The Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) 2005–2014 was an

Education for Sustainable Development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The desir ...

(ESD) initiative of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

. The Decade was delivered by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international coope ...

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 Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The ...

. It was the first UN Decade to establish a global monitoring and evaluation process and expert group. Building on the achievement of the Decade, stated in the Aichi-Nagoya Declaration on ESD,

endorsed the Global Action Programme on ESD (GAP) in the 37th session of its General Conference. Acknowledged by

UN general assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

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 Informal education is a general term for education that can occur outside of a structured curriculum. Informal education encompasses student interests within a curriculum in a regular classroom, but is not limited to that setting. It works through ...

. International recognition of ESD as the key enabler for sustainable development is growing steadily. The role of ESD was recognized in three major UN summits on sustainable development: the 1992

UN Conference on Environment and Development The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Conference or the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92), was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to June 14, 1992. Earth Su ...

(UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa; and the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) in Rio de Janeiro. Other key global agreements such as the

Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement (french: Accord de Paris), often referred to as the Paris Accords or the Paris Climate Accords, is an international treaty on climate change. Adopted in 2015, the agreement covers climate change mitigation, adaptation, and ...

(Article 12) also recognize the importance of ESD. Today, ESD is arguably at the heart of the

2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked objectives designed to serve as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future".United Nations (2017) R ...

and its 17

Sustainable Development Goals The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked objectives designed to serve as a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future".United Nations (2017) R ...

(SDGs) (United Nations, 2015). The SDGs recognize that all countries must stimulate action in the following key areas – people,

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

, prosperity,

peace Peace is a concept of societal friendship and harmony in the absence of hostility and violence. In a social sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (such as war) and freedom from fear of violence between individuals or groups. ...

and partnership – to tackle the global challenges that are crucial for the survival of humanity. Some of these SDGs include ensuring affordable and clean energy, providing clean water and sanitation, and partnership for these goals. ESD is explicitly mentioned in Target 4.7 of SDG4, which aims to ensure that all

learners ''Learners'' is a British comedy drama television film starring David Tennant and Jessica Hynes. The film was announced by the BBC on 3 April 2007 and was broadcast on 11 November 2007. The DVD was released on 12 November 2007. Synopsis The film ...

acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development and is understood as an important means to achieve all the other 16 SDGs. Additionally, SDG17 focuses on strengthening the means of implementation and revitalization of global partnership for sustainable development.

About the Decade

Based on proposals by Japan and Sweden, the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

, at its 57th Session in December 2002, adopted Resolution 57/254 to start the DESD, following the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, which emphasised that education is an indispensable element for achieving sustainable development. UNESCO was designated as lead agency for the Decade and developed a draft International Implementation Scheme for the DESD. Along with the

Millennium Development Goals The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 that had been established following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations in 2000, following the adoption of the United Nations Millenn ...

(MDGs) process, the

Education For All The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

(EFA) movement, and the

United Nations Literacy Decade UNESCO leads the United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD) under the slogan of "Literacy as Freedom". Launched at UN Headquarters in 2003, the Decade aims to increase literacy levels and empower all people everywhere. In declaring this Decade, the in ...

(UNLD), the DESD also aimed to achieve an improvement in the

quality of life Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...

, particularly for the most deprived and marginalised, fulfillment of

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

including

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...

poverty reduction Poverty reduction, poverty relief, or poverty alleviation, is a set of measures, both economic and humanitarian, that are intended to permanently lift people out of poverty. Measures, like those promoted by Henry George in his economics ...

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...

and

active citizenship Active citizenship or engaged citizenship refers to active participation of a citizen under the law of a nation discussing and educating themselves in politics and society, as well as a philosophy espoused by organizations and educational insti ...

. Whereas the MDGs provide a set of tangible and measurable development goals within which education is a significant input and indicator; EFA focuses on ways of providing educational opportunities to everyone; and the UNLD concentrates on promoting the key learning tool for all forms of structured learning, DESD was concerned particularly with the content and purpose of education. In concept and design, ESD challenges all forms of educational provision to adopt practices and approaches which foster the values of sustainable development. In response to the DESD, the

United Nations University The (UNU) is the think tank and academic arm of the United Nations. Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, with diplomatic status as a UN institution, its mission is to help resolve global issues related to human development and welfare thr ...

(UNU) called for the development of networks for the promotion of ESD, as well as being expertise centres for the research development of ESD. This was the birth of Regional Centres of Expertise (RCE) supporting education for sustainable development. Dr. Betsy Boze was instrumental in drafting and approval of the

International Association of Universities The International Association of Universities (IAU) is a membership-led non-governmental organization working in the field of higher education. It comprises more than 600 higher education institutions and organizations in over 130 countries. IAU ...

"Iquitos statement on Higher

." The

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on ...

(UNEP) has facilitated the establishment of the Global Universities Partnership on Environment and Sustainability (GUPES) in 2012 as a flagship contribution to the UN DESD. The focus of GUPES is around three pillars: Education, Training and Network, and is based on the experience and scaling up of the successful Mainstreaming Environment and Sustainability in African Universities (MESA) project.MESA
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References

External links

Decade of Education for Sustainable Development at UNESCO
- Decade of Education for Sustainable Development portal. {{Authority control International sustainability organizations Education for Sustainable Development, United Nations Decade of

About the Decade

See also

References

External links