Italy To Become First Country Where Teaching Climate Change At School Is Compulsory

Italy will make it compulsory for students at state schools to learn about climate change.

The European country will become the first in the world to make the subject mandatory, which will consist of around one hour a week.

Students from Year 1 to Year 13, ages six through 19, will be taught about the health of the planet and the impact that climate change will have on it.

The country's Education Minister Lorenzo Fioramonti told the Telegraph: "This is a new model of civic education centred on sustainable development and climate change.

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"Italy will be the first country in the world to adopt this framework.

"There are countries like Bhutan which focus on happiness and well-being rather than GDP, but this is the first time that a country has taken the UN agenda and turned it into a teaching model."

Mr Fioramonti drew criticism when he said children should have the day off school to attend the climate strikes earlier this year.

The Minister is confident that even if his party gets defeated at the next general election, the climate change subject will stay on Italy's curriculum.

He said: "The law has been passed. So unless there is a new government that really hates the law and destroys it, it will be implemented. It goes beyond this government."

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At least he's been backed up by more than 11,000 scientists, who have all signed a document stating the world is in the middle of a climate emergency.

The dramatic warning says if nothing is done to stop the advances of climate change then we will all endure 'untold suffering'.

The document states: "We declare clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency.

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"To secure a sustainable future, we must change how we live. [This] entails major transformations in the ways our global society functions and interacts with natural ecosystems.

"The climate crisis has arrived and is accelerating faster than most scientists expected. It is more severe than anticipated, threatening natural ecosystems and the fate of humanity."

The document has been organised to recognise the 40th anniversary of the first world climate conference all the way back in 1979. The signatories, more than 11,000, hail from 153 countries around the globe.

It will now be up to world leaders on whether they accept the scientists' message. It's clear that Italy has taken the warning seriously.

Topics: World News, News

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

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