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UNDESD 2005-2014 Five years ago the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development was launched. Since then the decade has been promoting and advancing the whole sustainability debate, the educational debate and the relation between the two, as keystones for the human future. Under the guidance of UNESCO the decade has so far explored the fertile edges between environment and development, education and activism, values and behavior, culture and natural ecology. Discussions on what exactly is needed for sustainable development and what sort of education is required have taken place worldwide. One of the main outcomes was the cross-cultural recognition that the barriers to a graceful transition to sustainability, whatever form it may take, are not so much technological as they are social, political, and educational. If the first five years were about discussion and investigation, the second half of the decade is about skills in action and behavioral change. Today any well-informed high school student could make a long list of ways in which humankind is causing its own demise. Gaining awareness of the extent of sustainability problems is only half the project of becoming educated these days. The second half is about appropriate skills to foster the regeneration of natural capital of soils, forests, watersheds and wild areas. It is about learning the social skills to restore broken communities and to create new communities that are working models of viability. It is about integrated design skills, which promote sustainable urban planning within the carrying capacity of our planet's resources. It is about relearning the practices of good farming; and learning the science of powering civilization on efficient and renewable energies, while creating long-term economic, political, and moral arrangements that secure the wellbeing of present and future generations. The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development represents a vehicle for people, organizations and communities to work together on realizing our highest sustainable dreams. UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014)
In December 2002, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 57/254 to put in place a United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), spanning from 2005 to 2014, and designated UNESCO to lead the Decade. The founding value of ESD is respect: respect for others, respect in the present and for future generations, respect for the planet and what it provides to us (resources, fauna and flora). ESD wants to challenge us all to adopt new behaviors and practices to secure our future. The DESD breaks down the traditional educational scheme and promotes: Interdisciplinary and holistic learning rather than subject-based learning Values-based learning Critical thinking rather than memorizing Multi-method approaches: word, art, drama, debate, etc. Participatory decision-making Locally relevant information, rather than national The DESD aims at changing the approach to education so that is integrates the principles, values and practices of sustainable development. Its primary goal is to: “encourage Governments to consider the inclusion[…] of measures to implement the Decade in their respective education systems[…] and national development plans.” (United Nations General Assembly resolution 59/237) The Decade’s goals can be broken down into four key objectives: Facilitating networking, and collaboration among stakeholders in ESD; |
