Further information

What is sustainable development?

Sustainable development takes into account social (such as health, education and rights) and economic as well as environmental factors.  It incorporates the concepts of both intragenerational equity (providing for the needs of the least advantaged now) and intergenerational equity (fair treatment of future generations). Read more…

What does it mean to integrate sustainable development in education?

“Unlike education about the environment, which is focused on preserving natural resources, sustainable development is centred on man,” says Claude Villeneuve, director of the ecoconsultancy chair at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi (Canada). And it is humankind, being asked to change its behaviour, that is at the heart of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014).

“It is less about a prescribed body of knowledge and more about concrete exploration of issues. Education for sustainable development needs to be related to the learner’s needs and to engage with ‘real world’ issues,” says Stephen Sterling, an independent British consultant on education related to environmental issues and sustainable development. “It is important to ‘start from where the people are at’ in order to establish the issue’s personal relevance. Then we can help people expand their perspective.”

The aim therefore is not to create an abstract concept but rather to cultivate a form of good citizenship applied to our everyday behaviour. Anyone can do this, for example, by opting for seasonal produce. A strawberry imported by plane and purchased in France in March consumes 24 times more energy than the same fruit bought in June and grown locally. When you find out that the annual consumption of paper in offices is 75 kilograms per person, in other words the equivalent of one tree, it can also help encourage people to be less wasteful.
“Sustainable development begins at home. You have to realize that everything you do counts,” stresses Villeneuve. It is then up to society’s other actors to follow through.

“Changing attitudes is important and education can help,” says Clayton White, “but we must also work to create the social, economic and political institutions that will make sustainable development a reality.”

These extracts are reprinted from UNESCO’s Courier for May 2005:

The four priority axes of action for the DESD aim to:

• Promote basic education: It will not be enough to reinforce literacy and numeracy to make significant progress in sustainable development. Efforts must also have impact on the content and methods of education and its adaptation to the cultural context. Basic education must also encourage and support people’s involvement in community life and decision-making.

• Reorient and revise education programs: Programs must be restructured from nursery school to university to include explicitly the study and comprehension of problems linked to the social, economic, environmental and cultural sustainability of our planet, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches.

• Develop public understanding and awareness: While the concept of sustainable development is now familiar in institutional, academic and specialized milieus, it still needs to be spread at the grass-roots level. All sectors of society must be targeted.

• Provide practical training: All trained, informed people can play an active role: this is a basic precept of sustainable development. Specific training must be provided through scientific and technological education, but also with the help of partners in the world of work, particularly in business and industry.