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Developing Sustainable Participation in Learning for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Resilience

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 28 February 2026 | Viewed by 1668

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Institute of Education, University College London, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, UK
Interests: community-based and participatory DRR/CCA; DRR learning; DRR education; community learning; public pedagogy
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Special Issue Information

Dear Early Career Researchers,

Participatory approaches have become mainstream in projects for developing disaster and climate resilience in communities. While many positive outcomes of such projects have been identified around the world, certain common challenges have also been reported. One of them is the challenge of sustaining communities’ participation in disaster risk reduction. For example, with funded projects, once the funding terminates, participants’ efforts tend to discontinue. In community-led initiatives, as participants’ memory of the disaster experience fades out, their interest in DRR tends to be lost as well. As a pathway for sustainable community engagement in DRR, ‘starting early’ has increasingly been promoted.

With this background, this Special Issue aims to explore the innovative efforts to develop disaster and climate resilience targeting early years (birth to 5 years old) and school years (6 to 15 years old). The other aim of this Special Issue is to support early career researchers. Innovative literature reviews and work-in-progress research on the themes of sustainable DRR learning are welcome. One requirement from the journal is that if you are not a Ph.D. holder, an expert in the field has to be co-listed as a corresponding author.

‘Education’ encompasses wide forms of learning and teaching beyond one that is based on a school curriculum. Therefore, research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Sustainable approaches to education for disaster and climate resilience for early years;
  • Sustainable approaches to education for disaster and climate resilience for school years;
  • Community-nursery collaboration for DRR purposes;
  • Community-school collaboration for DRR purposes;
  • University-nursery collaboration for DRR purposes;
  • University-school collaboration for DRR purposes;
  • DRR education and early years teacher education;
  • DRR education and school years teacher education.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Kaori Kitagawa
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • early years
  • school years
  • disaster and climate resilience
  • DRR education
  • community learning
  • participation
  • collaboration

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

26 pages, 862 KB  
Article
Teachers’ and Students’ Perspectives on Integrating Education for Sustainable Development in the Chilean Curriculum
by Alexandra Allel and Tristan McCowan
Sustainability 2025, 17(18), 8115; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17188115 - 9 Sep 2025
Viewed by 429
Abstract
Education for sustainable development (ESD) has been UNESCO’s response to the climate crisis, promoting a reframing of what, where, and how students learn so they can act on environmental challenges. In Chile, while several initiatives have aimed to promote environmental education, their impact [...] Read more.
Education for sustainable development (ESD) has been UNESCO’s response to the climate crisis, promoting a reframing of what, where, and how students learn so they can act on environmental challenges. In Chile, while several initiatives have aimed to promote environmental education, their impact has been limited, lacking depth in terms of curricular content and teaching practices. When analysing the Chilean national curriculum, there remains a significant gap in how sustainability-related content is delivered to students. This study explores why this gap exists and examines teachers’ and students’ perceptions regarding the integration of ESD in the curriculum. To achieve this, interviews and a focus group with teachers were conducted, alongside questionnaires for both teachers and students. Findings indicate a lack of teacher preparation in ESD: many teachers report having taught related topics without feeling adequately equipped to do so. Although the current Chilean curriculum includes references to sustainability, and upcoming updates are expected to strengthen this focus, teachers require targeted professional development to effectively implement ESD in practice. Additionally, most students surveyed expressed interest in learning more about sustainability and the climate crisis and believe these topics should be more present in the curriculum. However, results suggest that curriculum adjustments and teacher training alone are insufficient. For ESD to be fully integrated, support must also be extended to school leadership teams, and structural school conditions must be addressed. Further research is needed to explore the views of other key educational actors regarding the integration of sustainability into Chilean education policy and practice. Full article
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12 pages, 2911 KB  
Article
Supporting Sustainable Development Through Early-Life DRR Learning Opportunities: UK School Insights
by Maciej Pawlik and Kaori Kitagawa
Sustainability 2025, 17(13), 5671; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17135671 - 20 Jun 2025
Viewed by 555
Abstract
The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme environmental phenomena mandate further actions to protect the most vulnerable groups, especially children. Traditionally, children have been excluded from conversations about disasters; however, this exclusion is reductive and perpetuates false ideas about children’s capacity to engage [...] Read more.
The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme environmental phenomena mandate further actions to protect the most vulnerable groups, especially children. Traditionally, children have been excluded from conversations about disasters; however, this exclusion is reductive and perpetuates false ideas about children’s capacity to engage with safety information and materially manifest sustainable practices in their life. Such a reality is also impractical because early exposure through learning opportunities can yield engagement in sustainable development in adulthood. This research sought to improve understanding about children’s capacity to engage in DRR information. This study reviewed posters created by 7-year-old children at a primary school in the UK. These were produced as part of prior climate change workshops and included an illustration of a flood safety kit with items children would choose to have with them if there was an emergency (e.g., flooding event). Items included were counted and tallied to identify trends. The results demonstrated the capacity of children in this age group to select practically useful items for their safety in flooding emergencies. Based on findings, this study advocates for greater inclusion of children within disaster preparedness activities and the production of more tailored DRR learning opportunities to engage children within their school environment. Full article
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