Environmental education is not the same as teaching biology or ecology; it is about helping to form values regarding the key issues of sustainability and the environment. In some countries, the wider term Education for Sustainability is employed and reflects the need to form new attitudes and skills to live sustainably. The crisis in the Black Sea is ultimately a consequence of unsustainable living and our ability to protect this sea will be evidence of a profound change in the way we manage our society. This crisis was demonstrated on a global and regional scale in the recent Millennium Assessment (2005) which signalled that unless we change our current pattern of development, the ability of the ecosystem to produce the goods and services we depend on will be in serious jeopardy. Change, whether on a large or very local scale, will only occur when there is a greater understanding of the problems and their solutions and the role of every citizen in making the change.

We feel that the long-term success of the policy and legal reforms instituted through the work of the Black Sea Commission, BSEP and projects such as BSERP, will ultimately depend on the involvement of all stakeholders in the region. But it is insufficient to convince current leaders; there is already a need to work with younger people who will be replacing them (or at least voting for them) in a relatively near future. This is why we need an environmental education programme.

The first Black Sea Teacher's workshop was held in 1997 in conjunction with the Black Sea University in Mangalia , Romania , using funds from GEF-BSEP. This workshop, involving a mixture of teachers and journalists, discovered that environmental education was virtually absent from school curricula throughout the region. It also examined the various alternatives for correcting this deficit. Here, it was seen that it was not simply possible to import ideas from the West; the social and economic circumstances in the Black Sea region were quite different. There is little possibility of relying on voluntarism for example; teachers were heavily occupied and very poorly paid and out of class activities were minimal. Also, why should an activity so fundamental as forming new values about the environment be relegated to clubs for the better-off children? The answer was clearly to work alongside the formal education sector in a manner that was creative and helpful, did not try to impose new workloads or try to bring about an unlikely revolution in the way education is delivered. But, on the other hand, all teachers complained that there were no easily accessible materials to support them in their work; the products of BSEP were informative but not very useful for the purposes of teaching new generations of citizens. Clearly there was an important gap that the BSEP had yet to fill.

The opportunity for developing this work was greatly enhanced in 1998 by the award of a fellowship grant from the Pew Fellows Programme in Marine Conservation. This provided three years of financial support for the development of environmental education in the Black Sea region through two two-week workshops (in Arkutino , Bulgaria and Alushta, Crimea , Ukraine ), pedagogical research activities and school projects throughout the region. The idea was to bring together a core group of inspired teachers and help them to work together to develop and test facultative teaching material tailored to their own needs. The project provided a means of translating all of the scientific, social and political requirements for sustainably managing the Black Sea into educational material that was relevant and interesting. The product was the first version of the Black Sea Study Pack.

A huge amount of effort went into developing the Study Pack. It involved some of the best scientists in the region, authors, experienced managers and the core group of teachers themselves. The activities were tested in many schools in the region and feed back was used to improve the material, or tailor it to the needs of particular countries.

Following the completion of the Pew-funded phase of the programme, work continued in Phase One of BSERP. Further inputs from specialists within the region were incorporated, providing material such as species identification keys and ‘Black Sea Fact Sheets' that are of use to a much wider audience than upper high-school children. Furthermore, the study pack material itself was sent to educationalists from the formal government sectors in each country for comments and eventual approval. The response has been positive in every case.

We always appreciate feedback from teachers regarding the study pack. We learn by ‘doing' and the cycle of developing new approaches, learning from them and using the lessons to refine the approaches will never end. Please email us your comments to olga.maiboroda@plymouth.ac.uk .