CELEX: 51988PC0202
Language: en
Date: 1988-05-05
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION ON PREVENTING ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE BY THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING MEASURES

27. 7. 88                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                        No C 197/13
                                                             II
                                                      (Preparatory Acts)
                                                COMMISSION
              Proposal for a Council Decision on preventing environmental damage by the implementation of
                                              education and training measures
                                                     COM(88) 202 final
                                      (Submitted by the Commission on 6 May 1988)
                                                       (88/C 197/10)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES                           G o v e r n m e n t s of the M e m b e r States meeting within the
                                                                  Council of 19 O c t o b e r 1987 ( 5 ), on the continuation a n d
                                                                  implementation of a E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t y policy a n d
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European            action p r o g r a m m e on the environment declares t h a t it is
Economic Community, and in particular Article 130S                i m p o r t a n t for C o m m u n i t y action to c o n c e n t r a t e on
thereof,                                                          certain priority areas while observing the powers of the
                                                                  C o m m u n i t y and the M e m b e r States a n d in this
                                                                  connection calls for increased efforts to p r o m o t e en-
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,                vironmental e d u c a t i o n and training at appropriate levels;
Having regard      to   the   opinion  of  the   European         W h e r e a s the resolution of the Council and of the
Parliament,                                                       Ministers for E d u c a t i o n meeting within the Council of 9
                                                                  February 1976 comprising an action p r o g r a m m e in the
                                                                  field of education (6) provides for the implementation of
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                  various measures t o p r o m o t e closer relations between
Social Committee,                                                 national education systems and cooperation in t h e field
                                                                  of higher e d u c a t i o n ;
Whereas Article 130R (2) of the Treaty establishing the
                                                                  W h e r e a s , having r e g a r d t o the diversity of education
European Economic Community lays down that action
                                                                  systems in the M e m b e r States, certain principles should
by the Community relating to the environment shall be
                                                                  be established, the implementation of which w o u l d be
based inter alia on the principle of preventive action;           the responsibility of the c o m p e t e n t authorities in the
                                                                  M e m b e r States;
Whereas education and training have an important role
to play in this connection, whereas in environmental              W h e r e a s it is in particular necessary to e n c o u r a g e the
matters, their objective is to make the public aware of           observance of these principles at all levels of education
existing problems and possible solutions in this area, and        and training (preschool, primary, s e c o n d a r y a n d h i g h e r ) ;
to encourage everyone to pay the greatest possible
attention to environmental requirements;                          W h e r e a s M e m b e r States should also train an a d e q u a t e
                                                                  n u m b e r of specialists in environmental matters in o r d e r
                                                                  to meet the g r o w i n g d e m a n d from u n d e r t a k i n g s a n d
Whereas the European Communities environmental
                                                                  administrations a n d contribute to the achievement of the
action programmes of 1973 (»), 1977 (2), 1983 (3) and
                                                                  objectives of C o m m u n i t y environment policy in practice;
1987 (4) emphasize the importance of increasing public
awareness through appropriate measures in the field of
education;                                                        Whereas           in addition        to national measures,              the
                                                                  C o m m u n i t y institutions should take action to e n c o u r a g e
                                                                  comparison and transfer of experience gained at national
Whereas the resolution of the Council of the European             level, ensure t h a t greater consideration is given t o
Communities and of the Representatives of the                     specifically E u r o p e a n aspects and i n c o r p o r a t e environ-
                                                                  mental matters into existing C o m m u n i t y p r o g r a m m e s on
(') OJ No C 112, 20. 12. 1973, p. 1.                              education a n d training,
(2) OJ No C 139, 13. 6. 1977.
(3) OJ No C 46, 17. 2. 1983.                                      (s) OJ No C 289, 29. 10. 1987.
(4) OJ No C 70, 18. 3. 1983.                                      (') OJ N o C 38, 9. 2. 1976.
 ---pagebreak--- No C 197/14                           Official Journal of the European Communities                                   27. 7. 88
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:                                           encourage their further training by means of pilot
                                                                     schemes and research projects,
                           Article 1
                                                                 — undertake specific action to provide teachers and
 1.   Protection of the environment requires citizens to             pupils with appropriate teaching materials.
be made more aware of the problems existing in this area
and of possible solutions.                                       2.    The Member States shall promote the training of
                                                                 specialists in the various disciplines relating to the en-
2.    The achievement of these objectives demands an             vironment by introducing ecological subjects into further
awareness of the following:                                      training programmes. This shall also be encouraged in
                                                                 the field of vocational training, including university
— the environment as the common heritage of mankind,             education, with a view to steering the behaviour of those
— the ecological balance and the need to safeguard it,           with future responsibilities in a direction which is most
                                                                 favourable to the conservation of the environment and
— the right to enjoyment of an unpolluted environment,           natural resources.
— the need for the national use of natural resources,
                                                                 3.    In order to ensure that the actions set out in the
— the effects of human activities on the local, national         two preceding paragraphs are incorporated more effec-
    and world environment,                                       tively into the teaching structures and strategies of the
— the1 way in which each individual can by his own               respective education and training systems, the competent
    behaviour, particularly as a consumer, contribute to         authorities of each Member State shall draw up a
    the protection of the environment.                           programme setting out the practical arrangements for the
                                                                 implementation of the objective referred to in Article
                                                                 1(1).
                           Article 2
1.    The competent authorities of the Member States             4.    These programmes shall take account of the fact
shall introduce the points set out in Article 1 (2) at all       that environmental education and vocational training is a
levels of teaching, general education and vocational             principle of interdisciplinary teaching of relevance both
training (including adult training), in cooperation with         to the field of natural sciences and that of social sciences.
local bodies and, where appropriate, parents.
                                                                                           Article 3
To this end, the competent authorities of the Member
States shall:                                                    Member States shall take the necessary measures to
                                                                 comply with this Decision by 1 April 1990 at the latest
— give consideration to these aspects when drawing up
                                                                 and shall forthwith notify the Commission thereof.
    curricula and the disciplines in question and organ-
    izing interdisciplinary courses,
                                                                                           Article 4
— make provision for extra-curricular school activities
    by means of which theoretical knowledge of the en-           The Commission shall present a report on the implemen-
    vironment acquired in school can be tried out in             tation of this Decision to the Council and the European
    practice,                                                    Parliament by 1 July 1992.
— take appropriate measures to develop teachers'                                           Article 5
    knowledge of the environmental matters in the
    context of their initial and in-service training, and       This Decision is addressed to the Member States.