People’s understanding of the concept of biodiversity varies greatly. The situation of biodiversity in the EU 27 is not very positive. Even countries like Germany regarded as “pioneers” in promoting biodiversity are making hardly any tangible progress. According to the survey conducted by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, the consciousness of the concept of biodiversity did not change since 2005, oscillating around 25%. The TEEB-studies (http://www.teebweb.org) for different European countries show, that governments in Europe start to understand (and measure) different biodiversity aspects, as its value for people, but common understanding is generally weak and the fulfillment of EU strategies and regulations for biodiversity is extremely poor. These observations indicate a lack in the educational system on biodiversity, both in methodology and implementation. Therefore, in order to push changes, an important goal is to teach citizens about the meaning of biodiversity loss and the important issues related to it.How to raise awareness for biodiversity in European countries? One of the answers is to put in action more comprehensive pedagogical practices on biodiversity. Citizens need to find themselves at the heart of the debate, to become actors of change and be emotionally linked to the issue. They need to understand how the behavior of a single individual in the everyday life is strictly connected to biodiversity loss; this process will help to show options for acting. Education is a long-term project, and of course, this project can be based on decades of experience in many EU MS. What we want to provide is a synthesis of experiences from experts in several EU MS to produce comprehensive educational material on biodiversity. The developed tools will support educators to “Inspire People for Biodiversity”. Within the project, the following activities will be implemented: - State of the art & training analyses: Assessment of the training needs of citizens, their understanding of the topic biodiversity; the assessment of the pedagogical offer of available initiatives/tools on biodiversity. - Pedagogical programme setting & best practice exchange: Development of a programme covering 6 educational “focus areas” on biodiversity with regard to implementation in the everyday life.- Development of innovative pedagogical material and accompanying guide: Creation of a set of pedagogical materials taking into account current needs and developments in education on biodiversity: 30 tools in 5 “focus areas”. An accompanying guide will be provided to facilitate the use of the material. All tools will be tested within the frame of special events to collect feedback from both trainers and citizens.- Development of a set of pedagogical communication tools: It will include interactive educational posters, thematic video, webinar structure etc. for separate presentations of the theme as well as pedagogical materials, in particular for trainers and stakeholders working/planning to work on biodiversity education. This output will be complemented by dissemination activities throughout the project.- 12 Multiplier events for dissemination of project results in addition to general dissemination.The aim of this project is to develop a strategic partnership at European level in order to assess practices concerning the education of adults on biodiversity and to improve the quality and offer of such. The project aims to develop a set of innovative and successful pedagogical material on biodiversity and a specific guide to the attention of European CSOs and other stakeholders. The project will provide a tool kit for educators working on this topic, helping people to better understand the concept of biodiversity, the connection with daily life, and to increase the general level of consciousness on biodiversity. The materials developed will be available for broad public.The project contributes both to strengthening the educational work of individual organisations in respective countries and finding common solutions at European level. Cooperation is an opportunity to fundamentally change the situation. Launching a European project helps to improve and increase the means of action for stakeholders on this particular topic Europe wide.Humans highly depend on biodiversity: ecosystems and related services provide us with food, medicines and raw materials, deliver many other services. According to the European Commission, biological diversity is one of the main topics on EU-working agenda. The global biodiversity loss is stated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN): 12,259 species are threatened with extinction, 75% of genetic diversity of agricultural crops has been lost, 75% of the world’s fisheries are fully or over exploited. In this context, it is urgent to implement effective measures and learn to deal with biodiversity, so that future generations can enjoy living in a diverse world.

The ‘Learning Landscapes’ project designs a new format for collective visioning and creates an innovative partnership of academia, the public sector and planning professionals with civil society. Underpinning this understanding of the landscape is the European Landscape Convention’s definition of landscape as ‘an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors’ (Council of Europe, 2000). We built on the idea that the local landscape is the actual forum for democratic community visioning. The learning landscapes project has therefore the following objectives:(1)To open universities to their communities in three regional contexts, all of which are exemplary for relevant European challenges: The urban agglomeration of the Gdansk Bay in Poland, the urban landscape of Zagreb and its rural hinterland in Croatia; and the transboundary landscape of Bratislava in Slovakia. Our consortium brings universities and NGO partners from all three regions together. (2)To prepare university staff members for their role as facilitators who are actively shaping the ‘learning landscapes process’ in an inclusive, empowering and democratic way.(3)To include our students, the future generation of European planners and designers, into this process by adding an inclusive blended learning format to the ‘learning landscapes process’.(4)To open up the ‘learning landscapes process’ to civil society by various means such as local design charrettes, open online lecture series, collaborative mapping activities, landscape walks and storytelling events.(5)To create and share knowledge by documenting the learning landscapes methodology as an open educational resource.The following activities are planned:(1) Design and implementation of a staff development programme.(2) The testing and evaluation of various participatory methods for involving the general public actively in ‘Learning Landscape Process’ (such as collaborative mapping, collective visioning, co-designing etc.)(3) Design and implementation of two blended learning activities in relation to the territorial scope of the landscapes under consideration (Gdansk, Bratislava and Zagreb).(4) A collaboratively developed and tested method for ‘democratic design charrettes’ as a core element of the ‘Learning Landscapes Process’, transferable to any future location/context.(5) Open-access documentation of the ‘Learning Landscapes Process’(6) A rigorous monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of the measures and activities(7) Implementation of two multiplier events embedded in the Landscape Forum in Gdansk (2021) and a forum follow-up event in Zagreb in 2022. We expect about 200 attendants in total.The project will generate the following outputs:(1) Handbooks on the learning landscapes process and its methodology and on the staff development process: The Learning Landscapes Process (Output 1)(2)Three web-based interactive platforms documenting the Learning Landscapes process at each location and facilitating its follow-up activities in a cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary partnership: Learning Landscapes Online Labs (Output 2)(4) Substantial capacity and skills development among the core target groups of the ‘Learning Landscapes’ project, which will be transferable to other European audiences and future forum locations.(5)A system for recognising the engagement of staff, students and civil society partners in the learning landscapes process in the form of ECTS (students), staff development recognition (staff) and ‘civil society certificates’ recognizing civic engagement on behalf of academia, recognition for young people via YouthPass or similarThe target groups of the Learning Landscapes project are university staff and students, local community stakeholders such as cultural representatives, educational institutions, NGOs, policy-makers, administrations and local community associations. Through the ‘Learning Landscapes Process’ the project will also address members from civil society in general and specific social groups such as school students, the elderly, youth in general, ethnic groups or refugees.