Education for High Schools

While the climate crisis is currently addressed in upper secondary education across various subjects and levels, this material contributes to ensuring that potential courses of action regarding the biodiversity crisis are similarly taught and discussed.

A revised second edition of the teaching materials was published in June 2024 and aims to provide students with knowledge and insight into the current biodiversity crisis, as well as to analyze and discuss relevant individual and societal courses of action.

The content is consistent with the objectives of the biology curriculum and helps students acquire the academic foundation needed to address local and global issues related to sustainability and the environment, and to contribute innovatively and responsibly to the development of society.

The booklets cover all aspects of the biodiversity crisis. The first booklet describes the scope and progression of the biodiversity crisis and offers proposed solutions at the societal level. The second booklet explores socio-economic aspects, while the third focuses on the connection between the biodiversity crisis and the climate crisis.

The booklets thus provide an understanding of the importance of biodiversity for other species and our own existence, as well as the consequences of biodiversity loss on Earth and possible courses of action. In addition, examples are provided of cases where the trend has been reversed. The original booklets have already been downloaded by over 100 high schools throughout Denmark, as well as by many municipalities and organizations.

The new editions have been updated with the latest findings from, for example, the UN, the EU, and Denmark—including the latest findings on the threat posed by the loss of genetic diversity, “the invisible extinction,” as well as the fact that we have now exceeded 6 out of 9 planetary boundaries and that serious tipping points are drawing nearer. In addition, the updated booklets highlight the recent surge in engagement by large corporations and the financial sector in the fight against biodiversity loss.

Input for all three booklets was provided by the project’s steering committee, which consists of Ditte Kirstine Nørtoft Nielsen, subject specialist for social studies at the Ministry of Children and Education; Ole Kunnerup, the Ministry of Children and Education’s subject specialist for biology, Niels Vinther; the subject specialist for geography, Christian Rix; the chair of the Association of Danish Biologists; and Pia Vogel, a high school teacher of social studies and biology at Holstebro Gymnasium and HF. The workbooks have also been quality-assured by leading researchers from Danish universities. A description of each workbook and the corresponding quality assurance process can be found here.

If you have any questions about the material, please feel free to contact the Danish IPBES office. We hope you enjoy the material.

See also the video presentation of the material below: