1. The Role of Education in the Pursuit of a Sustainable Future
Charles Hopkins
UNESCO and UNU Chairs, York University
Presented by Pamela Schwartzberg
Executive Director
Learning for a Sustainable Future

2. What is Sustainable Development
Global Change (environment)
Globalization (economic)
Human Development (social/culture)
Sustainable Development
Plus concepts of:
intergenerational responsibility
Need verses greed / equity
Social justice, etc.

3. Many Questions
Sustaining what?
For whom?

4. “Education is a key and vital element in moving sustainability forward…” Report of the UN Sec. General
Agenda 21(Rio)
Millennium Goals
Earth Charter
UN Commission for Sustainable
Development (CSD)
WSSD (Johannesburg)

5. The 4 Major Thrusts of ESD
1 Public awareness and understanding
2 Access to quality basic education
3 Reorienting existing education
4 Training programs for all sectors
Agenda , UNESCO-96, UNCSD -98, JPOI-2002

6. Sustainable Consumption
Public awareness and understanding The Power of SD Remains Dormant Locked in Isolated Issues
Clean Air
AIDS Prevention
Equity
Climate Change
Sustainable Development
Peace
Sustainable Consumption
Poverty Eradication
Bio-diversity
Population Growth

7. Northern Issues Sustainable production and consumption
0.5 trillion in advertising
50% targeted at USA
Working with “others”
Developing global citizenship
Redistribution of wealth and power
Improving democracy

8. 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

9. 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

10. Northern 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

11. 3. Reorienting formal education includes addressing
Values
Principles
Perspectives
Knowledge
Skills
Buildings
Program
Practices and Actions
What we value and evaluate

12. Strengths Model: A Starting Point
No single discipline/group/teacher can do it all
Every discipline/group/teacher can contribute something
Some can take lead roles in reorientation

13. 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.

14. www.esdtoolkit.org www.earthcharter.org www.unesco.org/education/tlsf
2 Key Websites