Dr. David Zandvliet, Professor in the Faculty of Education and UNESCO Chair in Bio-Cultural Diversity and Education, has received the 2025 Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) Award for Outstanding Flagship Project for his research initiative What is Environmental Learning? The award was announced by the Innovation and Education Programme at the United Nations University during the Global RCE Conference in Okayama, Japan.
Representatives from the United Nations University highlighted the project’s regional relevance and youth-driven commitment to sustainability, noting that the initiative demonstrated an exceptional contribution to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in British Columbia and to the broader Global RCE Network. They emphasized that they were “truly impressed” by the project’s impact and leadership.
The award-winning project culminated in the publication of What is Environmental Learning? A Guided Inquiry for Educators, developed through a PICS Opportunities grant and led by Dr. Zandvliet (SFU) and Dr. Shannon Leddy (UBC), co-directors of the Institute for Environmental Learning. Recently endorsed by the BC Ministry of Education and Childcare, the framework advances a provincial vision for environmental and sustainability education rooted in Indigenous knowledges, place-based inquiry, and collaborative partnerships.
The framework document highlights the results of an action research project on decolonizing practices for environmental learning and education toward sustainable development, with participation from teachers and Indigenous educators. The framework demonstrates how educational policy can be infused with Indigenous knowledges and pedagogical perspectives; in turn, these shifts can inform instruction on climate education and other environmental topics using two-eyed seeing as a foundational concept. By bridging Indigenous and Western worldviews, the framework provides educators with practical ways to strengthen ecological understanding through reciprocal, land-based relationships and culturally grounded approaches.
Now endorsed as a provincial resource, What is Environmental Learning? will guide teachers in educational planning while supporting the implementation of environmental learning and ESD across diverse subjects. Emphasizing the dual perspectives of bio-cultural diversity and guided inquiry, the framework encourages educators to teach about the environment and Indigenous knowledges together as an organizing theme for meaningful, place-responsive learning. The work not only highlights key research outcomes from Indigenous educators, practicing teachers, academics, and provincial ministries but also articulates the importance of bridging research and policy, fusing theory with practice, and underscoring the interrelations among Indigenous and environmental knowledges.
We congratulate Dr. Zandvliet on this significant recognition from the United Nations University and celebrate the impact of this work in advancing inclusive, culturally grounded, and sustainability-focused education across British Columbia.
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