The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is hosting a three-day workshop in the Valley on Empowering Environmental Education through Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) from 29-31 July, ICIMOD said.

The workshop is facilitated by the United Nations Environment Programme’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (UNEP/ROAP). The workshop aims to examine the ICT potential for environmental education in Asian schools using the LearnZ project model which is an internet-based online education programme initiated in New Zealand in 1995.

It uses interactive web and teleconference learning tools to create virtual field trips to remote science and conservation sites. Twenty-two environmental educators, professionals and scientists are attending the workshop.

A field trip to ICIMOD’s Trial and Demonstration site at Godavari, St. Xavier’s School at Godavari, and a hike to Lattha Bhangyang near Phulchoki is the backdrop of this class on mountain agricultural farming, flora and fauna, and village communities and their lifestyles.