Tomorrow Today

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knowledge in a broad sense, and technological as well

as social innovations.

Without attempting to downplay the differences

that continue to exist between the opportunities of

developing and industrialized countries to participate

in the global economy and information networks, it

is clear that whether or not one can benefit from

globalization much depends on the skills one

possesses – skills to obtain and analyse information,

to make independent judgments and to communicate

across social and cultural boundaries – rather than

just being a function of location. This is where educa-

tion comes in.

Education, understood broadly as an ongoing

process, including both formal and informal modes of

teaching and learning, plays a crucial role in prepar-

ing people for their futures in a highly connected,

interlinked, globalized world. Higher education, in

particular, occupies a central position in shaping the

way in which future generations learn to cope with

the complexities of globalization, trade, poverty,

development and environment. Higher education

prepares an important portion of the population for

their entry into the labour market, including most

of the teachers who are responsible for education at

the primary and secondary levels. Here, universities

are called upon not only to teach the skills required

to advance successfully in a globalized world, but

also to nourish in their students, faculty and staff a

positive attitude towards environmental issues and

cultural diversity.

The Ubuntu Alliance

Since the Earth Summit in 1992, sustainable devel-

opment has been high on the political agenda and

education was assigned an important role in Agenda

21. However, the role of education and, in particular,

of educators, was not well articulated and educa-

tors were not defined as one of the stakeholder

groups. During the World Summit on Sustainable

Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg in 2002,

various initiatives were launched to strengthen the

role and contribution of educators in ESD, includ-

ing the Global Higher Education for Sustainability

Partnership (GHESP)

and the Global Virtual

University for sustainable development

. The

Japanese and Swedish Governments chose ESD as a

spearhead for their contributions and, based on their

proposals, the United Nations decided to designate

2005 as the Year and 2005-2014 as the UN Decade

of Education for Sustainable Development with

UNESCO as the lead agency.

Also at WSSD, eleven of the world’s foremost

educational and scientific organizations, under the

leadership of the UNU Institute for Advanced Studies

(UNU-IAS), signed the Ubuntu Declaration, which

brought together, for the first time, science, technol-

ogy and ESD. The Declaration strives to ensure that

educators and learners, from primary to the highest

will integrate better the principles, values and practices of sustain-

able development. It seeks to break down traditional educational

schemes and promotes:

• Interdisciplinary and holistic learning rather than subject-based

learning

• Values-based learning

• Critical thinking rather than memorizing

• Multi-method approaches: word, art, drama,

debate, etc.

• Participatory decision-making

• Locally rather than nationally relevant information.

UNESCO, through its International Implementation Scheme (IIS),

has broken down the goals of the DESD into four key objectives:

• Facilitating networking and collaboration among stakeholders

in ESD

• Fostering greater quality of teaching and learning of environ-

mental topics

• Supporting countries in achieving the Millennium Development

Goals through ESD efforts

• Providing countries with new opportunities and tools to reform

education.

So far, the results of the DESD, more than halfway into the Decade,

differ from country to country. In particular, Sweden and Japan have

made special efforts. Sweden has made inclusion of ESD elements

obligatory at all levels of education, including higher education.

Japan has included support for the formation of Regional Centres

of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (RCEs), as

initiated by the United Nations University (UNU) and implemented

by the Ubuntu Alliance, in its national strategy for the implementa-

tion of the DESD.

International NGOs, such as IUCN and the Earth Charter, are

playing an increasingly active role, as are institutions such as the

Centre for Environment Education (Ahmedabad, India) and univer-

sities such as Lueneburg in Germany, Tongji in China and the

Universiti Sains in Malaysia. Many specialized networks on ESD

have been developed, such as MESA in Africa and ProSPER Net in

Asia and the Pacific. The most positive development, however, is

the enthusiastic support for the aims and goals of the DESD among

many working in education and learning, and among learners at

all levels.

At the UNESCO conference in Bonn, it became clear that the high

ambitions of the DESD ‘to break down the traditional schemes’ and

‘to reform (all) education’ are very difficult to achieve. The massive

efforts and costs involved in the development and re-development

of curricula and the training and re-training of teachers will make

it very difficult to achieve these ambitions overnight, or even in

a decade. The success of the DESD will depend on the degree to

which principles of respect, self-organization and participation will

be allowed to flourish. Only by mobilizing all those working in or

interested in education for the goals and aims of the DESD, can the

Decade become a success.

Universities and sustainable human development

Universities must play a role in sustainable human development

through their research, education and social services, on the local,

regional, national, international and global levels. This implies the

strengthening of the full knowledge triangle: education, scientific