At the World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development in Aichi-Nagoya, the Director-General held talks, on 10 November 2014, with Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasna of Morocco, President of the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection.

Expressing her gratitude for the participation of Her Royal Highness in the Conference, the Director-General commended the Foundation’s work and the scope of its projects covering the Eco-Schools network, raising the journalists’ awareness, coastal protection, the prize for young environmental reporters, educational activities in the Intercontinental Biosphere Reserve of the Mediterranean, and many others.

Her Royal Highness stressed that education was the keystone of the entire movement, recalling that the Foundation’s vision was to involve children in the projects as prime movers of change. Princess Lalla Hasna was gratified by young people’s substantive involvement in sustainable development issues.
Her Royal Highness was proud that Global Geopark status had been granted to the M’Goun mountain area. The Foundation was working on a project to bring local people and elected representatives together in order to highlight the environmental significance of the site and to consider ways and means of protecting and developing it.
She then wished that UNESCO would contribute its expertise to the Foundation, in particular under a partnership. The Director-General stressed the similarities between UNESCO’s approaches and those of the Foundation in terms of sustainable development, which encompassed education, living together and increasing the awareness and involvement of local communities – in a word, shared responsibility.

Based on unesco.org