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Poster on Community Peace Libraries: Supporting Justice and Peace with Nature presented during the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Conference in Suwon, South Korea on August 30-31, 2025.
During the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) Conference in Suwon, South Korea on August 30-31, 2025, we shared about our community Peace Libraries in Indonesia and the Philippines. The Conference’s theme was “Living in Harmony with Our Planet,” and through a poster presentation we highlighted how community-based Peace Libraries promote justice, peace, and harmony with nature by integrating literacy with community and environmental education. These libraries empower individuals to understand their impact on the environment and learn skills for treating nature justly and peacefully. They seek stories that encourage regenerative living and uphold rights and welfare for water, land, animals, and humans.
We included in our poster presentation the role and importance of practicing agreements to play and cooperative agreements. It was wonderful to share about these to the people visiting our poster presentation; they were curious how children practice agreements! Moreover, we shared about the peace library program that uses read-aloud sessions and local storytelling to cultivate imagination, curiosity, and responsibility in children toward each other and the natural world. These literary efforts are complemented by a variety of environmental activities, such as trash segregation, composting, nature exploration walks, marine sanctuary visits, and the production of local books, all of which provide hands-on experiences that deepen their connection to the environment.
The poster presentation provided us the opportunity to engage with people from different backgrounds, all over the world. There were writers, illustrators, librarians, and publishers who also shared their practices and experiences of sharing the message of living in harmony with nature along with children. We realized that, indeed, it takes the whole community to share and practice taking care of the environment.