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What is the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development(DESD)?

The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) is a United Nations campaign designed to encourage governments around the world to actively promote the kinds of initiatives and international cooperation in the area of education that are required to realize sustainable development. The DESD was proposed jointly by the Japanese government and Japanese NGOs at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002, and the decision to implement it made at the 57th session of the UN General Assembly held in December the same year.

At the 59th session of the UN General Assembly held in 2004, UNESCO, the DESD lead agency, presented the Draft International Implementation Scheme for the DESD (IIS). This draft scheme identified the following five objectives for the DESD.

  1. Give an enhanced profile to the central role of education and learning in the common pursuit of sustainable development.
  2. Facilitate links and networking, exchange and interaction among stakeholders in ESD.
  3. Provide a space and opportunity for refining and promoting the vision of, and transition to sustainable development - through all forms of learning and public awareness.
  4. Foster increased quality of teaching and learning in education for sustainable development.
  5. Develop strategies at every level to strengthen capacity in ESD.

(UNESCO DESD Draft International Implementation Scheme (IIS), p.4)

What is ESD?

Our current unsustainable society

Living in modern-day society, we are faced with a plethora of mutually interconnected issues, including environmental problems such as global warming and acid rain, social problems such as human rights violations and cross-cultural conflict, and economic problems such as the gap between the rich and the poor.
In particular, "development", which traditionally has promoted mass-production/, and mass-consumption, is triggering a range of serious problems not only leading to the deterioration of our environment by generating refuse and pollution and disturbing the balance of the natural world through the exploitation of the earth's resources, but also contributing to the destruction of local communities and an increase in poverty in certain parts of the world.

Sustainable development

In order to solve the various problems we face and build the kind of society where everyone, including future generations, can live with a sense of security, we need to pursue a new kind of "development" in which the emphasis is on ensuring social justice and protecting the natural environment. The realization of what has come to be known as "sustainable development" is an urgent task facing the whole of humanity.

"Sustainable development" guarantees a democratic social system in which everyone is able to participate and an economic system that takes into account any impact on society and the environment, and respects the uniqueness of individual cultures. At the same time, it creates a just and plentiful future by protecting human rights, building peace, fostering understanding between different cultures, promoting health, conserving natural resources, preventing disasters, reducing poverty, and encouraging corporate responsibility.

Education for sustainable development = ESD

In order to realize through sustainable development a future in which we can all live with a greater sense of security, each and every one of us must cooperate and combine forces in an effort to solve the plethora of problems we face. ESD refers to education that empowers people for tackling these problems that lie between us and such a future.
ESD is education that we all need to become involved in, not just at school, but in our regions, communities, and every other imaginable situation. As well, above all, it is vital that ESD is carried out in a way that suits the actual circumstances of each community or individual. Various forms of ESD are already being implemented in a range of locations both in Japan and overseas. We are all capable of playing a leading role in building a better future, and so it is up to us to ensure that even better forms of ESD continue to spread around the world and that sustainable development becomes a reality.

The essence of ESD

ESD is not limited to new initiatives. In Japan and overseas, various forms of ESD are already being implemented. The comprehensive community development schemes being promoted up and down the country that deal with such issues as the environment, welfare and health, and the Iintegrated Sstudies programs being promoted jointly by schools and local communities are typical examples of ESD being put into practice in Japan. As well, various examples of learning in relation to social problems are already underway in fields such as environmental education, development education, multicultural education, welfare education, human rights education, peace education and gender education, and also in international cooperation projects overseas. All of these educational and learning activities are linked by similar "fostered abilities" in the form of a multifaceted outlook and sound communication skills, similar "learning methods" in the form of participatory learning and consensus building, and similar "values" in the form of respect for all. It is these common objectives, methods, and values that are the essence of ESD.

Key Roles of ESD (IIS, p. 15)
1.
 Education must inspire the belief that each of us has both the power and the responsibility to effect positive change on a global scale.
2.
 Education is the primary agent of transformation towards sustainable development, increasing people's capacities to transform their visions for society into reality.
3.
 Education fosters the values, behaviour and lifestyles required for a sustainable future.
4.
 Education for sustainable development is a process of learning how to make decisions that consider the long-term future of the equity, economy and ecology of all communities.
5.
 Education builds the capacity for such futures-oriented thinking.
Underlying Values of ESD (IIS, p. 14)
1.
 Respect for the dignity and human rights of all people throughout the world and a commitment to social and economic justice for all;
2.
 Respect for the human rights of future generations and a commitment to intergenerational responsibility;
3.
 Respect and care for the greater community of life in all its diversity which involves the protection and restoration of the Earth's ecosystems;
4.
 Respect for cultural diversity and a commitment to build locally and globally a culture of tolerance, non-violence and peace.
Key Characteristics of ESD (IIS, p. 16)
1.
 Interdisciplinary and holistic: learning for sustainable development embedded in the whole curriculum, not as a separate subject;
2.
 Values-driven: it is critical that the assumed norms - the shared values and principles underpinning sustainable development - are made explicit so that that can be examined, debated, tested and applied;
3.
 Critical thinking and problem solving: leading to confidence in addressing the dilemmas and challenges of sustainable development;
4.
 Multi-method: word, art, drama, debate, experience, ... different pedagogies which model the processes. Teaching that is geared simply to passing on knowledge should be recast into an approach in which teachers and learners work together to acquire knowledge and play a role in shaping the environment of their educational institutions;
5.
 Participatory decision-making: learners participate in decisions on how they are to learn;
6.
 Locally relevant: addressing local as well as global issues, and using the language(s) which learners most commonly use. Concepts of sustainable development must be carefully expressed in other languages - languages and cultures say things differently, and each language has creative ways of expressing new concepts.
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