Environmental Education: Malta may be in the forefront in the Mediterranean says German Expert

"Malta is bound to take a leading role in the field of environmental education in the Mediterranean Region". This is the opinion of Professor Walter Leal Filho from the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg, Germany who is visiting the Maltese islands by invitation of the Department of Maths, Science & Technical Education, Faculty of Education, University of Malta, in colloboration with the Socrates Office.

Professor Walter Leal Filho is an authority in the field of environmental education and has around 20 books and over one hundred papers to his credit. The purpose of his visit to Malta is not only to act as mentor in the running of National Environmental Education Strategy (NEES) an initiative supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Environment, but also to offer advice on the provision of environmental education courses and research projects at University and to look into the possibility of setting up a Euro- Mediterranean centre on environmental education which besides co-ordinating research in the field, could also act as an environmental information hub to faciltate the exchange of information in the region.

Professor Filho, who acts as a consultant to UN agencies such as UNEP (UN Environment Programme) and UNESCO, has travelled extensively co-ordinating environmental education and environmental management projects in Arab, Asian, African Caribbean and European countries. During his latest visit to Malta, where he met with the Team working on the NEES which is directed by Dr. Paul Pace (University of Malta), he stated that, "with NEES, Malta will be taking a leading role as first Mediterranean country to have a national environmental education programme". Since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, more and more countries are now pursuing the preparation of national environmental education strategies. Although countries such as Finland, Netherlands, Scotland and Sweden have already one, no Mediterranean country has such a system in place, hence the uniqueness of the on-going work in Malta. Should the schedule agreed at NEES's latest board meeting to be followed, the consultation process should be completed by the spring 1999, so that it may be officially launched in June 1999.

In the course of his visit, he will be meeting the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Environment, the Minister of Education & National Culture, the Rector of the University and the Dean of the Faculty of Education.

Professor Filho will be giving a public lecture on Environmental Education - a Euro-Med dimension on Friday, 12 June 1998 at 16:00 in the Erin Serracino Inglott Hall, Lecture Centre, University of Malta, Msida. Entranced from Carpark 2 School teachers, B.Ed (Hons) students and the general public are cordially invited to attend.