[Index]
PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT THROUGH EDUCATION
Geneva, 8 March 2005 - The United
Nations Economic Commission for Europe
(UNECE) is due to launch its regional
Strategy for Education for Sustainable
Development in the Lithuanian capital,
Vilnius, on 17-18 March 2005. The Strategy
is intended to serve as a practical instrument
to promote sustainable development through
education.
The objective of the
Strategy is to incorporate key themes
of sustainable development – e.g.
poverty alleviation, peace, ethics, democracy,
justice, security, human rights, health,
social equity, cultural diversity, economy,
production and consumption, environmental
protection, natural resource management,
and biological and landscape diversity
– in all education systems. The
approach is two-pronged: integrating these
themes into all relevant subjects and
programmes, on the one hand, and providing
specific sustainable development subjects
and programmes, on the other.
The Strategy provides
a flexible framework that each country
can adapt to its own priorities, specific
needs and circumstances. It addresses
a wide range of issues, including curricula,
teaching materials, the skills of educators,
and inter-departmental and cross-sectoral
cooperation. The importance of the public’s
awareness and understanding of sustainability
and the special role of the media in this
are also highlighted.
The Strategy is the result
of a decision by UNECE Environment Ministers
at their “Environment for Europe”
Conference in Kiev in May 2003. It was
developed under joint Swedish and Russian
leadership through a participatory process
involving representatives from both the
environment and the education sectors,
as well as the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),
NGOs and other stakeholders. It is also
a substantive contribution to the United
Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development (2005-2015), proclaimed by
the United Nations General Assembly at
its fifty-seventh session (December 2002).
The High-level Meeting
of Environment and Education Ministries
in Vilnius will be hosted by the Lithuanian
Ministers of Environment and of Education
and Science. Twenty-three of their counterparts
will attend, as will nearly 200 other
delegates from 42 UNECE countries. It
is expected that the Meeting will adopt
the UNECE Strategy and decide how to implement
it. In coordination with UNESCO, the Meeting
will also launch the UN Decade of Education
for Sustainable Development in the UNECE
region.
For more information about the Meeting
or the Strategy, please contact:
Ella Behlyarova
UNECE Environment and Human Settlements
Division
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: 00 41 22 917 23 76
Fax: 00 41 22 917 01 07
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.unece.org/env/esd/HLmeetMarchl2005.htm
Ref. ECE/ENV/05/P03