Natura 2000 The Natura 2000 is a European network of protected nature reserves where certain animal species are safeguarded and their natural habitat preserved to maintain the biodiversity. To protect these areas governments are expected to take various measures. Agnieten College Zwartsluis located in the Netherlands, participates in this project together with Collège Hervé Faye and Collège Jean Moulin, located in France. Al three schools are located close to a Natura 2000 area. The nature in the Netherlands is not faring well, one of the most important causes is the presence of nitrogen. The precipitation of nitrogen is a consequence of traffic, the industry and agriculture. To much of the matter causes a decrease in the diversity of species, flora and fauna, in an area, but also weakens processes generated by nature, for instance hydrating of the grounds. Adolescentsee all around the world are taking a stand as they recognize that they will be the ones that will be burdened by the climate changees, but most of the causes and effects are too big for students to realize. The current governments are not taking the claims seriously or take too little action, even though news, briefings and scientific evidence concerning climate change and environmental pollution are reason for greater concern. With the Erasmus+ project we want to help students to understand that agriculture and conservation can support each other when used effectively. With the use of experiments and the results students find in their research, students can form their own opinions and adjust their behaviour accordingly. The exchange project allows students to meet with youths of other countries in Europe to work together and find differences and similarities in their research. Besides awareness, the youths also have a chance to realize the meaning of being a European citizen by finding resemblances and forming connections. It is important for the students to become more aware of the significance of standing together as a European community to protect the environment and nature around us. The goal of Agnieten College Zwartsluis, Collège Hervé Faye and Collège Jean Moulin is to encourage youths to broaden their borders and arrange for opportunities to gain international experience. In particular we would like students to accomplish the following objectives: 1.Developing basic social skills2.Being able to communicate in a foreign language3.Acquiring self-esteem and more confidence in discussions4.Becoming aware of European citizenship 5.Acquiring knowledge about Natura 2000 areas close to homeThe students will stay at a camping site located in a Natura 2000 area and will participate in multiple school activities, including research in the Natura 2000 area and visiting several local organisations. In the Netherlands students will make a visit to a local water purification company and an intensive dairy farm to experience nitrogen policies in action. The students will also explore the Natura 2000 area by researching biodiversity and water quality. For the exchange project the students will prepare a presentation about their Natura 2000 area to help the students of the partner schools understand the areas vulnerabilities and strengths, and how to make use of these observations. During the project the students will maintain a portfolio in which they will be formulating their personal goals, keep track of several assignments developed by the faculty teachers of biology, physics, chemistry and geography, and the students will also keep a daily rapport of their activities. After the exchange the students will write a reflection on the experience. The end project will be a brochure directed at visitors of all Natura 2000 areas. In the brochure the collected data and results of the Natura 2000 areas will be compared and both differences and similarities will be mapped. There will be an explanation concerning the vulnerabilities together with solutions and ideas to protect the area. The students will be presenting their end project together with their own experiences to the interested, parents and teachers. We would like to continue our collaboration with Collège Hervé Faye and Collège Jean Moulin in the coming years, and strive to make the exchange project a permanent feature in the curriculum.

"<< Background >>We applied for this project because we believe it is important that educational institutions are at the forefront of the climate transition. In this way, the educational institutions also respect the UN Sustainability Development Goal 13 which stipulates: ""Improve education, awareness-raising and human and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning"". The VET institutions and General Education are a vital part in this climate transition, because we educate tomorrow's citizens and one of the mayor challenges this generation has to deal with will be the climate crisis and knowledge about how to mitigate the consequences and find solutions. As many students today feel that the climate crisis feels insurmountable, this project should also give hope that it matters to do a difference. On a very small scale, this is what we want to address in this Erasmus+ project, but we will very much like to empower the youth to experience that they too can make changes, although on a small scale, but will, if more European schools coorporate, mean that these small changes will have a large effect. We also want to address that to work with climate issues can both be innovative and challenging, and this way, we also hope that we among educational institutions can show that we deal with present and future issues, which make VET more atractive. In this project, 10 students from five partner schools get the opportunity to work internationally with climate goals, solutions and campaigning, in this way, the students will also inspire each other with climate solutions from their own schools, local communities and countries. As this is a European project, apart from climate change, intercultural cooperation is at the centre of this project. The students will learn how the respective local communities deal with climate, but also how to negotiate and cooperate on climate goals, solutions and campaigns in English which will be both inspiring, fruitful and challenging and they will learn a lot about different cultures within the European community. . However, we stress in this Erasmus+ project that the students should not experience to work with climate as a burden, but instead find positive and different angles to address this issue with innovative solutions and campaigns to reach students and local citizens.<< Objectives >>The primary objective is that students should feel that it matters when they take action within the field of climate change, we will do this by letting the students work with and select specific climate goals. Another objective is that trying to find solutions regarding the climate crisis is not only a heavy path full of obstacles, but can also be a path where innovation, entrepreneurship and a positive approach may be the way forward in order not to sink into resignation. Moreover, the students will inspire other students and citizens through climate campaigning also carried out in this project and which they carry with them in their future lives. With this Erasmus+ project we also hope to inspire other schools to involve the students in the climate struggle, this we will do by making all material available on the website, but also inspire the teachers of the partner schools to use the teaching material in their different subjects and present our results at climate conferences for schools and the UN ActNow homepage for others to get inspired. Moreover, we of course hope that with the climate solutions the students come up with at school and local level, will be implemented, so they actually will change e.g. waste, shopping habits or energy consumption in the respective local communities. Finally, tith the students' cooperation with the schools' management, the students will also get knowledge about how a school works and through their cooperation with the local municipality, they will also gain knowlege about democratic processes and civic engagement.<< Implementation >>We will implement all the learning, teacher, training activities according to this application. Here the students will work with climate goals, solutions and campaigning. Furthermore, we will make a questionaire for the participants and the students of the school to assess the impact of the campaign. We will measure impact of campaign targeted at local citizens by evaluating likes or interest on social media. Moreover, we will implement a website with teaching material and results of learning, teacher, training activies and with newsletters of the activities. Finally, the solutions the students have worked on will be implemented at school and local community level if the solutions are feasible. In between learning, teaching, training acitivies, transnational meetings will be held as described earlier to arrange, plan and evaluate the training events.<< Results >>The primary outcome of this project is that the students work with solutions and campaigns and that these solutions and campaigns are targeted at students of the schools and local communities with the goal to be implemented if the solutions are feasible. This will be in close cooperation with the schools' managements and the local communities who will make use of the solutions. Another outcome is that the participating students will be succesful in their campaigning that they will inspire students and local citizens to think about how they may change their habits towards a more sustainable living, and again small changes also count. Finally as mentioned earlier. another outcome is that the students will gain knowledge about how to negotiate internationally with students from other countries and with other cultural values and traditions than your own. They may find out that they have many things in common with young people from other European countries, but certainly also will find out that people may do and think differently, but still you are able to achieve results."