement at the COP21 in Paris, which went into force in November of 2016. In the agreement, all countries agreed to work to limit global temperature rise to well below 2 degrees centigrade. On February 2, 2017 Saeima (Parliament) of the Republic of Latvia ratified the Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It means that since then Latvia has undertaken to implement series of internationally prescribed commitments to mitigate global climate change. 

As of April 2018, 175 parties had ratified the Paris Agreement and 10 developing countries had submitted their first iteration of their national adaptation plans for responding to climate change.

Why is it important for educational community?

The Module developed by our team 

• Will provide a deeper understanding of SDG13 and how it interrelates with sustainable lifestyles;
•  Will explain how 21st century skills are relevant to SDGs in general, and in particular to SDG13;
• Will help acquire increased knowledge on how to use SDG13 to promote 21st century skills among youth;
• Will build teachers’ capacity further in order to facilitate successful sessions to increase students’ skills and competencies using the framework of the UN SDG13;

As a result of the Module activities, educational community: 

• Will respond positively towards achieving SDG13; 
• Will share good practices and get inspired by them to take actions;
• Will initiate, facilitate, and participate in  discussions in class openly sharing their opinions and beliefs in a safe space for all opinions; 
• Will get empowered for future actions;

Key dimensions of Sustainable Development Goal 13

• Define what climate change is;
• Understand the urgency of taking action to combat climate change and its impacts;
• Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate related disasters;
• Understand the need for the implementation of the UN Framework Convention on climate change;

The interplay between Sustainable Development Goal 13 and the acquisition of 21st century skills

• Explore, reflect upon and follow up ideas in real life that stress out the urgency of taking immediate action against climate change;
• Raise innovative ideas and non-traditional solutions regarding SDG13;
• Cooperate and share tasks with other students to strengthen resilience to climate change;
• Show resistance and endurance towards the struggle for climate justice;
• Apply critical thinking and make meaningful knowledge around SDG13;
• Learn to see connections and patterns;
• Define alternatives for action and set priorities;
• Learn to make smart and informed decisions;
• Learn to cooperate in teams;
• Learn to communicate with digital tools;