Education for Sustainable Development:

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Education for Sustainable Development Yokohama,
Japan
Charles Hopkins
UNESCO and UNU Chairs, York University Toronto,
Canada
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

• "Sustainable development is development that
  meets the needs of the present without
  compromising the ability of future generations to
  meet their own needs"
• World Commission on Environment and Development,
  1987, p 43

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• Enough, for all, forever
• Vs.
• Excess, for a few, for now

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Sustainable Development

• 1 Global Change (environment)

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From Steffen et al. 2004
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From Steffen et al. 2004
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Climate Change
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Greenhouse Gases Emissions / Population
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2nd Aspect of Sustainable Development

• 1 Global Change (environment)
• 2 Globalization (economic)

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Globalization Economic/Cultural

• 50 under 1.50
• 30. per month
• Accumulation of wealth
• Free trade/fair trade
• Multi-nationals
• Economic Refugees

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Human Cost of Globalization Whos Cost?
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3rd Aspect of Sustainable Development1/ Global
Change (environmental)2/ Globalization
(economic)3/Human Development (social)

• Equity
• Dignity
• Human Rights
• Access to services
• Treatment of Minorities
• Cultural Diversity

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What is Sustainable Development ?

• Global Change (environment)
• Globalization (economic)
• Human Development (social/culture)
• Sustainable Development
• Plus concepts of
• intergenerational responsibility, justice /
  equity

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Issues re - Sustainable Development

• Many definitions!
• Many questions!
• Many Agreements!
• SD focuses upon the interrelatedness of
  environment, economy, society
• Need for health of all 3 of these sectors both
  now and into the future
• Major acceptance by most governments

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SD - The Construct

• A Human Construct
• For Humans
• By Humans
• Are we really capable?
• If not what needs to be done?

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Many Paths to SD

• Good legislation/governance
• Economic incentives
• Overcoming corruption
• Environmental protection
• Human rights/security
• Infrastructure (roads to banking)
• 40 issues identified in Agenda 21
• 1 such issue is education, public awareness and
  training

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Education is a key and vital element in moving
sustainability forwardReport of the UN Sec.
General

• Agenda 21(Rio)
• Millennium Goals
• Earth Charter
• UN Commission for
• Sustainable Development
• WSSD (Johannesburg)
• UN Resolution- UN Decade of ESD (2005-2014)

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The 4 Major Thrusts of ESD Agenda 21 -92,
UNESCO-96, UNCSD -98, JPOI-2002

• 1 Public awareness/understanding
• 2 Access to quality basic education
• 3 Reorienting existing education
• 4 Training programs for all sectors

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1 - Raising the Level of Public Awareness and
Understanding

• Build public awareness
• Informed citizenry political support
• preparation for democratic change
• Wise consumers
• Raising the level of the discussion
• Changing lifestyle where possible

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2. Facilitating Development Through Improving
Quality Education

• 100 million children ages 6 to 11 never attend
  school in the developing countries
• 90 of school aged are in developing/emerging
  nations
• Millions more are under- educated in both the
  South and the North

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2. Facilitating Development Through Improving
Access to Quality Education

• Latin America and Caribbean 6 years
• Parts of Asia 5 years
• Parts of Africa - months

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Facilitating Development Through Improving
Literacy and Adult Education

• 800 million illiterate adults
• 60 are women
• Employment limitations
• UN Decade for Literacy
• India 40M jobs/year

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Developed Country Problem As Well

• Hard to serve students suffer
• Preferred learning style other than reading
• Poverty related issues
• Irrelevant curricula
• Home/family related issues
• Student/school conflict

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Facilitating Development Through Improving
Higher Education

• Higher education
• Knowledge-based society
• Life-long learning
• Prepares the leaders of tomorrow

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3rd Thrust Reorienting Existing Education

• Most educated nations deepest ecological
  footprints
• Equity at present standards means we need 2 more
  Earths !
• Hard to find

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Northern Issues

• Sustainable production and consumption
• 0.5 trillion in advertising -50 targeted at USA
• Working with others
• Developing global citizenship

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A Question for All SocietiesNorth and South

• What should our students
• know,
• be able to do,
• and value,
• when they graduate?

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Why do we teach what we teach ?

• To preserve culture _____
• To prepare/train for work _____
• To care for environment _____
• To live a full, meaningful life _____
• To contribute to society _____
• To be creative and resourceful _____
• To live a religious life _____
• To live together in peace _____
• To be self-sufficient _____
• What is the vision for our schools ?

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Reorienting Existing EducationMeans Addressing

• Buildings
• Program
• Practices and Actions
• What we value and evaluate
• Modeling Sustainability

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Strengths Model A Starting Point

• No single discipline/group/teacher can do it all
• Every discipline/group/teacher can contribute
  something
• Content/Didactic/Critical Reflection etc.
• Some can take lead roles in reorientation

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Training -the 4th thrust

• Training for All
• Training in ESD
• Capacity building
• Technology transfer
• Implementing innovative practices

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Source Hart, S. and Milstein, M. 2003.
Creating Sustainable Value

• Clean Technology
• Eco-Effectiveness
• Biomimicry
• Leapfrog Technology
• Sustainable Technology
• Knowledge Service Intensity
• Cradle to Cradle
• Closed Loops
• Restorative Technology
• Systems Thinking

• Sustainable Development
• Base of the Pyramid
• Urban Reinvestment
• Brownfield Redevelopment
• Inclusive Capitalism
• Community Capitalism
• Civic Entrepreneurship
• Radical Transactiveness
• B24B

Tomorrow
Growth Path Trajectory
Innovation Repositioning
Internal
External
Cost Risk Reduction
Reputation Legitimacy

• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Industrial Ecology
• Stakeholder Management
• Life-Cycle Management
• Design for Environment (DfE)
• Green Design
• Corporate Citizenship
• Full Cost Accounting
• Take-back
• Transparency
• Corporate Governance

• EMS
• Greening
• Pollution Prevention (P2)
• Eco-Efficiency
• Risk Management
• Environmental Management
• ISO 14001
• Waste Reduction
• Resource Productivity

Today
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Systemic Issues and Challenges to Moving ESD
Forward

• Lacking
• vision and awareness
• policy or mandate
• funding and resources
• training

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Challenges and Barriers

• Recognition that education plays a crucial role
• Linking ESD to existing education issues
• Structuring ESD in the curriculum
• Using the complexity of SD to develop critical
  thinking skills
• Linking ESD to community issues
• Engaging the traditional disciplines
• Building human capacity
• Developing resources

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The Bottom Line!We Need A World We Can Live In

• At the global scale, there is only one bottom
  line Maintenance of the earths life support
  system for humans. If critical thresholds are
  crossed and the earth system shifts to another
  state much less amenable to human life, then
  everyday life as we know it social systems,
  economics, politics ceases to have meaning.
• Uno Svedin Swedish Research Council for the
  Environment, Agriculture Sciences and Spatial
  Planning

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UN Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development (2005 to 2014)

• UN General Council Resolution Dec. 2002
• UNESCO is the lead UN Agency
• Mainly a coordinating role
• Integrate with other Decades and programs
• Mainly up to each country / state /
• Organization / institution / private sector
  etc.

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IMPLEMENTATION SCHEME PRINCIPLES

• Advocacy and vision building
• Consultation and building local ownership
• Partnerships and networks
• Capacity building and training
• Research and innovation
• Information and communication technologies, and
• Monitoring and evaluation

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Regional Centres of Expertisein Education for
Sustainable Development

• A contribution by the United Nations University
• to the UN Decade of
• Education for Sustainable Development

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RCE Structure
Formal education
Non-formal education
Knowledge-related institutions
Universities
Research centres
(Science) museums
Secondary Schools
Botanical gardens
Vertical links
Lateral links
Local Governments
Primary Schools
Community leaders
Local businesses
NGOs
Horizontal links
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UNU Regional Centre of ESD Expertise

• Outcomes
• Improved academic outcomes
• More knowledgeable/supportive citizenry
• More sustainably oriented production and
  consumption
• Perhaps a shift in behaviour as learning is
  relevant

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Much is Happening

• Sustainable schools
• Education reform
• School Administration training
• Corporate training at all levels
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
• Public concern

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Summary

• Whether it is institution wide or at the level of
  an individual, we must plan ahead and
  collaborate to develop effective strategies.
• Thank you

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2 Key Websites

• http//www.unesco.org/education/desd
• http//www.esdtoolkit.org