site.btaChildren Learn Interactively about Climate Change at COP28's Bulgarian Pavilion

On the day dedicated to children and young people at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, the Bulgarian pavilion presented fun and engaging ways to educate on climate policy and climate change issues.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Marina Stefanova, Deputy Dean of Sustainability, Empowerment and Engagement at the Faculty of Economics and Management at Sofia University, presented a video dedicated to climate change and the fight against it, developed together with 60 students, with the assistance of MP Studio experts. A 3D version of the video is expected to be presented in Sofia in January and then in more than 10 other cities in the country, to reach thousands of people. This provides a way to connect the scientific data presented in academic training with practical application and to make a statement, Stefanova said. 

The Climate Fresk card board game is a way for young people to be exposed to climate issues, the link between causes and effects, and to develop new knowledge and skills by working in teams, company representative Pierre Benreguig said. This is an example of successful youth engagement, the game has a children's version, but it can also be played by adults, including climate policy makers, he said. 

Bulgaria's Kinetic Automotive presented its development of professional electric go-kart cars, which are tens of times quieter and have lower emissions than petrol cars. "Thus we can show that speed and power can coexist with sustainability, said company founder and managing director Teodosiy Teodosiev. 

Three messages emerged from the discussion, said event moderator Christina De Bruin, UNICEF representative for Bulgaria. The first is that lifelong learning is of great importance when it comes to climate change education. The second is about a cross-cutting approach in everything that is done - in the approaches chosen, in the efforts of all sectors. The third is to think about skills development by design, about scalability, and about the importance of the narrative that is used, she concluded.