Education for sustainable development

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is defined as education that encourages changes in knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to enable a more sustainable and just society for all.[1] ESD aims to empower and equip current and future generations to meet their needs using a balanced and integrated approach to the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.[2] ESD is the term most used internationally and by the United Nations.[3]

Training on Education for sustainable development workshop in Kasese district Uganda

The concept of ESD was born from the need for education to address the growing and changing environmental challenges facing the planet.[2] Education must be strengthened in all agendas, programs, and activities that promote sustainable development. Sustainable development must be integrated into education and education must be integrated into sustainable development. ESD promotes the integration of these critical sustainability issues in local and global contexts into the curriculum to prepare learners to understand and respond to the changing world. ESD aims to produce learning outcomes that include core competencies such as critical and systematic thinking, collaborative decision-making, and taking responsibility for the present and future generations. Since traditional single-directional delivery of knowledge is not sufficient to inspire learners to take action as responsible citizens, ESD entails rethinking the learning environment, physical and virtual. The learning environment itself must adapt and apply a whole-institution approach to embed the philosophy of sustainable development. Building the capacity of educators and policy support at international, regional, national and local levels helps drive changes in learning institutions. Empowered youth and local communities interacting with education institutions become key actors in advancing sustainable development.[2]

Agenda 21 was the first international document that identified education as an essential tool for achieving sustainable development and highlighted areas of action for education.[4][5] ESD is a component of measurement in an indicator for Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG) for "responsible consumption and production". SDG 12 has 11 targets and Target 12.8 is "By 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature."[6]

Concept and origin

One definition of Education for Sustainable Development is an "interdisciplinary learning methodology covering the integrated social, economic, and environmental aspects of formal and informal curriculum".[7] This educational ideology recognizes modern-day environmental challenges and seeks to define new ways to adjust to a changing biosphere, as well as engage individuals to address societal issues that come with them [8] In the International Encyclopedia of Education, this approach to education is seen as an attempt to "shift consciousness toward an ethics of life-giving relationships that respects the interconnectedness of man to his natural world" in order to equip future members of society with environmental awareness and a sense of responsibility to sustainability.[9] The Brundtland Commission defined sustainable development as meeting the needs of the present generation without putting at risk the capacity of generations to come in meeting their own requirements.[10] This Agency used to be the World Commission on Environment and Development created in 1983.[11] The idea of sustainable development originated from the United Nations Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm (Sweden 1972).[12] There were two more global activities since then. These were the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development 1987 (Our Common Future Report)[13] and the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development 1992 (Rio Earth Summit).[14]

For UNESCO, education for sustainable development involves:

integrating key sustainable development issues into teaching and learning. This may include, for example, instruction about climate change, disaster risk reduction, biodiversity, and poverty reduction and sustainable consumption. It also requires participatory teaching and learning methods that motivate and empower learners to change their behaviours and take action for sustainable development. ESD consequently promotes competencies like critical thinking, imagining future scenarios and making decisions in a collaborative way.[15][16]

The Thessaloniki Declaration, presented at the "International Conference on Environment and Society: Education and Public Awareness for Sustainability" by UNESCO and the Government of Greece (December 1997), highlights the importance of sustainability not only with regards to the natural environment, but also with "poverty, health, food security, democracy, human rights, and peace".[17]

The concept of ESD was born from the need for education to address the growing environmental challenges facing the planet. Sustainability in higher education is not only limited to embedding intended learning outcomes about sustainable development into the curriculum of higher educational institutions. However, a sustainable campus should integrate the educational and managerial aspects of the sustainable development along with its three dimensions (environmental, economical, social responsibility) into its different practices.[18]

United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development
This section is an excerpt from United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.[edit]
The Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) 2005–2014 was an Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) initiative of the United Nations. The Decade was delivered by UNESCO as lead agency, and gave rise to Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE) networks, and the GUPES universities' partnership. The launch of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development started a global movement to reorient education to address the challenges of sustainable development. It was the first UN Decade to establish a global monitoring and evaluation process and expert group.[19] Building on the achievement of the Decade, stated in the Aichi-Nagoya Declaration on ESD, UNESCO endorsed the Global Action Programme on ESD (GAP) in the 37th session of its General Conference. Acknowledged by UN general assembly Resolution A/RES/69/211 and launched at the UNESCO World Conference on ESD in 2014, the GAP aims to scale-up actions and good practices. UNESCO has a major role, along with its partners, in bringing about key achievements to ensure the principles of ESD are promoted through formal, non-formal and informal education.[20]

Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals are 17 goals that were established by the UN in 2015. [21] SDG 4 focuses on Education and target 4.7 aims to make sure that people are given the knowledge and skills to promote sustainable development.[22] SDG 12 concentrates on Responsible Consumption and Production and target 12.8 aims to make sure that everyone has the information and "awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature".[23] Target 12.B under Goal 12 also aims to measure the impacts of sustainable development for sustainable tourism to create jobs and promote local culture and products.[24]

See also

Sources

References
  1. https://plus.google.com/+UNESCO (2013-05-10). "Education for Sustainable Development". UNESCO. Retrieved 2020-05-24. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help); External link in |last= (help)
  2. Issues and trends in education for sustainable development. Paris: UNESCO. 2018. p. 7. ISBN 978-92-3-100244-1. This article incorporates text available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
  3. "Untitled Document". Esdtoolkit.org. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  4. unesdoc.unesco.org https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000261801. Retrieved 2020-05-24. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. Bernad-Cavero, Olga; Llevot-Calvet, Núria (2018-07-04). New Pedagogical Challenges in the 21st Century: Contributions of Research in Education. BoD – Books on Demand. ISBN 978-1-78923-380-3.
  6. United Nations (2017) Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017, Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (A/RES/71/313)
  7. "Education for sustainable development | Higher Education Academy". www.heacademy.ac.uk. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  8. Schooling for sustainable development in Europe : concepts, policies and educational experiences at the end of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. Jucker, Rolf, 1963-, Mathar, Reiner. Cham [Switzerland]. 27 October 2014. ISBN 978-3-319-09549-3. OCLC 894509040.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. International encyclopedia of education. Peterson, Penelope L.,, Baker, Eva L.,, McGaw, Barry (3rd ed.). Oxford: Elsevier. 2010. ISBN 978-0-08-044894-7. OCLC 645208716.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. "The Brundtland Commission". www.sustainabledevelopment2015.org. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  11. "Education for Sustainable Development | Development". RESET.to. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  12. "UN Conference on the Human Environment .:. Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform". sustainabledevelopment.un.org. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  13. "UN World Commission on Environment and Development, ed., Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future | Environment & Society Portal". www.environmentandsociety.org. 11 July 2016. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  14. "The Rio Earth Summit: summary of the United Nations conference on Environment and Development (BP-317E)". publications.gc.ca. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  15. "Education for Sustainable Development". UNESCO. 10 May 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  16. Marope, P.T.M; Chakroun, B.; Holmes, K.P. (2015). Unleashing the Potential: Transforming Technical and Vocational Education and Training (PDF). UNESCO. pp. 9, 23, 25–26. ISBN 978-92-3-100091-1.
  17. Education for Sustainable Development: Challenges, Strategies, and Practices in a Globalizing World Education for sustainable development: Challenges, strategies, and practices in a globalizing world. 2010. doi:10.4135/9788132108023. ISBN 9788132102939.
  18. Adel, H. M.; Mahrous, A. A. (2018). Sustainability communication and evaluation: A practice-based case study on British-Egyptian universities value-chain. Bristol Business School, University of the West of England: Proceedings of the 32nd Annual International Conference of The British Academy of Management (BAM) 2018: Driving Productivity in Uncertain and Challenging Times. ISBN 978-0-9956413-1-0.
  19. Tilbury, Daniella (17 November 2009). "Tracking Our Progress: A Global Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the UN DESD". Journal of Education for Sustainable Development. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  20. Issues and trends in education for sustainable development. Paris: UNESCO. 2018. p. 8. ISBN 978-92-3-100244-1.
  21. UN Sustainable Development Goals, https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/
  22. UN Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education, https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/education/
  23. UN Sustainable Development Goal 12: Sustainable Consumption and Production, https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-consumption-production/
  24. UN Sustainable Development Goal 12: Sustainable Consumption and Production, https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-consumption-production/
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