2025 marked a busy year for the Education for Sustainable Development Forum (ESDF), as we celebrated a milestone of 30 years of dedicated work to promote environmental education across Northern Ireland. Since its launch in 1995, ESDF has engaged with our network and members to promote positive attitudes and behaviours towards sustainability. This year, ESDF’s activities have been reinvigorated and renewed.

As we move into the new year, here’s a look back at some of the major highlights from 2025:

On 2 October 2025, ESDF marked its 30th year with a memorable Conference at the Lough Neagh Discovery Centre at Oxford Island. The event brought together around 50 participants from across education, environmental organisations and community projects, linked by a shared interest in environmental education and sustainable development.

Throughout 2025, ESDF continued its focus on training and development through outdoor learning workshops aimed at educators. These workshops, delivered by Mark at  Field Studies Ireland and based at Northern Ireland Forest School Association, provided valuable practical skills for taking learning outside and into nature.

Participants not only gained practical tips for delivering outdoor education but also had the opportunity to network with colleagues and take part. The sessions were designed to inspire educators, enhance wellbeing and build confidence and networks.

2025 also saw the introduction of three first-time events for ESDF, which served to expand our reach and collaboration in the sector.

As part of the Belfast Learning Festival in April, ESDF hosted a Creating Connections event. The event gathered educators, environmental organisations, and learners to share their projects and aspirations around Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). This event featured speakers from myEARTH, NIFSA, Queens University Belfast and Ulster Wildlife.

In May 2025, ESDF worked with the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People (NICCY) to create Hear Our Voices, an event dedicated to empowering young people to speak up about their priorities and visions for a sustainable future. This youth‑led event brought together young people to engage in discussions and workshops.

March 2025 saw ESDF involved in a shared learning day with Northern Ireland Museums Council (NIMC). Led by the Natural History Museum as part of the Fixing Our Broken Planet programme, this event brought together museum practitioners, educators, and community members to explore how to deliver spaces of hope rather than climate anxiety.

The launch of myEARTH in 2025 provided a new, dynamic digital hub for environmental action. The website delivered by Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful and Northern Ireland Environment Link is funded by Dormant Assets through the National Lottery Community Fund. This innovative online platform offers access to climate and sustainability resources, information, opportunities and Eco Schools.

The Summer impACT competition invited users to take part in climate action and nature-based tasks to win a prize. In addition to the competitions, ESDF offered free training through myEARTH on the website for users and partners and free upskilling workshops on photography, Canva, AI tools, and podcasting, designed to equip partners with ideas and tools to create content.

With 12 newsletters published in 2025, ESDF kept subscribers up to date with the latest ESD news. These monthly newsletters featured updates on the myEARTH platform, training and development opportunities, jobs and funding, case studies, and summer spotlight.

From celebrating three decades of impact to launching a new digital platform, ESDF’s work in 2025 has grown and developed for and with our network.

Thank you to all our members, network, supporters and committee who helped make 2025 such a successful anniversary year. We look forward to another year of collaboration, education, development and growth.

If you would like to find out more, subscribe, become a member or contribute, please get in touch.