News

A Record Number of Participants Takes Part in LVM's Environmental Education Programmes

A record number of participants – more than 30 thousand Latvian schoolchildren – participated in environmental education programmes developed by JSC “Latvia's State Forests” (LVM) during the past school year.

LVM offers face-to-face environmental education classes in State forests together with LVM specialists and implements environmental education programmes at schools in cooperation with teachers. 6 035 students attended classes in LVM Nature Park in Tērvete, LVM Kalsnava Arboretum and LVM Vijciems Cone Drying Facility, while 24 325 participants took part in LVM environmental education programmes at schools.

In cooperation with the Latvian Environmental Protection Fund, preschools are invited to participate in the eco-programme “Pigman’s Detectives”, learning about the problem of waste in the forest, as well as getting to know nature with all the senses. Pigman, the ambassador of the environmental education programme, has become a welcome guest in almost 300 kindergartens this year, visiting 8 600 children.

Primary and elementary school students go on adventures as part of the “Mother Nature Master Class” and “LVM Forest Expeditions”. In these environmental education programmes, students learn outside the school premises, as well as apply the skills and knowledge acquired at school during the hike to explore the cycle of forest management. This year, 7 477 children from 147 classes participated in the “Mother Nature Master Class”, while 5 990 children and 450 teachers went on the expedition.

To discover learning and career opportunities in the forest sector, school students of grades 8 and 9 are offered the opportunity to participate in the research competition “Mežotājs”. By learning the digital learning game developed in cooperation with the Interdisciplinary Education Innovation Centre of the University of Latvia, students get to know forest processes and then independently conduct research on the importance of sustainable forestry. This year, more than 700 students participated in the game.

In turn, high school students compete in the “LVM Bio-economy School” scholarship competition, proving their knowledge of the innovative field of bio-economy in fierce competition. Also, everyone is given the opportunity to be creative in the “LVM Forest Days” sticker design competition. This year, referring to the main theme of the Latvian Forest Days – the importance of forests in the fight against climate change – almost 700 participants of the competition searched for an answer to the question “Will the forest save the world?” in their works.

“Schools' interest in forest environment education continues to grow, and the most important factor in working with schools is, of course, the teacher. Therefore, every year we invite teachers who are connected with the forest to participate in continuing education courses. In the past school year, more than 300 teachers acquired new environmental education methods in this type of training, while getting to know the experience of both local and international colleagues in implementing the learning process outside the classroom. The next courses – an environmental education camp for teachers in cooperation with the University of Latvia are planned already in July,” says LVM Environmental Education Manager Līga Abizāre.

With the aim of bringing young people closer to nature and promoting awareness of sustainable forest management, LVM, in cooperation with the National Centre for Education and the European Forest Pedagogy Organization, has already for 20 years been inviting schools to explore the forest by participating in LVM's environmental education programmes, as well as using teaching materials developed by professionals.

For more information please visit www.lvm.lv/skolam