Embarged 03:00 pm
On today's International Day for Biological Diversity, the Director General of the Museum für Naturkunde, Prof Johannes Vogel, and the State Secretary for Climate Protection and Environment, Britta Behrendt, informed the numerous visitors about the wide range of environmental education on offer at the Museum für Naturkunde. Vogel and Behrendt emphasised how important access to urban nature is for the well-being and quality of life of Berlin's urban population.
‘With our environmental education programmes for daycare centres, schools and neighbourhood associations, as well as our networking work in Berlin's districts, we are also able to activate groups that have not previously been reached for the protection and preservation of nature,’ said Vogel.
Britta Behrendt, State Secretary for Climate Protection and Environment in Berlin: ‘The preservation of biodiversity concerns us all. The growing challenges can only be mastered in close co-operation with active citizens. This makes it all the more important to focus more strongly on education and research into biodiversity and to create a wide range of opportunities for networking and environmental education.’
The close cooperation between the Senate Department for Mobility, Transport, Climate Protection and Environment (SenMVKU) and the Museum für Naturkunde will continue in the future, particularly in the areas of biodiversity research and environmental education.
Finally, Behrendt and Vogel took part in the ‘I am a green place of learning’ spraying campaign. This campaign organised by the NaturStadt.Berlin network aims to increase the visibility of the more than 700 green learning sites in Berlin.
The day at the Museum für Naturkunde was organised jointly by the Vielfalt Verstehen project and the coordination centres for nature, environmental, climate and sustainability education in the districts of Mitte and Reinickendorf. Both projects promote environmental education programmes in schools, daycare centres and other educational institutions and are committed to strengthening environmental education in Berlin. The interdisciplinary pilot project ‘Understanding Diversity’ also combines their environmental education projects with current research on Berlin's biological diversity at the Museum für Naturkunde.
The projects are funded by the SenMVKU and the district authorities of Mitte and Reinickendorf. A partner in both projects is the Berlin-Mitte School Environment Centre, which also took part in activities.