Tomorrow Today

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local communities, in collaboration with 35 local educa-

tional NGOs. The efforts have led not only to sharing of

the key principles, practices and values that are required

for the city’s sustainability among the local people, but also

to bringing critical shifts in many aspects of educational

programmes organized by those NGOs.

The main reasons for Tongyeong’s outstanding

success among many other RCEs worldwide include

enduring financial and administrative backing from

local authorities. People’s active participation and

subsequent feedback are also integral parts of the story.

Encouraged by political and grassroots support, the

RCE continues to plan the expansion of its ESD prac-

tises at all levels, from kindergarten to college, until

2012. While spreading and elaborating on educational

projects, the city is preparing an ambitious scheme

for the establishment of the Education for Sustainable

Development Foundation and the RCE Eco-Park and

Centre in an attempt to ensure the sustainability of the

RCE itself. The Tongyeong case suggests that the wide-

spread application of its best practices in broader parts

of the country could eventually change our notions of

cities, encompassing urban and rural areas. A city can

be transformed by spurring education for a sustainable

future into people’s daily lives.

Our tomorrow will be different if educational endeav-

ors like Tongyeong can be brought into the mainstream,

contributing to achieving sustainable green growth in

Korea and beyond. The beginning of change in this

small city was made possible thanks to the proclama-

tion of the UN Decade. However, history shows that

even a little personal or social change is much more

powerful than a big, swaggering political slogan. The

DESD still has a long way to go if it is to achieve its aims

and produce a strong case for ESD in the real world,

not just in theory. In the end, the hope is that ESD will

prove itself a sustainable form of future education and

learning for the people of the whole world.

global issues at a distance, the online networks weaving individuals

and societal trends can be organized as transformative agents for every

economic and social activity.

The Korean National Commission for UNESCO began to hold the

ESD Colloquium Series in a bid to tackle those impediments. The

unifying theme for the 2010 Series is ‘How shall Korea utilize ESD?’

Each event, co-organized by the Commission and its partner institu-

tions, intends to stretch the benefits and potential of ESD beyond the

‘inner circle’. Thematic areas associated with the series include green

technology, creative learning, local development, social integration

and educational innovation. The series is designed to foster conditions

for identifying and expanding the alliances for ESD in Korea, so that

the ESD constituency reaches out to diverse stakeholders, including

government, civil society, the private sector and academia.

More often than not, the Korean success story of realizing the princi-

ples and values ESD has to offer focuses on Tongyeong, a harbour city

located in the southernmost part of the Korean peninsula. Tongyeong

is a costal region of 138,000 people in an area of 240 square kilo-

metres. Marine resources and cultural heritage are the focus of its

economic activities, based on fisheries and eco-tourism. Providing

all citizens with a quality education in support of generational equity

and global justice has been deemed an imperative for prosperity and

for the very existence of local society. Since being designated as a

Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) by United Nations University in

2005, the island has vividly illustrated how ESD can lead to dramatic

changes in local education and people’s lives.

An ESD model elementary school, Inpyoung, has integrated ESD

into its curriculum and extracurricular activities through a whole-

school approach. At first, teachers there had difficulty understanding

the concept of ESD and finding where and how to start the teaching-

learning process. After participating in workshops and forums offered

by the RCE, however, they developed their own ESD syllabus by

studying the local environmental, social and economic issues. Parents

are also given chances to participate in school activities, such as the

exhibition entitled ‘Future of Our Town,’ which saw parents, teachers

and students all working together. In order to expand ESD within and

outside of the limited numbers of model schools, the RCE has oper-

ated ESD programmes and activities that have a significant impact on

Students at Inpyoung Elementary School performing a role play in an ESD project class

Tongyeong RCE saw participants in an ESD Camp produce an

artwork made out of wetland plants

Image: Inpyoung Elementary School

Image: Tongyeong RCE