On this page

1. Green volunteering

2. Green production and consumption

Green volunteering

The National Sustainable Development Education Programme for 2007-2015 approved by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania with the objective „[...] to improve educational activity of various public institutions and agencies so as to help the citizens, organisations, enterprises, agencies, communities and the society better understand the concept of Sustainable Development and its importance; to develop the abilities of all members of the society, as well as their values and incentives for democratic and responsible activity: to contribute to the implementation of Sustainable Development objectives; to enhance abilities of institutional structures to take active part in the sustainable development processes.“  This programme was more oriented toward local initiatives ensuring implementation of the Sustainable Development principles, and didn‘t have a strong global dimension; yet it was a good beginning in initiating global education activities and integrating them in various education and other public areas. Unfortunately, in 2011 the Sustainable Development Education Programme was repealed. There is a lack of systematic information on green volunteering in Lithuania. Limited information is available at present from some voluntary organisations and NGOs. 

For a number of years, DAROM (WE DO) has been an ongoing project (organizer VšĮ "Mes Darom"), the main goal of which is to promote ecological thinking, citizenship, and social activity of the Lithuanian population, to strengthen local communities and the awareness of people's equality. During this project, every spring or other time, a large green volunteering force is gathered, in which young people are also actively involved. Mission of the https://mesdarom.lt/ organization:

1) to educate society, especially the young generation, to increase people's awareness of environmental issues;

2) gather communities, promote intersectoral cooperation;

3) create innovations and solutions for environmentally friendly business;

4) restore nature that has been damaged.

Other green (ecological) volunteering places for young people are published here.

Green production and consumption

Pursuant to the provisions of the Lithuanian Progress Strategy „Lithuania 2050“, it is necessary to develop creativity of the society and of all its members, and to put particular emphasis on the ideas which could help Lithuania become a modern, dynamic and open state.16 The Strategy is being developed pursuant to the provisions of solidarity with different social groups (ethnic, etc.) as well as tolerance, compassion, social responsibility and responsible consumption. The Strategy sets the objective to raise public environmental awareness, to promote sustainable consumption and responsible approach to economic development. The National Progress Strategy sets the task for education to strengthen historical selfawareness and self-esteem by promoting different cultural and artistic expression, by reviewing educational programmes as well as by ensuring reasonable application of national heritage objects for education needs. It is also important to retain Lithuania‘s educational ties with Lithuanians from all over the world, and preserve Lithuanian language teaching and inter-cultural literacy. The provisions of the national sustainable development strategy demonstrate that Lithuania seeks to educate active and responsible citizens able to build the future of Lithuania and of the entire world. This provides for the development of Global Education in Lithuania contributing to the sustainable progress of Lithuania and of the world.

The project "Youth Actions for Sustainable Development" was implemented in Lithuania in 2020-2023 (implementation period: March 1, 2020 - October 31, 2021 and February 1, 2022 - March 1, 2023) . Youth is particularly important in creating the desired future, which is why the office of the Nordic Council of Ministers in Lithuania started this project in the spring of 2020. The aim of the project is to promote youth action towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the selected young people, together with interested civil servants, will become leaders and ambassadors of sustainable development in their local communities and municipalities. The project was implemented in cooperation with partners from Lithuania and the Nordic countries. Sustainability visit in Sweden: In the fall of 2022, an educational visit was organized to the city of Torsås in Sweden. The purpose of the visit is to encourage project participants to share experiences and consider various environmental and social problems.

Norway continues to invest in the creation of sustainable business in Lithuania: calls for green innovation projects are announced. Lithuanian private companies seeking to introduce new products or technologies in production that would modernize and/or "green" production processes are invited to submit applications under the Norway Grants program "Business Development, Innovations and SMEs" call for the development of green industry innovation. The 2014-2021 Norwegian financial mechanism program "Business development, innovation and SMEs" administered by the Science, Innovation and Technology Agency (MITA) aims to contribute to the creation of greater added value and sustainable economic growth and the promotion of bilateral relations between Lithuania and Norway.

At the initiative of the ISM University in Lithuania, a survey of almost 4 thousand Lithuanian schoolchildren was conducted in 2021, during which even 75 percent of schoolchildren in grades 9-12 (Age 14 - 19) expressed the opinion that modern business must be sustainable. When asked to name the most important characteristics of a sustainable business, the students singled out the creation of environmentally friendly products/providing services first, as many as 53 percent of the students said so. As many as 52 percent of respondents attributed to sustainable business the attention paid by organizations to the education and development of employees, 47 percent care for employees, 34 percent care for the environment, 32 percent implementation of innovations. More information about the study is available here.

Every year in Lithuania, a conference "Human Ecology" (named after Father Jurgis Ambrozijaus (Ambraziejus) Pabrėzas) (in 2024 here, in 2021-2022 here) of scientists, teachers, clergy and students is held, in which participants from various Lithuanian municipalities take part. Project and research works and experiments are presented at the conference, the possibilities of integration of modern sciences, problems of changes in the human environment and quality of life are discussed, the spirituality of modern man, human health and environmental protection problems are analyzed, research on the human environment is presented, identifying problems and methods of solving problems; good experiences are shared and ideas for new works are gathered.

Links to websites of organizations that work in the field of green production and consumption and educational activities about it:

https://activeyouth.lt/apie-jaunimo-mainus/active-youth-planet/tvarumas/

http://zaliojipolitika.lt/about/

http://www.circulareconomy.lt/

https://www.zaliasistaskas.lt/daugiau-apie-zaliaji-taska/

https://svjc.lt/zyma/tvarumas/

and others.