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The negotiations
for the Fifth Ministerial “Environment
for Europe” Conference, which took place
in Kiev in 2003, saw the emergency of a UNECE
initiative on education for sustainable development.
At the Conference, Ministers gave the green
light to draw up a regional Strategy for Education
for Sustainable Development.
It was a challenging
exercise for everybody. Both education and sustainable
development are complex issues. Therefore, it
was crucially important to develop the Strategy
through a participatory process involving governments,
UNESCO, NGOs and other stakeholders. Environment
and education ministries cooperated closely
in the drafting process Noting the political,
economic and social diversity in the region,
the text of the Strategy had to be made flexible
enough, so that its implementation could be
adapted to each country’s priorities,
specific needs and circumstances.
In the Lithuanian
capital Vilnius, less than two years after the
Kiev Conference, Ministers and other officials
from Education and Environment Ministries from
right across the ECE region adopted the Strategy
at their joint Hih-Level
meeting. Various stakeholders, including
international organisations, business, non-governmental
organisations, regional environmental centres
and research institutions took part in the meeting
and provided valuable contributions. The Meeting
also launched the United Nations Decade for
Education for Sustainable Development in the
region.
The objective
of the Strategy is to incorporate key themes
of sustainable development in all education
systems. These themes include a wide range of
issues: poverty alleviation, peace, ethics,
democracy, justice, security, human rights,
health, social equity, cultural diversity, economy,
environmental protection, natural resource management.
The next milestone
in the process is the implementation of the
Strategy. Countries agreed to develop indicators
to assess the implementation, organise thematic
and sub-regional workshops and compile good
practices in education for sustainable development.
To learn more
about the background to the process, read this
text
or listen to video
presentation.
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