The Salzburg Statement on Nature-Based Education

The world is facing multiple global crises that interact and amplify each other. There are environmental crises, including biodiversity loss and climate change, crises of social justice on every continent, and a crisis in education as our systems struggle to equip children with the skills they need to thrive. Nature-Based Education (NBE) offers a feasible, immediate, and hopeful solution to many of these complex, interconnected challenges. Bringing nature into the core of learning results in healthier, happier, smarter people who become better stewards for a healthier planet. The time for action is now.

NATURE-BASED EDUCATION: TIME FOR ACTION

Inspired by the urgency of the climate crisis, leaders from conservation, environment, and education came together at Salzburg Global from September 8 to 13, 2025 for a session on "NatureBased Education: Time for Action " They combined their energy and expertise to develop a roadmap for expanding Nature-Based Education and tackling multiple global challenges.

World leaders have already committed to reversing biodiversity loss and taking urgent measures to combat climate change by 2030, but most countries have not yet unlocked the power of NBE to achieve these goals. This Salzburg Statement asks education leaders to commit to embedding nature into our education systems. It invites educators, families, school leaders and all other stakeholders to exercise their agency and imagination to integrate NBE at scale to deliver benefits for people and the planet.

The Salzburg Global session was designed in partnership with the TUI Care Foundation, International Union for the Conservation of Nature Commission on Education and Communication, Canadian Wildlife Federation, and other partners.

Find out more about the outcomes of Salzburg Global's session on Nature-Based Education.

What Is Nature-Based Education?

Nature-Based Education is a collection of educational strategies that bring nature to the core of learning. Put simply, it means more nature in the classroom and more of the classroom in naturethis includes formal education, non-formal learning, and informal learning.

NBE reminds learners of their deep connection with nature and that this relationship is critical to building a regenerative future. It gives students the skills, knowledge, and mindsets they need to thrive, while at the same time promoting student and teacher well-being and encouraging better stewardship of nature and the planet.

To activate this potential, learning must be experiential and emotional. By doing that in nature, with its capacity to create magic, we can open the doors for a deeper understanding of relationships in general.

Call to Action

Rebuilding our connection to nature is an urgent and achievable priority that will transform learning, improve well-being, and help create a regenerative future. Whether you are a parent, teacher, leader, or policymaker, you have a vital role to play. Start today by taking a bite-sized moment of connection with nature and urge people who have influence in your school or education system to accelerate the adoption of Nature-Based Education in all schools and communities to address the learning, well-being, and planetary crises.

A Roadmap for Nature-Based Education

Salzburg Global Fellows are committed to building and supporting a global network of collaborators from diverse sectors with the shared goal of bringing nature into the heart of learning. These efforts are key to achieving the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals and the UN’s Global Biodiversity Framework. We will achieve these ambitious, vital, and connected goals:

• Through imagination and agency: We encourage parents and carers, teachers, school leaders, play workers, non-formal education leaders, policymakers, and everyone in between to do everything within their imagination and ability to rebuild their connection with nature, and to do a little of it every day.

• By integrating nature into education: We call on the 30 national governments who committed to implement NBE at the Transforming Education Summit to accelerate progress, share best practices, and encourage other countries to make commitments and take action.

• By learning from Indigenous knowledge and those who never lost the human-nature connection: While designing NBE activities, leaders are invited to consider the knowledge systems of Indigenous communities and, wherever feasible, codesign with them, as they have deep knowledge on embedding nature into their education systems using practices that connect students with their place, history, and land.

• By partnering with educators to integrate nature into the core of learning: We support a partnership approach among the conservation, environment, and education sectors that honors educators’ expertise, recognizes local contexts, and aligns resources and support with the mission and priorities of educators.

• By greening schoolyards: Transforming school grounds into nature-rich environments is a powerful tool that improves physical and mental health, social and cognitive skills, creativity, and academic performance. Salzburg Global Fellows call for policymakers and school communities to collaborate on plans to deliver one million more green schoolyards by 2040.

• By investing in a way to measure progress: We encourage the education and climate research communities to fund the development of a global indicator that measures how we are moving the needle on Nature-Based Education.

• By resourcing the vision of NBE at scale: We call on all funders whose portfolio includes education, human health, wellbeing, and the planetary crisis to direct resources to support the implementation of NBE at scale.

What Does It Look Like?

Innovators have mapped the journey to putting nature at the heart of education and invite educators, parents, and policymakers to join them. NBE is most effective when conducted in, with, and through natural settings, objects, and phenomena and through the integration of indigenous ways of knowing and a focus on social and environmental justice. One goal is for students to rebuild their connection and recognize that they are part of nature.

The Continuum of Nature-Based Education

• In Nature: Educators take learners outside to a nature play space, park, or natural area spot. This encourages students to feel comfortable, confident, and curious in nature and improve their physical and psychological well-being. This looks like moving traditional lessons outdoors into a natural context.

• With Nature: Educators design activities that use natural materials and systems as the vehicles for learning. Nature shapes the lesson rather than hosts it. This might include nature journaling, making art with natural materials, a hike to learn about the connection between human activity and a nearby river, or an inquiry-based activity using math skills to analyze tree growth.

• For Nature: Learners start to care for and become stewards of nature. They take actions that boost human capacity to live in balance with the planet, like improving local biodiversity or protecting against climate change. For example, making pollinator gardens, conducting energy or waste audits to inform school policy, or restoring a patch of habitat.

• As Nature: Learners see themselves as part of nature, not separate from it, and build deeper empathy. They are encouraged to recognize themselves as part of the ecosystem. Educators embed Indigenous knowledge and include practices that relate students with their land and promote gratitude, belonging, and interconnectedness.