Connecting 2 Million Children with Nature

Seventy interdisciplinary teams of educators, landscape architects, environmental educators, and health professionals from 32 nations are participating in the Connecting Children with Nature Action Forum at Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City, Nebraska. In 2009, the World Forum Foundation, the sponsor of the Forum, was invited to be a member of the Clinton Global Initiative, and made a commitment to the Initiative to connect two million children around the world to nature.
The purpose of the Action Forum is to accomplish this commitment by equipping and training nature action teams from around the world to lead campaigns to connect children with nature in their communities, regions, and nations. Teams from nat ions as diverse as Scotland and Swaziland, Kenya and Canada, Malaysia and Montenegro, Bangladesh and Belize and Bolivia, as well as a number from the United States, are participating in the Forum.
Dr. Lombardi, Deputy Assistant Secretary and Inter-Departmental Liaison for Early Childhood Development, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in opening the Action Forum, declared’¦
Encouraging young children to enjoy nature, to understand and value it, contributes to their health and well being and gives them a sense of discovery so important to a successful education.
In addition to the training received at the Forum, the teams from throughout the world will be supported by an online Environmental Action Kit sponsored by IBM Global Work/Life Fund and created by Dimensions Educational Research Foundation. Other sponsors of the campaign include the Arbor Day Foundation, Community Playthings, The Asia Foundation, JohnsonDiversey, and the US Fish and Wildlife Department.