Story By: Dennis Ato Keelson
The Director and Lead Campaigner of the Rights of Nature-Ghana Movement (RoNAG), Dr. Dickson Adom, who is also a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Educational Innovations in Science and Technology, Faculty of Educational Studies, KNUST, has helped launch a powerful new global roadmap that places nature at the core of education to address interconnected environmental and social crises.
Christened the Salzburg Statement on Nature-Based Education (NBE), the document was launched on November 18, 2025, following a high-level session at the Salzburg Global Seminar in Austria.
As a Salzburg Global Fellow, Dr. Adom was a key contributor to the statement’s drafting and a leading voice at its launch.
The statement positions NBE as a “feasible, immediate, and hopeful solution” to the parallel crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, social injustice, and outdated educational models.
In his role, Dr. Adom, who is an Indigenous Knowledge expert in Nature-Based Education at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana led the fellowship in planning a critical module on the inclusion of diverse knowledges and perspectives.
During the launch event, he presented on the fundamental importance of grounding educational activities in Indigenous knowledge and ancestral wisdom, arguing that for NBE to be truly transformative, it must actively integrate these long-standing knowledge systems.
Furthermore, Dr. Adom made a compelling case for the development of a global standard metric to measure progress in ecocentric learning—a call directly echoed in the Statement’s roadmap, which “encourage[s] 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.”
“We need a synthesis of knowledges from across the world,” Dr. Adom explained, “comprising indigenous knowledge or ancestral wisdom, academic knowledge, and professional knowledge to define what it truly means to be an ecological citizen and to attain ecological maturity. This isn’t just about being in nature; it’s about a measurable transformation of our connection with nature and being as nature.”
The Salzburg Statement outlines a comprehensive “Continuum of Nature-Based Education,” moving from learning in nature, to learning with nature, to taking action for nature, and ultimately, to understanding oneself as nature. It calls for concrete actions, including greening one million schoolyards by 2040 and integrating NBE into national education policies.
The statement concludes with a resounding 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.”
About Salzburg Global Seminar
Salzburg Global Seminar is an independent organisation dedicated to challenging current and future leaders to shape a better world. Its multi-year programme on Education for Tomorrow’s World convenes diverse stakeholders to rethink learning and innovation for the 21st century.
You can download the Salzburg Global statement on Nature-Based Education and its launch below:
