Reorienting Biodiversity Education for Sustainable Development

The need of the hour

Dr Shailaja Ravindranath, Programme Director, CEE South

Biodiversity touches our lives and the livelihoods, influencing economic, ecological and socio-cultural aspects leading to Sustainable Development; education and awareness are integral to the conservation of Biodiversity to attain Sustainable Development. There is a need, hence, to incorporate the perspectives of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) into biodiversity education.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Communication, Education, Public Awareness (CEPA)

Agenda 21, the key document of
the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (the Earth Summit) held at Rio de Janeiro, June 1992, is the first international document that highlighted education as an essential tool for achieving the goals of sustainable development. Re-affirming this view, the CBD which is one of the major outcomes of the Summit, addressed CEPA in Article 13 in its fourth COP meeting (Slovakia, 1998), to promote its objectives; conservation, sustainable use, and access and equitable sharing of the benefits from the use of genetic resources.

With UNESCO as the key partner, CBD launched a global initiative on biodiversity education in 2002 at COP 6 in Hague and adopted the framework of CEPA (COP 6 Decision VI/19). CEPA strategies were then integrated into all sectoral and thematic areas under the programme of work of the CBD.

A Decade of CEPA ( 2002 – 2012)

The decision to develop CEPA work programme was taken in COP 7 (Malaysia, 2004) and COP 8 (Brazil, 2006) adopted a list of ten priority activities to guide implementation of CEPA. COP 9 (Bonn, 2008) invited Parties to increase their efforts of CEPA and also to integrate it into their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs).

The decision to declare 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity was also taken at COP 9.

As the UN Decade on Biodiversity (2011 - 2020) was declared at the COP 10 in 2010, in Nagoya, Japan, the Aichi Biodiversity targets adopted for the Decade, placed education and awareness at the top of its targets. Target 1 states, ‘By 2020, at the latest, people are aware of the values of Biodiversity and the steps they can take to conserve and use it sustainably’. The Strategic goal E, ‘Enhance implementation through participatory planning, knowledge management and capacity building’, further supports the Aichi Biodiversity target 1.

Even though the thinking on CEPA continues to increase, the practices need strengthening. The impact of CEPA in achieving the objectives of CBD is slower and hardly visible. For instance, education finds place only in a fraction of the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAP) of the Signatory countries, reflecting the commitment of countries to CEPA. In the CBD COP meetings, CEPA is a cross cutting issue. Yet, the issues related to CEPA to achieve specific targets are little discussed. The inadequate allocation of explicit space and time for CEPA discussions, despite the best of intentions, has been a matter of concern. Even the strategic plan of the UN Decade on Biodiversity (2011-2020), does not draw any specific plan for education and public awareness (UNEP 2010).

So, where is the problem? CEPA in the DESD

In 2004, more than a decade of the Earth Summit, the UN General Assembly declared the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) with UNESCO as the lead agency with the objective of reorienting education towards sustainable development.

With the concept of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) evolving independently of CEPA, UNESCO is promoting education on biodiversity focusing on the interlinking issues of biodiversity and sustainable development in the context of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD).

Undoubtedly, there is a great deal of interest along with laudable efforts to weave ESD into the mainstream of the biodiversity conservation programmes at all levels, taking advantage of events and processes of the International Year of Biodiversity (2010), DESD (2005 – 2014) and now the UN Decade on Biodiversity (UNDB: 2011 - 2020).

However, the perspectives of ESD have not been embedded in to CEPA and still remain parallel and independent stream in terms of thinking and implementation.

The challenges of CEPA in the UNDB

The UN Decade of Biodiversity has defined 20 Aichi Biodiversity targets which are intended to be achieved, in the specific time frame of 10 years, aiming at multi stakeholders focusing more on the communities and address complex issues related to environment, socio-cultural and economics. Are the present strategies of CEPA adequately equipped to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity targets?

The DESD mid-decade conference at Bonn in 2009, while discussing the ‘Mainstreaming Biodiversity into Education and Learning’ felt that ‘More environmental education is required in formal and informal education, with a better focus on biodiversity in a more holistic way, involving links to ethical, social, cultural and economic aspects’.

Therefore, the challenge for CEPA to support CBD work programmes to achieve the Aichi Biodiversity targets is much more comprehensive, complex and huge in the decade. Is more CEPA or a different type of CEPA required in this context? Probably both. This calls for widening the scope, developing much more powerful tools.

Steps taken by CBD towards strengthening CEPA

CBD, well aware of this crucial requirement, has set education and awareness high on the agenda to facilitate the implementation of other 19 targets.

Another major step in this direction is signing a MoU for a partnership between the CBD Secretariat and the Centre for Environment Education (CEE). This was a consequence of a two-day parallel event ‘International Conference on Biodiversity Conservation and Education for Sustainable Development – Learning to Conserve Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing World’, organized by CEE in partnership with Ministry of Human Resource Development and Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, the CBD Secretariat, UNESCO, UNEP, and GEF UNDP SGP, at the recently held CBD COP 11 in October

2012 in Hyderabad, India. The outcome document emphasized linking CEPA
to ESD, “Recognizing that biodiversity conservation being intrinsically linked to sustainable development, it is important to move beyond CEPA to align with the concepts of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), as we formulate educational strategies to achieve the Aichi biodiversity targets”.

This partnership would involve taking the initiative forward, working towards developing and implementing an educational strategy and plans of action that are supportive to the objectives of CBD, the strategic plan in the Decade on Biodiversity, and the objectives of Education for Sustainable Development. The task includes collaboration on foundational research, engaging relevant partners and stakeholders for wider sharing of information, learning, implementation and scaling up of best practice. It is hoped that this partnership will play an important role in strengthening ESD within the CBD.

The Road Ahead

The assumption that the parties are committed to sustainable development and hence will link CEPA to ESD is farfetched. As the UNDESD is drawing to a closein 2014, countries are still struggling to understand the implementation mechanisms of ESD and harness its full potential.

One of greatest challenges is to embed the ESD perspectives into the CEPA processes within the CBD in a coherent and timely manner. It is important for ESD therefore to link with the objectives of the CBD to avoid repetitions, save resources and bring institutions together. It is only appropriate at this point to analyse the strengths, weakness and opportunities of ESD critically with a clear understanding of the processes and implications in Biodiversity conservation identify and bridge the gaps to integrate into CEPA, for a more meaningful and effective contribution to both the decades - UNDB and UNDESD.

The need of the hour for achieving Aichi targets in the remaining eight years of the UNDB therefore, is a strong, concrete strategy and plan of action including the investments for Education within the CBD, linking it with sustainable development.

For more information contact:

Dr. Shailaja Ravindranath
Programme Director

CEE South, Kamala Mansion, II Floor, 143

Infantry Road, Bengaluru – 560 001

Ph: 080-22868037/22868039

Email: shailaja.ravindranath@ceeindia.org

Initiating a new partnership

Recognizing the initiatives and efforts of CEE in reemphasizing the role of education as a key driver to achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, through the parallel event, the international Conference on Biodiversity Conservation and Education for Sustainable Development: Learning to Conserve Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing World, held at the margins of the CBD COP 11, at Hyderabad 2012, 
the CBD Secretariat and CEE have signed a memorandum of cooperation and agreed to: 

1.      Cooperate to promote the development and implementation of educational strategy and plans of action that are supportive of the objectives of the CBD, the Strategic Plan and the Decade on Biodiversity and of the objectives of education for sustainable development;
2.      Collaborate on foundational research and desk studies that would assist CBD in development of strategies, guidelines, tools and materials to support relevant communication and learning objectives;
3.      Collaborate to engage relevant partners and stakeholders, including existing international educational initiatives for wider sharing of information, learning, implementation and scaling up;
4.      Collaborate on innovative concepts and practices to educate and engage stakeholders, particularly children and youth, such as the Handprint and The Green Wave initiatives, in order to advance their objectives and strengthen their implementation and effectiveness;
5.      Collaborate to encourage participation of local communities, children and youth and other stakeholder groups in decision making processes and implementation actions related to biodiversity and other related issues; 
6. 6   These activities would be defined and implemented in accordance with agreed biennial work plans.

Dr Braulio Dias, Executive Secretary, CBD and 

Dr Shailaja Ravindranath, Programme Director, 

CEE sign the MoU initiating a partnership

Herbal Gardens in Schools of Andhra Pradesh

Srinivas Gorantla and Vanitha Kommu, CEE Andhra Pradesh

Suryamashi a std 8th student from B.V & B.N school, Jandrapet, Praksham prepared an ointment from the Kasinda plant that he grew in his school herbal garden. He and D.Chiranjeevi, B.Vinay, N.Umamaheswari, G.Maheshwari, B.Latha, P.Madhu, A.Chinni, G.Sujatha of 6th standard maintain a register of herbs in school.

Students of Gangavarm School have got in touch with a local Ayurvedic medical stores to supply them with plant products for the preparation of medicines.

Mr.Mallaiah, Mr.Dastagiri and Mr.John, the village elders of Inkollu, Prakasam districts regularly interact with school students on the maintenance of the herbal garden.

These are some of the ongoing efforts under the herbal garden project running successfully in 101 schools of Andhra Pradesh. The programme started in 2008 with an objective to sensitise school students on the importance of medicinal plants in daily life and to involve local communities in developing herbal gardens. Centre for Environment Education (CEE) with support from National
Medicinal Plants Board and AP Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Board (AMAPB) is running the programme in all 23 districts of the state. The project operates with CEE’s existing set up of EESAP clusters, i.e., school and NGO linkages. The schools were selected on the basis of:
• Willingness of schools to develop a herbal garden
• Presence of the compound wall and water facility throughout the year
• Availability of about 1000 sq. of land in the school for developing herbal gardens and owned by the school.

An NGO was involved in each district to provide assistance for developing the herbal gardens and facilitate the project.

The process
Orientation workshop to NGOs
CEE began the programme with a two-day orientation workshop for NGO representatives to the concept of herbal garden project and its management. It also focussed on the content of the teachers’ manual developed specifically for the project. Participants were provided with seeds
of ten plant species five each from CEE and the forest department. This team was now ready to orient school teachers further on the implementation of the project.

Teacher training programme
The representatives from 12 NGOs after going back to their respective regions organised a training programme for the selected teachers of their cluster. The teachers were introduced to the project, implementation process and explained about the expected outcomes. During the
programme, the participants were provided with a set of teachers manual and 10 different herbal plants (saplings / seeds).

As part of the training programme, participatory garden planning exercises were performed in school with the involvement of the community. The planning exercise dealt with the entire range of activities like initiation to the maintenance and management. The garden development was initiated on the same day of the training with the participation of the community, teachers and the
students.

Once the NGO and teachers training was completed, the NGO representative from each district, the school teachers and students along with the community members got involved in clearing and preparing the land for cultivation.

Preparations for gardens and taking care of saplings
A single stretch of land was preferred for the gardens. In some places schools also managed with small patches based on availability of land. Also it was ensured in the beginning that the land used for the garden was not a play ground and was not planned for any other use like sanitation or construction.

In some areas the community helped by lending their tractors and bullock carts for land preparation while in other areas the students were allowed to use the public tank for watering the plants. The partner NGOs collaborated with the forest dept nursery to procure saplings for the gardens. The partners also encouraged organic farming by providing the vermi compost to all the project schools.

Nursery beds were prepared and fencing was done with naturally available material like thorny bushes, dry sticks etc. Seeds were sown in these beds. The beds were prepared keeping in mind both annual / biannual herbal plants like Tulasi, Senna, Nelavemu and Ashwagandha. Special care
was required for plants like tulsi, whose seeds were sown not more than 2 inches deep and approximately after 45 days of sowing the seeds, saplings were transplanted.

Care was taken to transplant Usiri, Neredu, Velaga and Vepa saplings at a distance of 4 mts and at a depth of 2 ½ - 3 ft. Suckers like Aloe vera were transplanted at a distance of 45-90 cms. Big trees were planted at a distance of 4 meters with small herbs in between.

Garden management
One teacher from each school was appointed as in-charge for the development of herbal garden. The head master / principal acted as the chairperson. The in-charge teacher, head master and the students formed a committee to manage the gardens. The teacher, a few students and other members of the committee looked after aspects like fencing, protection from pests, insects and animals, irrigation, harvesting, storage and using the yield. In some schools, each student was given responsibility of one plant.

Monitoring visits to schools
Monitoring visits to each school were undertaken by CEE to provide any required inputs to the teachers and students in developing and maintaining the gardens. Teachers and students got an opportunity to share their technical and financial problems during these visits.

Teacher’s manual on developing Herbal gardens

In order to familiarise the teachers with the setting up of and nurturing the herbal plants, a guidebook was developed by CEE. The teachers’ manual comprised of the information on commonly available medicinal plants like Tulasi, Senna, Nelavemu, Ashwagandha, Neem etc., along with technical details such as the distance to be maintained while transplanting / sowing, irrigation methods, pest protection, harvesting and usage of the plants as medicines. The manual was developed to help:
• Teachers and students to study and acquire basic knowledge of medicinal plants available locally.
• Learn to understand and protect plants in their original habitat without being exploited.
• Help students recognise at least 10 species of herbal plants, their useful parts and use.

Once the gardens were established, students nurtured and cared for the plants. Information boards were prepared by students giving details on the plant name, parts used and its medicinal use. They learnt about plant cycles, their fruiting and flowering seasons, medicinal parts being used, their use etc. Students got an opportunity to learn and understand about local medicinal plants from the
teachers, elders, NGO representatives and their friends. To share these year-long learnings with the wider community herbal garden event was organised at the year end.

The event was an opportunity to display products/plants and disseminate the knowledge and skills gained by the students to others. There was a sharing of experiences and knowledge where the suggestions and opinions of the visitors were taken into consideration for the betterment of the gardens and proper usage of herbal plants.

The medicinal plants were planted in free spaces available on the school campus.

Looking at the success of the herbal gardens, the AP Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Board approached CEE to focus on Amla plantation in these schools and spread awareness on medicinal values and benefits of the plant. Each school has been given about 50 saplings to grow on their campus. The plantation activity is currently underway at the schools.

Appropriate distance was maintained between two saplings depending on the plant type in order to help it grow

For more information contact:
Centre for Environment Education
Andhra Pradesh State Office
6-3-348/2, I Floor, Dwarakapuri colony,
Panjagutta, Hyderabad – 500 482
Phone: (040) 23352596 Fax: (040) 23352586
E-mail: ceeandhrapradesh@ceeindia.org

Are our Schools interfering with our children’s education?
*Mini Shrinivas

It is August 15, Independence Day. As our car speeds along on the way to a picnic, we pass clumps of school children hurrying for flag hoisting. Their hair is well–oiled and combed, their faces glow. Some carry paper flags. Their feet are bare. They are all hurrying to the hundreds of government–run primary schools that dot the country now – 95% of the population is supposed to now be having a primary school within 1 km of residence. That is no mean achievement in a country of one billion. The growth of school facilities has been truly phenomenal, and something to be proud of. But, when I look at those shining eyes and running feet, I feel a bit ashamed. As a citizen I am part of a massive failure, too — a failure to give these eager citizens of tomorrow a really good education.

Because, education is not only school buildings. Education is learning to read, write, calculate, and learning to think independently, to analyse, and to take decisions. Education is learning how to learn. It is learning how to live with and love the diversity that is India. And the vast majority of our schools are not doing that. Not yet.

Consider this: A teacher discussed a new lesson in the Marathi language textbook, and read it with the class. “If you had to give this lesson another title, what would you call it?” she asked. Blank stares. She tried again. “What is the most important thing this lesson tells you? That could be the name of the lesson. You tell me.” Silence. At last, one brave child put her hand up. “Madam, how can we tell you if you don’t write the four options on the blackboard?” The teacher learnt later that the students had spent the previous year preparing for the “Scholarship Exam”, and drilled in answering only multiple–choice questions!

Another episode is even more telling. A researcher talking to teachers, children and parents in a village school just outside Delhi found that all three groups considered memorization the highest form of studying. One child put it very simply — “See, Madamji, if a boy is stupid, then he needs to have things explained to him by the teacher. But if he is smart, he can learn as soon as she tells him. He can memorize whatever she tells him. Only stupid and slow students need things explained to them. Not me!”

So there we are then — a whole system that encourages children to memorize facts and even opinions, and to reproduce them in tests, and limits creativity to multiple choice questions! Something is not quite right here. How are these kids going to learn to think and analyze if we don’t start in school? Mark Twain has famously said, “I never let my schooling interfere with my education.” It’s funny, but it’s rather sad too. Schools that don’t educate have no purpose except as prisons. The only way we can justify putting children in school is if it is a place that nurtures their minds and spirits.

Here are some things that teachers can do — that is, teachers who think of their jobs as crucial in nation building, in building good human beings:

1. Throw away that spoon: NOTHING in our government curriculum tells us that we have to spoon feed our children with ready–made answers. It is just an invention of teachers too lazy to correct books in which each child has written a different answer. Even children in Class 1 can THINK. Let them.

2. Count how many times a day you demand silence: You will be amazed. Engaging in learning cannot happen in silence. Argument, debate, disagreement, listening to others, trying to accommodate other viewpoints, compromise — these important lessons of democracy have to begin in your classroom.

3. Remember that human beings are environment too: Teachers tend to ignore the aspect of social environment while placing an increasing emphasis on learning and projects to do with the natural environment. Teach yourself and your students to look at the society around you, the good things as well as the injustices, and to confront the complex emotions they arouse.

4. Be multilingual: Most people in India speak at least two languages. Some analysts say that it is one of the things that makes Indians more creative and flexible thinkers, given the right environment. But our schools tend to become monolingual. In fact English medium schools sometime ban the use of the local language in the school premises! Not that it ever works, but it doesn’t make sense pedagogically either. Revel in multilingualism. Celebrate diversity.

5. Believe: The one thing that all children, even very small ones, are good at, is spotting insincerity. You cannot preach communal harmony if you have hatred in your heart. You cannot teach to care for trees if in your heart you think its all a big fuss. Not to a child. They won’t believe you. So read, discuss, educate yourself, and teach what you believe in.

The energy sector needs a major course correction to meet the present challenges.

The power sector is facing a large shortage, nearly half of the rural poor lacking access to electricity, with increasing cost of power, financial losses of utilities continue at unsustainable levels. Social and environmental problems of power generation; and global warming concerns are challenging the existing paradigm.

The oil and gas sector is facing different but equally pressing issues. Our oil consumption is increasing exponentially. India is rapidly building infrastructure that would further increase our dependence on oil; even as the world has started discussing the possibility of a plateau and future reduction in oil production.

With business–as–usual processes and if we want to continue high economic growth, we would need a much large share of fossil fuels produced globally than we consume today. This is unlikely to be a reality. On the other hand, the poor in the country do not have access to even basic services. Nearly 50% of the rural population uses kerosene wick lamps and 80% uses highly inefficient and polluting cook stoves burning wood and dung. Nearly 5 lakh person die of indoor air pollution mainly caused due to cooking stoves. So this is a twin challenge on our hands.

The author is Asst Director, Centre for Learning Resources, Pune, and may be contacted at minidange@gmail.com

Moving beyond the EE and ESD Disciplinary Debate in Formal Education

Rosalyn Mckeown, Centre for Geography and Environment Education, University of Tennessee, USA and Charles Hopkins, York University, Canada
(Condensed from article published in Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, Vol. 1 (1): 17-26)

Many educators think of education for sustainable development (ESD) on a disciplinary level. For ESD to be effective, we posit that more than disciplines need to be engaged. ESD works beyond the disciplinary scale at whole–school, educational system, and international scales.

Disciplinary Level
ESD is so inclusive that no single discipline could encompass all four thrusts of ESD as defined by the International Implementation Scheme (IIS) for the UNDESD (UNESCO 2005a). Perhaps more appropriate questions would be: What can this discipline contribute to ESD? or Will engaging a number of disciplines in ESD be sufficient to make significant progress?

Not all disciplines are treated equally in formal primary and secondary education. Traditional disciplines such as language, mathematics, and science form the core school subjects that are regularly tested and progress or lack thereof reported. In addition, other school subjects —such as history, geography, art, music, physical education, health, and religious studies — form a second tier of courses that are often offered but can be cut from the curriculum in times of financial or other difficulties.

The traditional school subjects are funded, timetabled, and reported. Peace education, environmental education, economics education, population education, vocational and technical education — all struggle for class time and are often infused into portions of existing curriculum or are added–on as elective classes, which makes their place in the curriculum tenuous and often temporary. defining and categorizing of core disciplines and adjectival educations holds an important distinction.

For ESD to notably impact formal education, it must be infused into core school subjects that have major, defined, and ongoing roles in primary and secondary curricula. We examine the contributions of two school subjects to ESD.

Geography and ESD
Discussions on geography’s contribution to the formal sector of ESD in terms of content and pedagogy show the linkages between geography and ESD.
• Geography is traditionally an integrating discipline, which is basic to ESD.
• Geography bridges natural and social science, which are both needed to analyze many sustainability issues.
• Geography deals with many of the economic, social, and environmental issues of Agenda 21.
• Regional geography classes contribute to understanding tensions (e.g. ethnic and religious) that contribute to war and conflict, which threaten sustainability.
• Geography contributes a spatial understanding and scale of sustainability issues.
• Geographers have educated for community issue investigation and problem solving for years.

Some of the contributions of geography are shared with other disciplines (e.g. content related to the major sustainability issues, such as water and population) and some contributions are unique (e.g. mapping spatial distributions of topics related to sustainability). Nevertheless, geographers are engaging in discussions, which every discipline should embark upon, centered on the question, “What is my discipline’s contribution to educating for a more sustainable future?”

Workplace Education (TVET) and ESD
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is traditionally the sector of the education community concerned with educating for work–related concerns and issues. In the past, TVET was considered for school–to–career students, who would not attend post–secondary education; however, today TVET is being recast as education for the world of work and should form a part of the education of every student from primary school onward.

Because every student should have the opportunity to learn fundamentals to develop a means of livelihood, TVET is being mainstreamed into education in some places around the world. In conjunction with this notion of preparation for work is the idea that the workplace itself could become more sustainable if the workers themselves understood the basics of sustainability. “[T]he TVET of the future must not only prepare individuals for employment in the information society, but also make them responsible citizens who give due consideration to preserving the integrity of their environment and the welfare of others” (UNESCO 1999, p. 54).

Although these two school subjects make important contributions to ESD, the disciplinary approach to reorienting education to address sustainability falls short. For example, ESD calls for a trans-disciplinary approach that integrates, not separates, content and skills from different disciplines (McKeown et al. 2002; Sterling, 2001). Also a disciplinary approach looks at content, which is only part of improving basic education and reorienting education — the first two thrusts of ESD.

School Level-whole-school approaches
The whole–school approach recognizes that it will take more than information about sustainable development to make the enormous behavioral shift needed to achieve a more sustainable future (Henderson and Tilbury 2004). The whole-school approach attends to environmental, social, and economic realms of sustainable development.

“We have proposed the term ‘ESD–schools’ as a new term, which is different from the commonly used terms ‘eco–schools’ or ‘green schools’. By using a new term we want to stress that there are new challenges for schools that wish to engage in ESD–oriented development. ESD is not only dealing with aspects of people’s dependence on the quality of the environment and access to natural resources now and in the future, but also aspects of participation, self efficacy, equality and social justice are essential perspectives in preparing pupils for their engagement in sustainable development” (Breiting, Mayer, and Mogensen 2005, p 4). ESD schools try to embed sustainability beyond disciplines by modeling sustainable development practices in all their activities — from purchasing and hiring policies to everyday running of the schools.

This emerging phenomenon of a whole–school approach could not be realized if ESD is envisioned solely as a discipline or a sum of several disciplines. In the whole–school approach, the curriculum, programs, practices, and policies of an educational institution are engaged to contribute to building a more sustainable future. In this approach, sustainability is lived as well as taught. The buildings and the policies model sustainability, which is a powerful reinforcement of concepts taught in the classroom.

Educational–System Level
UNESCO identified ten key aspects that support quality education — the first thrust of ESD. This model involves two levels: the individual learner and systems of education (UNESCO 2005b).

At the level of the learner, quality education: seeks out the learner, acknowledges the learner’s knowledge and experience, makes content relevant to the life of the learner, uses many instructional and learning processes, and enhances the learning environment. At the level of the educational system, quality education: creates a legislative framework, implements good policies, builds administrative support and leadership, provides sufficient resources, and measures learning outcomes.

Especially at the level of the educational system, the tasks of improving quality basic education are far beyond the capabilities of a single discipline or even a whole–school approach if their efforts are not supported by the larger educational system.

Educational systems, whether regional or national, are responsible for providing the financial and other resources that will enable reorienting education to address sustainability. Often, ministries write curriculum, approve textbooks, certify teachers and administrators, provide in-service professional development, and provide other services that will either enable or thwart the implementation of ESD. Likewise, legislative bodies provide legal frameworks and financial resources. For example, one educational concern that affects educational systems in many nations is the charging of school fees. To improve access to basic education, governments must address the issue of school fees in legislation, policy, and finance.

International Level
Because education is perceived central to a more sustainable future, key to poverty reduction, and essential to a more equitable world, the United Nations currently has four major initiatives that involve education: The MDGs, Education for All, the UNLD and the UNDESD.

Although many educational issues are thought of as national issues (e.g. curriculum and teacher certification), some educational issues are transboundary, affecting several nations. These emerging issues pose threats to a sustainable future. The ESD community is currently grappling with the following three educational issues in different parts of the world. Although these concerns emerged years ago, they keep resurfacing in new and urgent forms, requiring multi-national responses.

• HIV/AIDS – Education can assist in: preventing HIV infection, keeping people healthy after infection, preventing transmission to infants, and rebuilding economies hard hit by AIDS as well as welcoming AIDS orphans to school and meeting their learning needs (Lewis 2006; UNESCO 2004b).
• Educating girls and women — This problem is being addressed by EFA and MDGs, which bring together monies from donor nations around the world.
• Refugees – ESD has the potential to ameliorate the ill affects dislocation for both the migrants and the societies that receive immigrants and refugees. Education for and about refugees emerges as an issue of immense proportion.

Concluding Remarks
Given the breadth of support needed to fulfill the formal education components of ESD–improving quality basic education and reorienting education to address sustainability–consortiums of partners are necessary to create comprehensive ESD programs; disciplines alone cannot accomplish it. For the UNDESD to make significant progress in the formal education sector, disciplines, schools, educational systems, and international organizations must cooperate and work in concert.

References

• Breiting, Soren, Mayer, Michela, and Mogensen, Finn. 2005. Quality Criteria for ESD–Schools: Guidelines to enhance the quality of Education for Sustainable Development. Europe: SEED and ENSI Networks.
• Henderson, K. and Tilbury, D. 2004. Whole-School Approaches to Sustainability: An International Review of Sustainable School Programs. Report Prepared by the Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES) for the Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government.
• Lewis, Stephen. 2006. Race Against Time: Searching for Hope in Aids-Ravaged Africa. 2nd ed. Toronto: House of Anansi Press Inc.
• McKeown, Rosalyn and Charles A. Hopkins. 2003. EE and ESD: Diffusing the Worry. Environmental Education Research 9 (1): 117–128.
• McKeown, Rosalyn and Charles Hopkins. 2005. EE and ESD: Two Paradigms, One Crucial Goal. Applied Environmental Education and Communication 4 (3): 221-224.
• Sterling, Stephen. 2001. Sustainable Education: Re–visioning Learning and Change. Devon: Green Books.
  UNESCO. 1999. Final Report, Second International Conference on Technical and Vocational Education. Paris: UNESCO.
• UNESCO. 2004. Quality Education and HIV/AIDS. Paris: UNESCO.
• UNESCO. 2005b. Contributing to a More Sustainable Future: Qulity Education, Life Skills and Education for Sustainable Development. Paris: UNESCO.
• UNESCO. 2005a. United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005–2014: Draft International Implementation Scheme. ID=23280&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html (Accessed 8 November 2006)
• UNESCO. 2005c. Linkages between the Global Initiatives in Education. Education for Sustainable Development in Action Technical Paper no. 1. Paris: UNESCO.
  

UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development
Links between the Global Initiatives in Education

Extracts from UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development: Links between the Global Initiatives in Education, Technical Paper No.1, September 2005, Section for Education for Sustainable Development (ED/PEQ/ESD), Division for the Promotion of Quality Education, UNESCO.Full text available online at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ulis/

Over 100 million children in the world have no chance to go to school, and at least 800 million adults have not had the opportunity to learn to read and write. Education is a fundamental human right. Education is essential for development. Everyone in the world would like a better life for themselves and their children, and education makes a difference — it can help people to work together to find new solutions to their problems and can lead to new opportunities. Just learning to read and write can give a chance to change things for the better.

From the year 2000, governments and international agencies decided to adopt four new initiatives to work together for development and for education:
1. The Millennium Development Goals
2. Education for All
3. The United Nations Literacy Decade 2003–2012
4. The United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005–2014

Why are there four different ideas? Are they all necessary? Are they the same? If not, how are they different? What impact will they have? And who is involved anyway?

The Millennium Development Goals
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Millennium Declaration in 2000 as a way of expressing common worldwide priorities in development which governments and international agencies would work towards. These priorities were then characterized as eight ‘MDGs’ and eighteen targets, with a target date of 2015.
Goal 1 – Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2 – Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3 – Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4 – Reduce child mortality
Goal 5 – Improve maternal health
Goal 6 – Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Goal 7 – Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8 – Develop a global partnership for development

Goal 2 is about education, but only about primary schooling; it does not refer to adult literacy or non-formal education. Goal 3 is about equal opportunities for women and men, boys and girls – this also applies to education. When girls and boys have an equal opportunity to go to school and obtain a good quality education, then we will be well on the road to giving everyone the same rights. Good education contributes to attainment of goals 1, 4, 5, 6 and 7, and is a basis for collaboration in pursuing goal 8.

Education for All (EFA)
The globally shared concern that everyone should get a good education — Education for All — goes back to 1990, when there was a world conference in Jomtien, Thailand. In 2000 there was a follow-up conference in Dakar, Senegal, where the countries of the world once again committed themselves to a set of education goals. EFA focuses on basic education — for everyone from young children to adults. There are six goals in the Dakar Framework for Action:
1. Giving more pre–school children the chance of good care and early learning
2. Making sure that all children complete a good primary education, free of charge, by 2015
3. Giving young people and adults the chance to learn the skills they need
4. Making sure that 50% more people are literate before 2015
5. Making sure that boys and girls are enrolled in school in equal numbers by 2005, and that they all enrolled and have equal opportunities in school by 2015
6. Improving the quality of education

Three of these goals have a deadline of 2015, the same as for the MDGs. The other three are not timed, partly because they are more difficult to define. However, the aim is to produce results, using clear strategies, including:
• Promoting commitment on the part of governments and international agencies
• Involving civil society and non–governmental organizations
• Linking education policies with development
• Regularly monitoring progress

Raising more money for education was at the heart of EFA concerns, and the Dakar Framework for Action said that lack of funds should not prevent countries from pursuing EFA, if they had good plans to do so. Countries were encouraged to develop national EFA plans. In response, the World Bank launched the Fast–Track Initiative to raise funds for primary schooling in a number of countries. There has not yet been any similar initiative in relation to the other initiatives.

United Nations Literacy Decade 2003–2012
Over 800 million adults in the world today have not had the opportunity to learn to read and write. Over the last 10 years, the literacy rate improvement has not kept pace with population growth. The United Nations General Assembly launched a Decade of Action to improve the situation. The vision is ‘literacy for all’ — people of every age everywhere, both women and men, gaining access to reading and writing, because literacy is a tool for learning and a means to take part in society. In the age of computers, many jobs require a good level of literacy. The Decade aims to achieve these goals:
• Making sure that 50% more people can use reading and writing by 2015, giving special attention to women
• Making a considerable contribution to the other EFA goals for 2015
• Helping all learners to read, write and calculate well, to think critically, to have positive values as citizens and to acquire other skills they need
• Helping to see that people use their literacy in creative ways, in school and in the community
• Making life better through less poverty, more income, better health, taking more part in political life, knowing what your rights and duties are in your country, and taking account of the equal rights of men and women

UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005–2014
Education for sustainable development means learning the values, behaviours and knowledge which will enable us to develop now without robbing our children and grand-children of that possibility too. The Decade will promote these ideas by:
• Making people aware that education is a good basis for a sustainable way of life;
• Making sure that ideas about sustainable development are part of schools, colleges, universities and other ways of learning;
• Making sure that organisations and governments worldwide work together, so that they can learn from new experiences and from activities in different parts of the world.

The DESD tackles more than education — it addresses the way we live, our values and our behaviour. Because of that, education for sustainable development is not a subject to teach, but rather cuts across many subjects. It also means that education must be of a high quality, not merely passing on knowledge but changing the way people think.

The principles of sustainable development must find their place in children’s schooling, higher education, non–formal education and community–based learning activities. This means education will have to change so that it addresses the social, economic, cultural and environmental problems that we face in the 21st century.

How are these initiatives different?
If the four initiatives were the same there would be no need for all of them. Thus, there are some significant differences:
• The eight goals and eighteen targets of the Millennium Development Goals provide a framework for international development cooperation. Both developing and industrialized countries have committed themselves to the MDGs, and the focus is on tackling poverty in its many aspects. Provision of primary education, and gender equality in education are the two areas where the MDGs overlap with the EFA agenda. Other aspects–literacy, quality, or non–formal education–are not an explicit part of the MDGs.


• The six EFA goals are concerned with extending basic education to every child and adult — it should be available to both females and males, to learners of all ages, offering relevant learning and life skills and striving to increase quality. Basic education should have a positive impact on the quality of life and on poverty, but the goals do not specify the underlying purposes of education.
• The UNLD situates itself within the EFA movement, where literacy is a thread running through all the six goals and a condition for their attainment. Literacy is a key instrument of learning and must be part of all forms and stages of education. In some respects, the UNLD goes beyond education, by demonstrating strategic links to other aspects of life–learning and using literacy has an impact on mother and child health, on fertility rates, on income levels, as well as increasing self confidence, initiative, participatory citizenship and cultural self–esteem.

What is the place of the DESD in relation to these significant international initiatives? Education for sustainable development is a vision of education that seeks to balance human and economic well–being with cultural traditions and respect for the Earth’s natural resources.

ESD emphasizes aspects of learning that enhance the transition towards sustainability including future education; citizenship education; education for a culture of peace; gender equality and respect for human rights; health education; population education; education for protecting and managing natural resources; and education for sustainable consumption.

Pursuing sustainable development through education requires educators and learners to reflect critically on their own communities.

What sets DESD apart from EFA and UNLD is that EFA and UNLD, by virtue of their mission to ensure the right to education for all, address the needs of all learners — in particular those who are excluded from quality basic education — whereas DESD addresses the relevance and necessity of education for sustainable development for all, whether they are within or outside of planned learning activities.