First steps towards mainstreaming environmental communication

Communicating important environmental issues and aspects should be the first step towards improving and protecting nature. Very often, complex and time-consuming processes, changes and phenomena in nature require a simple approach to communication in which news and novelty will be conveyed without the original idea being lost. Therefore, communication skills can significantly contribute to creating a better environment, and precisely this is the objective of the regional project “Mainstreaming Environmental Communication through Online Learning and Virtual Mobility”, funded by the EU ERASMUS + program.

Environmental communication is a multidisciplinary field, so the teams from the Institute of Communication Studies, together with the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture at the University of Zagreb, the Department of Biology and Ecology at Novi Sad University, the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Sarajevo and the Department of Biology at the University of Tirana held the kick off meeting, setting the initial guidelines and rules in which this pioneering project in this field will take place at the regional level.

The objective is for each of the project partners to contribute with their knowledge of communication, biodiversity, environment and energy to the preparation of a six-month specialization designed for civil society representatives, researchers, lecturers in educational institutions, employees in public institutions and the business sector, journalists, as well as all those interested who will want to be educated and additionally trained as environmental communication professionals.

The project will include training of trainers and curriculum development, creation of online educational materials, a learning game and a guide for environmental communication, as well as implementation of online courses and a hackathon in which campaigns will be developed to solve environmental problems in the region. Upon completion of the professional program, participants will receive certificates and ECTS credits from higher education institutions that are partners in the project.

This program aims to provide a new approach to communicating important environmental issues as they pose a burning issue in the Western Balkans, but also to sow the seeds of the importance of proper communication, in order to solve environmental problems and climate change.