Busan City Selected as Finalist in Ministry of Environment's 'Legal Environmental Education City Designation Contest'!

Efforts to Revitalize Environmental Education Shine

3 Years of Administrative Support from the Ministry of Environment

Busan City has been finally selected in the Ministry of Environment's '2023 Legal Environmental Education City New Designation Contest.'

Busan City Hall.

The Ministry of Environment designates and supports local governments that have various conditions such as environmental education infrastructure, cooperation, and education service provision as 'Legal Environmental Education Cities' to revitalize region-centered environmental education.

Since 2020, the city was designated as the Ministry of Environment's pilot environmental education city for the first time nationwide, and during the three-year pilot period (2020?2023), it has promoted various projects aiming to realize the right for any citizen to receive environmental education anytime and anywhere.

▲ Establishing an institutional foundation through ordinance revision and building environmental education infrastructure such as the Busan Environmental Experience Education Center ▲ Public-private-academic cooperation including the Busan Environmental Education Week Harmony Event, city-wide environmental education programs, and the Busan Environmental Education Festival ▲ Implementation of region-specific environmental learning rights such as hosting the Busan International Environmental Film Festival, operating the Environmental Belt Tour, developing environmental education materials, and running environmental learning communities ▲ Global cooperation including environmental policy exchanges with cities in the Korea-Japan Strait, and selection for local government green purchasing focus city cooperation projects ▲ Activation of social environmental education such as conducting environmental education for city officials and holding visiting carbon neutrality policy briefings for companies.

A total of five metropolitan local governments, including Busan and Chungnam, which are pilot environmental education cities, participated in this contest, and after fierce competition, Busan City and Jeju Special Self-Governing Province were finally selected.

The city’s plans and achievements to activate environmental education as a pilot environmental education city, as well as its excellent environmental education promotion foundation, played a decisive role in the final selection in this contest.

Following this selection, the city will devote all efforts to revitalizing regional environmental education by implementing citizen-participatory environmental education within the region, strengthening communication and cooperation bases among environmental education stakeholders, and establishing the Busan Environmental Experience Education Center for environmental education for all citizens, with administrative support from the Ministry of Environment for three years starting next year.

In particular, based on communication and cooperation among environmental education stakeholders (Busan City, the Office of Education, regional environmental education centers, and the Busan Environmental Education Network), the city plans to take the lead in sustainable environmental education and guarantee citizens’ environmental learning rights, thereby laying the foundation for practicing environmental conservation in daily life.

Additionally, through collaboration among Busan City, the Ministry of Environment, and the Office of Education, the Busan Environmental Experience Education Center, which is being developed by utilizing a closed school, will strengthen environmental education linked to school curricula and establish a foundation for activating social environmental education including exhibition, learning, training, collaboration, experience, and communication spaces. This center is planned to serve as a hub institution with a control tower role for environmental education across all life stages, from early childhood to old age.

Mayor Park Hyung-jun said, “As citizens’ awareness change and actions are important for the transition to a carbon-neutral society in the era of climate crisis, we will continue to do our best so that our city, as a legal environmental education city, can take the lead in the normalization and systematization of environmental education.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.