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Workshop: Decade of Environmental Learning & Education for a Sustainable Future

At the NGO People's Forum held as part of the preparations for the Johannesburg Summit, JFJ (Environmental Education Subcommittee) hosted a workshop promoting dialogue between government representatives and NGOs from various countries on the subject of the decade of education for sustainable future.

DATE: June 2, 2002 Sunday
TIME: 9:00a.am~1:00p.m. (6:00p.m~7:00p.m.)
PLACE: Grand Hyatt Hotel, Ballroom 2 (Singaria #2)

Participants: approximately 45
NGO staff (Environmental education concerned)
International organization (UNESCO)

This workshop was held during the WSSD PrepCom IV to call for support among national governments and NGOs for the proposal for a "UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Future" which was put into the Chairman's text during the preparation for the WSSD.

The First Session: PRESENTATION

First of all, Mr. Andras Szöllösi-Nagy, Deputy Assistant Director-General for Natural Science, Coordinator of Environmental Programme, gave the keynote speech on UNESCO's efforts for environmental education. He divided the history of UNESCO's projects into four stages to describe the development of environmental education, the first stage starting in the 1960s. Concerned about environmental education, he pointed out that the field of science preceded the field of education. He stressed the disconnection between science and education as the issue we must tackle. Since Rio in 1992, the disconnection has not yet been solved, and UNESCO faces such difficulties as follows:

  • After the Rio summit, more effort was put into the field of natural sciences related to sustainable development, and the social sciences were left behind.
  • The knowledge of science for sustainable development is not applied to practices in education (especially primary education).

Again, he emphasized the need for integration between science and education, and for that achievement the participation of various stakeholders (governments, NGOs, professional educators and so forth) is essential and it must be holistically designed. He believes UNESCO, is the appropriate actor to organize this partnership. He expects the outcome of the Summit to be followed by the next 4 principles.

  1. Holistic approach (The origin of the problem lies in social issues and not scientific issues, and diversity in society and economy must be maintained)
  2. Bottom-up arrangement (partnership between educators, NGOs, government, UNESCO and so forth)
  3. Approach in a way to ensure that impacts are made (emphasis on process)
  4. Confidence to succeed

Based on these interests, UNESCO is making an encyclopedia to contribute to the efforts of various stakeholders developing teaching materials for environmental education. In the end, he expressed his support and high expectations for the "UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Future.


Mr. Tai Harada of Japan Forum for Johannesburg explained the aim of the proposal for the ¡ÈDecade of Education for Sustainable Future" and the agenda for the Workshop. The word "Future" includes the concepts of dreams and action toward a sustainable future, and the purpose of the proposal is to propose actions and methods to achieve a sustainable future. For this aim, we must share experiences from and reflections upon past educational programs. The planning of the Environmental Education program will be based upon two processes that proceed. The key term is the process of ¡Èsharing." This process should be characterized by a holistic approach, which includes: concept, institution, program and resources.

The partnership between the Japanese Government and other stakeholders in Japan is now in progress. At the same time, however, an international network is also required. In the workshop, we intended to raise the understanding and support among participants from each country for the proposal for the ¡ÈUN Decade of Education for a Sustainable Future." The discussion session to actually go through the process of ¡Èsharing" from a holistic approach is summarized below, and it can be said that this itself was part of a participatory process for education for a sustainable future.

A dialogue between the Japanese Government and Japan Forum on Johannesburg is scheduled for June 5th, and an International Symposium in Tokyo is to be held on July 13. The outline of the expected schedule from now is as follows: WSSD will be in August 2002, UN General Assembly is in 2004, and if approved, the ¡ÈUN Decade of Education for Sustainable Future" will start from 2005.
Mr. Harada concluded by appealing to participants to join the preparatory process of international communication and networking.


Mr. Osamu Abe, professor of Rikkyo University and the Project Leader of the environmental education project of IGES introduced the organization which provides environmental education programs in the Asia-Pacific Region. Furthermore, he explained the difficulties and problems of the environmental education programs in that region and introduced an agenda for action.


Mr. Ery Damayanti of the International Marinelife Alliance (IMA) presented the problems in the Indonesian Education Sector. In her presentation, she emphasized that the standardized curriculum by the central government is not effective to respond to the variety of the cultures, natural resources, needs, opportunities, potentials and so forth.


Last, Mr. N. M. Ruliady of the Green Indonesia Club introduced the case study of the Pendidikan Program. The program provides training for teachers and encourages planning environmental education programs based on the context of their own regions. The program aims for capacity building of teachers and methods of learning-by-doing is emphasized.

The Second Session: Discussion

Participants were divided into three discussion groups. The discussion points were as follows:

  1. Sharing of experiences from environmental education programs
    2. Problems that we confronted in the implementation and promotion of environmental education programs
  2. Roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder to solve the problems above

Participants developed a common understanding of the following points during the discussion:

Issues and problems in the implementation and promotion of environmental education

  • Identifying successful cases and sharing their experiences
  • Lack of understanding and awareness among teachers of environmental perspectives
  • Inappropriate curriculum
  • Needs for public support (media, parents, networks, information, resources and so on)
  • Importance of a holistic approach (to Environment, Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery, life etc.)

Measures to be implemented by each stakeholder for problem solving

  • Capacity building of teachers (knowledge, consciousness and action)
  • Integrated approach between environmental education and other fields
  • Establishment of an informal sharing network
  • Support from the funding agencies
  • International pressure (Enforcement of environmental education in the school curriculum)

Action process toward 2005 "UN decade of Education for sustainable future"

June Conference in Bali Sharing of the content and preparation toward network building Preparation for the mechanism building in Japan(Foundation of prep organization)
July 13th International Symposium (Establishment of international network)August Johannesburg Summit Establishment of organization for implementation

Action needed by year 2004 - UN general assembly

  • Foundation of platform in Japan (NGO, government, academic society)
  • Lobby toward Japanese government, international governments, international organizations, and NGOs in each country)
  • Concrete project plan and proposal to related organizations
  • Cooperation and collaboration with international networks
  • Establishment of a network organization in Asia-Pacific region
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