Environmental education (EE) increases knowledge and awareness
of the environment around us. The City of Cape Town is committed to the environmental education of its staff and the public, with a strong focus on schools.

The City has developed an Environmental Education and Training Strategy
[PDF 1.7MB], which provides a framework for the planning and
implementation of environmental education and training.

A number of EE projects and programmes are run by the
Environmental Resource Management Department. These include:

1)  The Youth Environmental School (YES) Programme, which is a
year-round programme of EE activities with learners and educators.
The YES Programme is the perfect vehicle through which our city’s
youth can gain knowledge and respect for their environment.

2)  EduNet, the YES educators’ network, aims to empower and
capacitate educators around environmental issues and provides
an online ‘one-stop-shop’ for EE resources, information and
invitations to workshops, amongst others. Educators need only
 complete a brief registration form to join. Membership is free.

3)  The Cape Teaching Institute EE Course for Educators of the
Western Cape Education Department is a 10-day EE training
course which enables educators to develop and implement practical
curriculum-based lessons focusing on an environmental issue.

4)  The Environmental Careers Centre forms part of the Cape Town
SABC Education Careers Fair, making it possible for the youth to gain
exposure to further education and training opportunities in environmentally
related careers.

5)  The Youth Conference on Sustainable Development provides a platform
for the city’s youth to present an environmental issue on sustainability via a
drama, oral or poster presentation.

6)  The Youth, Urban Nature and GIS project enables secondary school youth
to experience how nature conservators use GIS technology to monitor and care
for nature. They learn about it by doing practical fieldwork, and in so doing
supplement their textbook and computer laboratory knowledge.

7)  On International Coastal Cleanup Day, school learners and the general
public volunteer to help clean up the beaches and waterways in the city's
307 km coastline, removing debris and rubbish in a mass clean-up operation.

8)  The City’s Blue Flag Beach EE Programme provides environmental education
and information to schools, the public, decision makers and tour operators
about each of the three prestigious Blue Flag beaches
(Mnandi, Bikini and Clifton 4th beaches).