United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development

In December 2002, resolution 57/254 on the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and UNESCO was designated as lead agency for the promotion of the Decade.

There can be few more pressing and critical goals for the future of humankind than to ensure steady improvement in the quality of life for this and future generations, in a way that respects our common heritage – the planet we live on. As people we seek positive change for ourselves, our children and grandchildren; we must do it in ways that respect the right of all to do so. To do this we must learn constantly – about ourselves, our potential, our limitations, our relationships, our society, our environment, our world. Education for sustainable development is a life-wide and lifelong endeavour which challenges individuals, institutions and societies to view tomorrow as a day that belongs to all of us, or it will not belong to anyone. 

The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972, helped to focus attention on environmental concerns and in the years following the conference, the global community acknowledged that more exploration was needed of the inter-relationships between the environment and socio-economic issues of poverty and underdevelopment. Thus the concept of sustainable development emerged in the 1980s in response to a growing realisation of the need to balance economic and social progress with concern for the environment and the stewardship of natural resources.

The concept gained worldwide momentum with the publication of Our Common Future by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987. The Commission defined sustainable development in the publication as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. ” This definition considers that while development may be essential to satisfy human needs and improve quality of life, it should occur in such a way that the capacity of the natural environment to meet present and future needs is not compromised.

The publication Caring for the Earth: A Strategy for Sustainable Living by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) in 1991, document contains a definition of sustainable development which complements the one from Our Common Future. It defined sustainable development as “improving the quality of human life while living within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems. ”

The Brundtland Commission definition emphasizes meeting human needs in a manner that respects intergenerational responsibility and the IUCN definition emphasizes improving the quality of human life while protecting the Earth’s capacity for regeneration. The two definitions together give a good understanding of the meaning of sustainable development as benefiting both people and ecosystems.

The UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992, the Earth Summit, gave high priority in its Agenda 21 to the role of education in pursuing the kind of development that would respect and nurture the natural environment. It focused on the process of orienting and re-orienting education in order to foster values and attitudes of respect for the environment and envisaged ways and means of doing so. By the time of the Johannesburg Summit in 2002 the vision broadened to encompass social justice and the fight against poverty as key principles of development that is sustainable. The human and social aspects of sustainable development meant that solidarity, equity, partnership and cooperation were as crucial as scientific approaches to environmental protection. Besides re-affirming the educational objectives of the Millennium Development Goals and the Education for All Dakar Framework for Action, the Summit proposed the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development as a way of signalling that education and learning lie at the heart of approaches to sustainable development.

Chapter 36 of Agenda 21 emphasized that education is critical for promoting sustainable development and improving capacity of the people to address environment and development issues. Ever since sustainable development has been a common concern in all UN conferences and there has been a common consensus that education is a driving force for the change needed. It has also been pointed out that peace, health and democracy are mutually reinforcing prerequisites for sustainable development.

The 2002 Johannesburg Summit broadened the vision of sustainable development and re-affirmed the educational objectives of the Millennium Development Goals and the Education for All Dakar Framework for Action, the Summit proposed the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and the United Nations General Assembly in its 57th Session in December 2002, proclaimed the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development for the period 2005 – 2014.

The United Nations General Assembly resolution designated UNESCO as the lead agency for the promotion of the Decade and requested the Organization to develop a draft international implementation scheme.

As the United Nations lead agency in education, UNESCO must play a key role in setting quality standards in education for sustainable development. It needs to reorient its own programmes to include the changes required to promote sustainable development. Improving the quality of education and reorienting its goals to recognize the importance of sustainable development must be one of UNESCO’s and the world’s highest priorities. 

Objectives and strategies

The Decade of Education for Sustainable Development pursues a global vision:

The vision of education for sustainable development is a world where everyone has the opportunity to benefit from quality education and learn the values, behaviour and lifestyles required for a sustainable future and for positive societal transformation.

This vision sets ‘a sustainable future’ at the heart of our common human endeavour, but the vision will find expression in varied socio-cultural contexts – where ‘positive societal transformation’ will be articulated in different ways. An international decade such as the DESD serves as a framework within which diverse and multiple actors pursue a shared agenda based on their commitment to the central vision. The actors become stakeholders when they accept, adopt or buy into a part or the whole of the decade’s vision or if they are affected by it. It is the role of UNESCO, as the designated international lead agency, to provide a clear presentation of the framework from the start and to mobilise and “shepherd” action among stakeholders over the ten years. The vision articulated above and the underlying reasons why education and learning are central to sustainable development are the motivating forces of the Decade, but what are its objectives? What is it about the Decade which will foster ESD and, beyond that, sustainable development itself? 

Its objectives may be articulated at each level, from community to the global context, but at each level the Decade should offer a framework for enhanced action and a link to other contexts and other levels. The following objectives focus on the global level, but are intended to be generic enough that they may serve as relevant input into the formulation of objectives at other levels – a process that will be a necessary part of the implementation of the Decade.

The proposed DESD objectives are to:
1. give an enhanced profile to the central role of education and learning in the common pursuit of sustainable development;

2. facilitate links and networking, exchange and interaction among stakeholders in ESD;

3. provide a space and opportunity for refining and promoting the vision of, and transition to sustainable development – through all forms of learning and public awareness;

4. foster increased quality of teaching and learning in education for sustainable development;

5. develop strategies at every level to strengthen capacity in ESD.

The Decade focuses on ESD in all parts of the world, developing and industrialised countries, in equal measure. The messages of sustainable development, as a global concern, are equally applicable and equally urgent in industrialised as in developing countries. The impact of over-consumption and wasteful lifestyle patterns wherever they occur make a strong argument for increased attention to ESD.

The Decade offers a platform for existing international agreements, such as those on biological diversity, combating desertification, climate change and wetlands conservation, and will provide a framework for strengthening the public awareness and educational activities of the various secretariats.

The Decade provides an opportunity for developing countries to define for themselves the kind of path they wish to follow. From the perspective of sustainable development it is clear that models derived from the industrialised countries are neither appropriate nor desirable, given the pressing need for those countries themselves to adopt more sustainable lifestyles. Building on strong commitment to values of community and solidarity, the developing countries have a chance to develop – and to model – viable, alternative approaches to sustainable development.

An initiative as broad and as far-reaching as the DESD requires strategies that can be applied at all levels and in all contexts, and that will serve to implement the vision of ESD over the ten-year period. Stakeholders will apply the following seven strategies both in their own institutional frameworks and in the networks and alliances in which they function.

The seven strategies are:
- Advocacy and vision building
- Consultation and ownership
- Partnership and networks
- Capacity building and training
- Research and innovation
- Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
- Monitoring and evaluation

Together they form a coherent approach to the incremental increase over the Decade of the promotion and implementation of ESD. They will ensure that change in public attitudes and educational approaches keep pace with the evolving challenges of sustainable development.

Implementation Scheme

UNESCO has a dual role to play in relation to education for sustainable development: one as a substantive implementer of ESD, and the second as the lead agency for the Decade. As a substantive implementer UNESCO will determine how best to contribute to the fulfilment of the WSSD educational objectives, selecting strategic projects, programmes, activities and efforts to maximize quality and impact with available human and financial resources. As the lead agency, UNESCO must play a catalytic role in dialogue and consensus-building to make recommendations on the draft implementation scheme and to facilitate the work of the Decade. 

The Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) is a far-reaching and complex undertaking. Its conceptual basis, socio-economic implications, and environmental and cultural connections make it an enterprise, which potentially touches on every aspect of life. The basic vision of the DESD is a world where everyone has the opportunity to benefit from education and learn the values, behaviour and lifestyles required for a sustainable future and for positive societal transformation.

The concept of sustainable development continues to evolve. In pursuing education for sustainable development, therefore, there must be some clarity in what sustainable development means and what it is aiming at. This plan presents three key areas of sustainable development – society, environment and economy with culture as an underlying dimension.
- Society: an understanding of social institutions and their role in change and development, as well as the democratic and participatory systems which give opportunity for the expression of opinion, the selection of governments, the forging of consensus and the resolution of differences.
- Environment: an awareness of the resources and fragility of the physical environment and the affects on it of human activity and decisions, with a commitment to factoring environmental concerns into social and economic policy development.
- Economy: a sensitivity to the limits and potential of economic growth and their impact on society and on the environment, with a commitment to assess personal and societal levels of consumption out of concern for the environment and for social justice.

The values, diversity, knowledge, languages and worldviews associated with culture predetermine the way issues of education for sustainable development are dealt with in specific national contexts. In this sense, culture is just not a collection of particular manifestations (song, dance, dress, …), but a way of being, relating, behaving, believing and acting which people live out in their lives and which is in a constant process of change and exchange with other cultures.

ESD is fundamentally about values, with respect at the centre: respect for others, including those of present and future generations, for difference and diversity, for the environment, for the resources of the planet we inhabit. Education enables us to understand ourselves and others and our links with the wider natural and social environment, and this understanding serves as a durable basis for building respect. Along with a sense of justice, responsibility, exploration and dialogue, ESD aims to move us to adopting behaviours and practices which enable all to live a full life without being deprived of basics.

ESD mirrors the concern for education of high quality, demonstrating characteristics: such as:
- Interdisciplinary and holistic: learning for sustainable development embedded in the whole curriculum, not as a separate subject;
- Values-driven: sharing the values and principles underpinning sustainable development;
- Critical thinking and problem solving: leading to confidence in addressing the dilemmas and challenges of sustainable development;
- Multi-method: word, art, drama, debate, experience, … different pedagogies which model the processes;
- Participatory decision-making: learners participate in decisions on how they are to learn;
- Locally relevant: addressing local as well as global issues, and using the language(s) which learners most commonly use.

ESD will be shaped by a range of perspectives from all fields of human development and including all the acute challenges, which the world faces. ESD cannot afford to ignore their implications for a more just and more sustainable process of change. The plan notes the important perspectives provided by: human rights, peace and human security, gender equality, cultural diversity and intercultural understanding, health, HIV/AIDS, governance, natural resources, climate change, rural development, sustainable urbanisation, disaster prevention and mitigation, poverty reduction, corporate responsibility and accountability, market economy.

ESD is for everyone, at whatever stage of life they find themselves. It takes place therefore within a perspective of lifelong learning, engaging all possible spaces of learning, formal, non-formal and informal, from early childhood to adult life. ESD calls for a re-orientation of educational approaches – curriculum and content, pedagogy and examinations. Spaces for learning include non-formal learning, community-based organisations and local civil society, the workplace, formal education, technical and vocational training, teacher training, higher education educational inspectorates, policy-making bodies, …and beyond.

It is true to say that everyone is a stakeholder in education for sustainable development. All of us will feel the impact of its relative success or failure, and all of us affect the impact of ESD by our behaviour which may be supportive or undermining. Complementary roles and responsibilities devolve to a number of bodies and groups at different levels: local (sub-national), national, regional and international. At each level, stakeholders may be part of government (or intergovernmental at regional and international levels), civil society and non-governmental organisations, or in the private sector. The media and advertising agencies will support broad public awareness. In addition, indigenous peoples have a particular role, having an intimate knowledge of the sustained use of their environments, and being particularly vulnerable to unsustainable development.

Seven interlinked strategies are proposed for the Decade: advocacy and vision building; consultation and ownership; partnership and networks; capacity building and training; research and innovation; information and communication technologies; monitoring and evaluation. Together they form a coherent approach to the incremental increase over the Decade of the promotion and implementation of ESD. They will ensure that change in public attitudes and educational approaches keep pace with the evolving challenges of sustainable development.

DESD implementation will depend on the strength of stakeholder commitment and cooperation at local (sub-national), national, regional and international levels. Networks and alliances will be the crucial element, forging a common agenda in relevant forums. A small but dynamic and high-quality ESD Hub at national level will bring energy to promotion and implementation, receiving input regularly from a multi-stakeholder ESD Consultative Group. At the regional and international levels, an ESD Caucus and DESD Inter-Agency Coordination Committee respectively will push the ESD agenda forward through focused meetings and events responding to particular concerns. A high-profile international group of ESD Champions, well known and committed personalities, will serve to spearhead the movement.

The outcomes of the DESD will be seen in the lives of thousands of communities and millions of individuals as new attitudes and values inspire decisions and actions making sustainable development a more attainable ideal. For the DESD process as such, eleven expected outcomes are derived from the DESD objectives and relate to changes in public awareness, in the education system and in the integration of ESD into all development planning. These outcomes form the basis for indicators used in monitoring and evaluation; however, stakeholder groups at each level will decide specific indicators and the kinds of data needed to verify them. Qualitative indicators must figure equally with quantitative indicators to capture the multiple connections and societal depth of ESD and its impact.

In assessing the need for resources, full account must be taken of existing programmes and available personnel. The need for additional resources should be driven by the need to facilitate action and interaction around specific ESD challenges and issues.

Source: http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=27234&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html