Tomorrow Today

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Envisioning, coordinating and

implementing the UN Decade of Education

for Sustainable Development

Mark Richmond, Director, Division for the Coordination of UN Priorities in Education,

Education Sector and Platform Manager, Intersectoral Platform on Education for Sustainable Development, UNESCO

n December 2002, the United Nations General Assembly

adopted Resolution 57/254 to put in place the United Nations

Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD),

spanning 2005 to 2014. The DESD aims to integrate the values,

principles and practices inherent in sustainable development

into all aspects of learning – in all types, levels and settings

of education – to encourage changes in attitudes and conduct

which will help to create a more viable and fairer society for

all. Hence, it is an instrument of mobilization and advocacy,

through which governments, international organizations, civil

society, the private sector and local communities around the

world can demonstrate their practical commitment to learning to

live sustainably. It is a worldwide endeavour aiming to reorient

education around the three pillars of sustainable development

– the economic, the social and the environmental.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO) was designated lead agency for the DESD.

The Organization therefore plays a two-fold role in relation to the

DESD: on the one hand, it acts as global coordinator for all stake-

holders of the DESD while, on the other, as the specialized UN

agency dealing with education, it acts as one of numerous imple-

menters of education for sustainable development (ESD) and has

developed its own programmes in this field.

UNESCO’s vision for ESD

UNESCO’s basic vision is of education systems that encourage

equity and inclusion, quality learning, flexibility, inter-disciplinarity

and innovation. Thinking and practice are too often trapped within

disciplinary boundaries, organizational silos and development para-

digms. In an attempt to overcome this, ESD aims at shaping a world

where education works with methods and contents that encour-

age learners to question unsustainable development patterns, find

innovative solutions to new emerging issues and adapt their life-

styles according to the criteria of sustainability. It is a world where

the principles, values and practices of sustainable development find

their place in children’s schooling, higher education, community-

based learning activities and workplace training programmes. In

such a world, educators will serve as key change agents to reori-

ent our societies towards sustainability by focusing on participatory

learning, critical thinking and reflective practices.

UNESCO believes that ESD is not just for formal schooling but

embraces a wide range of learning experiences and settings. It is

a dynamic concept that utilizes all aspects of public

awareness-raising, education and training to create

or enhance an understanding of sustainable develop-

ment, especially in terms of linking together the issues

involved and stimulating changes in conduct. It seeks to

develop the knowledge, skills, perspectives and values

that will empower learners of all ages to assume respon-

sibility for creating and enjoying a sustainable future.

UNESCO and others have been making the case for

ESD as a key dimension of a multifaceted concept of

quality education that is linked to citizenship educa-

tion, human rights education, education for peace and

mutual understanding, and education towards respect

for cultural diversity as well as biodiversity. Implicit in

this is the contribution of education to a democratic

approach to addressing the challenges of sustain-

able development, an approach that emphasizes the

empowerment of communities and citizens, the gradual

enlargement and deepening of public awareness, and

the changing of values, attitudes and behaviours in

order to encourage a shift towards more sustainable

forms of consumption and production.

Although it might be difficult to fully accomplish,

ESD is one of the most exciting educational undertak-

ings of our time. In part, this is because it is a genuinely

ambitious educational agenda, with far-reaching rami-

fications for the relationship between education and

society. ESD has real potential to change education to

address the most pressing global issues of our world.

It is a stimulating and refreshing process because it

challenges the very purpose of education. In fact, ESD

provides many of the questions and answers about what

education should be about and what it should be for in

the 21st century. Thus, ESD is not only a key priority

education but also

for

education.

The DESD, therefore, has a vital role to play not only

in its own right, with its own tasks and responsibilities,

but also as a catalyst for stimulating questions that need

to be asked about the relevance and purpose of educa-

tion around the world. The DESD aims to encourage

a dynamic and far-reaching reflection on the trans-

formative power of education. It also seeks to engage

policy-makers, researchers, practitioners and a range of