Economic and Social Council

 Distr. GENERAL
27 June 1996
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH

COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Fifth session
7-25 April 1997


            Overall progress achieved since the United Nations
                 Conference on Environment and Development

                      Report of the Secretary-General

                                 Addendum

           Promoting education, public awareness and training *

                         (Chapter 36 of Agenda 21)

(*  The present report was prepared by the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as task manger for chapter 36
of Agenda 21, in accordance with arrangements agreed to by the Inter-Agency
Committee on Sustainable Development (IACSD).  It is the result of
consultation and information exchange between United Nations agencies,
international and national organizations, interested government agencies and a
range of other institutions, individuals and major group representatives.)


                                 CONTENTS

                                                        Paragraphs   Page

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 - 3     2

  I. KEY OBJECTIVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4 - 5     2

 II. REPORTING AND ANALYSING SUCCESSES  . . . . . . . . .  6 - 13    3

III. PROMISING CHANGES  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 - 26    5

 IV. UNFULFILLED EXPECTATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 - 33    8

  V. EMERGING PRIORITIES  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 - 37    9

                               INTRODUCTION


1.   The present report reviews progress made in the implementation of
chapter 36 of Agenda 21 (Promoting education, public awareness and
training), 1/ taking into account the decisions taken by the Commission on
Sustainable Development on this subject in 1996 at its fourth session.

2.   Chapter 36 is a cross-sectoral chapter of Agenda 21.  Since 1992, this
chapter has continued to enjoy unanimous support from Governments, major
groups and the educational community of both developed and developing
countries, as it had in Rio.  Education is considered indispensable for
sustainable development and for increasing the capacity of people to address
environment and development issues.  The implementation of chapter 36 is
therefore seen to influence progress in the implementation of all the other
chapters of Agenda 21.  

3.   Recommendations concerning education also appear in each of the action
plans of the major United Nations conferences held after the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development as well as in the three conventions
(on biodiversity, climate change and desertification).  For this reason,
education can be seen as the cornerstone of sustainable development in all its
dimensions.  Science education can be considered to be a major component of
environmental education and education for sustainable development.  Further
reference to the importance of enhancing science education is to be found in
the report of the Secretary-General on chapter 35 of Agenda 21 (Science for
sustainable development) (E/CN.17/1997/2/Add.25).


                            I.  KEY OBJECTIVES

4.   Guided by the priorities and programme areas identified in chapter 36 of
Agenda 21, and reconfirmed by the Commission on Sustainable Development at its
fourth session in 1996, three main objectives need to be addressed:

     (a)   To reorient education towards sustainable development through
reform of education as a whole rather than through adjustment or adding on of
separate new components to existing curricula;

     (b)   To increase public awareness as public support and action are
increasingly seen as the key to change;

     (c)   To promote training in order to ensure the necessary competence
and human resources for planning and implementing sustainable development in
sectors of human activity.

5.   The last objective, training, is dealt with in this report only in so
far as it concerns action in regard to the first two objectives.  The wider
issue of higher education is addressed in the report of the Secretary-General
on chapter 35.  Other areas of training are dealt with in the report on
chapter 37 (E/CN.17/1997/2/Add.27) as well as in all reports concerning the
implementation of the different topical chapters of Agenda 21.


                  II.  REPORTING AND ANALYSING SUCCESSES

6.   The five years since the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development have witnessed significant progress in each of the broad programme
areas of chapter 36.  The rapid expansion of access to communication
technologies, the development of new technologies, the increasing impact of
the mass media, globalization and the evolution of the "information society"
have all impacted on the concerns of chapter 36.  Progress has also been made
in basic education, which remains a priority for many countries of the world,
linked to the overall effort to combat poverty.

7.   While many individual examples could be cited, emphasis is placed in
this report on the single most important success since the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development:  the decision by the Commission on
Sustainable Development at its fourth session to initiate a special work
programme on chapter 36. 2/  This decision has served to:

     (a)   Raise visibility on a subject that, while recognized as essential
by all, is often overlooked for lack of controversy or funding;

     (b)   Demonstrate that Governments understand that education is a
fundamental priority and one needing special impetus in the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development follow-up;

     (c)   Clarify the strategic priorities for action in the vast scope of
the chapter;

     (d)   Galvanize the key actors within a common framework for priority
action.

8.   An inter-sessional workshop on the theme "Education and public awareness
for sustainable development" (Prague, November/December 1995), organized by
the Czech Republic in cooperation with the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Department for Policy
Coordination and Sustainable Development of the United Nations Secretariat,
provided key input into the development of this work programme.

9.   The vision of education inscribed in chapter 36 has been reaffirmed,
broadened and deepened within the new international consensus and framework
for action emerging from the series of international conferences organized by
the United Nations after the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development.  Explicit recommendations concerning "education, public awareness
and training" appear in the action plans for each of the conferences, as well
as in the Convention on Biological Diversity, 3/ the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change 4/ and the United Nations Convention
to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought
and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa. 5/  An important
development since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
has been, therefore, the consistent importance given to education and the
concomitant need to integrate the implementation of chapter 36 with the
implementation of analogous recommendations within the other action
frameworks.  This integrated approach was emphasized by the Commission on
Sustainable Development at its fourth session during its review of chapter 36
and is reflected in the work programme.

10.  Within the United Nations system, the integrated follow-up to the major
conferences is being pursued in part through the convening under the
Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) of three inter-agency task
forces.  Of particular relevance to chapter 36 is the inter-agency Task Force
on Basic Social Services for All, within which there is a working group on
basic education chaired by UNESCO.  The work of this task force will culminate
in the identification of indicators, in order to facilitate integration at
national level in both thematic and operational terms, as well as new
guidelines for United Nations resident coordinators to ensure improved help
from the United Nations system in this respect. 

11.  Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, a
number of events and studies have taken place that provide an overview and
evaluation of the status of environmental and development education. 
Particular attention is drawn to the International Commission on Education for
the Twenty-first Century, chaired by Jacques Delors and established by UNESCO.

In its report on education for the twenty-first century, 6/ submitted to
the General Conference of UNESCO in 1995, the Commission formulated
recommendations for enhancing and reviewing education, as well as for reform
of the formal education system.  The work of the International Commission
incorporated education for sustainable development and therefore provided the
broad context for implementation of chapter 36. 

12.  At national level, a number of countries have included education, public
awareness and training in national strategies or plans for sustainable
development.  During this planning process, interested parties and potential
actors from different sectors of society have been mobilized.  Certain
countries are now moving towards reviewing school curricula or otherwise
taking concrete action.  In many countries, the development of education for
sustainable development coincides with overall reform of formal educational
systems.

13.  National policies and strategies have been spurred by regional meetings
including some organized by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and UNESCO and
agreements at intergovernmental or expert level which have reiterated the
importance of, and recommended action concerning, education for sustainable
development.  Those meetings include:

     (a)   The Seventh Conference of Ministers of Education of Latin America
and the Caribbean, Kingston, Jamaica, 13-17 May 1996;

     (b)   The Mid-decade Meeting of the International Consultative Forum on
Education for All, Amman, 16-19 June 1996;

     (c)   The International Conference on Education, forty-fifth session,
Geneva, 30 September-5 October 1996;

     (d)   The Summit of the Americas on Sustainable Development, Santa Cruz
de la Sierra, Bolivia, December 1996;

     (e)   Preparations for the Fifth International Conference on Adult
Education (CONFINTEA V), Hamburg, 14-18 July 1997.


                          III.  PROMISING CHANGES

14.  Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development,
there has been a significant evolution - both conceptual and operational -
with regard to education, public awareness and training, which are
increasingly being called "education for sustainable development".

15.  Since 1992, the process of rethinking education and public awareness has
accelerated, spurred by other major United Nations conferences on sustainable
development, and by the experience acquired by Governments, business and
industry as they begin to further changes towards sustainability.  Experience
since Rio has reinforced the conviction that sustainable development cannot be
achieved without public understanding, support and action.  Education is
understood, more than ever, as necessary to support advances in nearly all
sectors, including production, technology, population, advancement of women,
management of human settlements, health, peace and security.  The view that
chapter 36 is relevant to the implementation of all other chapters of Agenda
21 is thus even stronger today than it was in 1992.

16.  In this new vision, education is seen no longer as an end in itself, but
as a means to:

     (a)   Effect the changes in values, behaviour and lifestyles that are
needed to achieve sustainable development, and ultimately democracy, human
security and peace;

     (b)   Disseminate the knowledge, know-how and skills that are needed to
bring about sustainable production and consumption patterns and to improve the
management of natural resources, agriculture, energy and industrial
production;

     (c)   Ensure an informed public that is prepared to support changes
towards sustainability emerging from different sectors.

17.  The implications of this new vision of education for formal education
systems are major, and coincide with a broad rethinking within many countries
of formal education systems that are no longer considered adequate to meeting
the needs of society and the workplace.  Traditionally, education has been
designed largely to pass on existing knowledge, skills and values.  Today,
education is being redesigned in terms of how to prepare people for life:  for
job security; for the demands of a rapidly changing society; for technological
changes that now directly or indirectly affect every part of life; and,
ultimately, for the quest for happiness, well-being and quality of life. 
Education is being redefined as a lifelong process that needs to be not merely
readjusted but restructured and reformed according to new requirements.  One
of the requirements for the future is that of sustainability, an overarching
concept that has broad implications for curricula at all levels of education.

18.   Much progress is being made, particularly within the last year, in
clarifying the concept and key messages of the still emerging notion of
"education for sustainable development", not least of which is the recognition
that there is an urgent need to develop a new conceptual framework for action.

19.  Within the new work programme on chapter 36, the Commission on
Sustainable Development has asked that the concept and key messages be
clarified.  To this end, UNESCO, as task manager, has begun a process of
consultation with educators, during which the initial concept is being tested
and refined with the professional community.  At the annual meeting of the
North American Association for Environmental Education (San Francisco,
November 1996), professionals from over 50 countries were engaged in this
dialogue.  Similarly, at the Second Scientific Forum on Environment of the
Association of Universities Group Montevideo (AUGM), specialists from 27
universities in Latin America were consulted.  Analogous events will take
place in 1997 in the Asian region, as well as in Europe.  UNESCO is also
working towards the organization in 1997 of an international meeting on
education for sustainable development to be held possibly in Greece, 20 years
after the landmark Tbilisi conference which set the basic guidelines for the
development of environmental education.  The meeting in Greece should be an
important step in building consensus on the concept and key messages of
education for sustainable development.

20.  Within UNESCO, new arrangements were set in place immediately after the
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and in anticipation
of the other conferences to be held, in order to mobilize UNESCOžs resources
to follow up the conferences in terms of education and information.  A new
transdisciplinary and inter-agency cooperation project on "Environment and
population, education and information for development (EPD)" was launched in
1994.  Initiatives are also being taken, both by UNESCO and by individual
countries, with respect to teacher training.  A short course will be made
available on video in 1997, to be tested and refined at an international
workshop to be held in Vancouver, Canada, in August 1997.  This meeting will
also be used as a forum to consolidate an international network of teacher
training institutions that is being developed under the aegis of UNESCO to
draft guidelines for reorienting teacher training towards sustainable
development at primary and secondary levels.

21.  New curricula and teaching materials are being developed.  The World
Health Organization (WHO) has produced a textbook and teaching kit on basic
environmental health for university level.  The Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is developing agro-ecological
curriculum materials.  The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements
(Habitat) is using a 13-volume series entitled "Training for Local Leadership"
targeted to local civic leaders.

22.  Building on the experience of the former joint UNESCO-United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) International Environmental Education Programme
(IEEP) which came to an end in 1995, the United Nations system and other
international organizations with UNESCO as task manager are now working to
develop a new international alliance so as to further the broader notion of
education for sustainable development, as called for by the Commission on
Sustainable Development work programme.  The primary thrust of action since
the fourth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development has been:

     (a)   To continue discussions within the United Nations system to
develop a broad cooperative framework for action that would be bold and
imaginative and would concentrate on a limited number of key undertakings
during the next four to five years, which would allow for participation from
outside the United Nations system;

     (b)   To publicize the new Commission on Sustainable Development work
programme within the United Nations system, as well as among non-governmental
organizations, the educational community, the private sector and other
stakeholders, and to seek input and ideas for further development of the work
programme and for use by UNESCO as task manager for the purpose of reporting
to the Commission on Sustainable Development.  To this end, a joint UNESCO-
IUCN meeting on education and public awareness for sustainable development was
held in Montreal in October 1996 in conjunction with the IUCN World
Conservation Congress;

     (c)   To broaden participation in and create partnerships among relevant
bodies of the United Nations system, Governments and major groups, in
particular non-governmental organizations, business and industry, youth, and
the educational community.

23.  The Commission on Sustainable Development also called for the
mobilization and broadening of networks to deliver education, public awareness
and training, particularly at the grass-roots level.  There has been
significant progress since the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development although much work remains to be done to tap the full range of
potential actors.  Since 1992, emphasis has been placed on either reinforcing
or introducing educational concerns into existing networks related to
sustainable development.  Examples include more than 30 UNESCO Chairs for
Sustainable Development, networks of professional educators and scientists
involved in UNESCOžs major science programmes, and the network of the IUCN
Commission on Education and Communications.  In 1997, UNESCO plans to
undertake an inventory of key networks that could contribute to the new,
broader vision of education in terms of sustainability, so that the diffusion
of information and the exchange of ideas and experience can be improved. 
During the last two years, FAO has been working with a network of training
institutions to integrate environmental education training into agricultural
extension training systems and programmes.

24.  Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development,
action to implement Agenda 21 has been targeted increasingly towards the
municipality and community level, whereas national Governments are concerned
more with developing policy frameworks and incentives.  It is at the local
level that people are most easily motivated and mobilized to take action
towards solving the concrete problems that affect their daily lives.  It is
thus particularly at the local level that new partnerships among the different
stakeholders are coalescing, often through local Agenda 21 action plans. 
Public awareness-raising is particularly important in this context, with the
household being a key point of entry.

25.  Partnerships with youth are particularly effective at this level, an
example being work initiated on the basis of the book Rescue Mission:  Planet
Earth, 7/ a youth version of Agenda 21 sponsored by Peace child
International, UNESCO, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and UNEP.  In Canada, youth groups
developed a special action guide tailored to local conditions that has been
distributed to every school and mayor in the country in order to mobilize
youth to take personal responsibility for implementing Agenda 21.

26.  Numerous local and international non-governmental organizations are
particularly active in the field of education.  In fact, in many countries
non-governmental organizations have proved to be key actors in disseminating
information and developing materials at the local level.  In this respect,
UNEP initiated in 1996 a "Global Environmental Citizenship Programme" aimed in
particular at mobilizing non-governmental organizations and media support for
promoting attitudinal and behavioural changes.  In the initial consultations
between UNESCO, UNEP and IUCN on developing a broad international alliance for
education for sustainable development, the crucial role of non-governmental
organizations and other major groups was stressed.  These groups will be fully
involved in implementing the Commission on Sustainable Development work
programme.


                       IV.  UNFULFILLED EXPECTATIONS

27.  The scope and complexity of chapter 36 was, until the adoption of a work
programme by the Commission on Sustainable Development, in itself an
impediment to implementation.  While the work programme is now focusing
efforts on a few agreed-upon priorities, the wide range of objectives, target
groups, key actors and stakeholders remain daunting.

28.  Education for sustainable development is still an emerging concept that
requires further clarification and consensus.  Of particular concern to many
is its relationship to the concept of environmental education which emerged
after the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 and
focused primarily on the environment and its protection.  Environmental
education is now seen as an important part of education for sustainable
development but not as its equivalent.

29.  The challenge is to integrate the concepts of human development, social
development and economic development with environmental protection in a
holistic, interdisciplinary conceptual framework.  The task is therefore far
broader and deeper than the -conversionž of environmental education towards
sustainable development advocated in chapter 36, and will necessarily involve
all the disciplines and, for formal education, virtually all parts of the
school curricula.

30.  The gap between science and education compounds the difficulty of
clarifying the content of education for sustainable development, which needs
to be based on interdisciplinary, accurate, up-to-date and unbiased
information.  Such information is, however, slow to move from the realm of
academics and experts to that of the non-specialist users of such information.

31.  The integration of sustainable development concerns into formal
education systems is also hampered by a lack of the kind of planners, teachers
and administrators who are trained in interdisciplinary approaches in general
and in environment and development issues in particular.

32.  Formal education systems will best be able to contribute towards
sustainable development through restructuring and reform, coupled with pre-
and in-service teacher training.  The time required for such change needs to
be taken into account, however, together with the budget restrictions
prevalent in most countries.

33.  The political will needed to successfully reorient education, public
awareness and training towards sustainable development is still lacking. 
Although there has been greater understanding of the fundamental importance of
education since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development,
this recognition has not been translated into the necessary financial
investments.  Putting money into education needs to be understood in a
long-term perspective, as an investment in providing, over time, the essential
underpinning of public support and therefore public action without which the
world cannot achieve sustainability.  If the necessary financing is not
forthcoming, chapter 36 risks becoming the forgotten priority of the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development.


                          V.  EMERGING PRIORITIES

34.  The decision of the Commission on Sustainable Development at its fourth
session to initiate a special work programme on chapter 36 has been a landmark
with respect to education, public awareness and training.  This work programme
reflects a consensus on the priorities for future action that have emerged
since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, namely:

     (a)   Developing a broad international alliance and promoting networks;

     (b)   Integrating implementation of chapter 36 with analogous
recommendations in the action plans of the major United Nations conferences
and conventions;

     (c)   Advising on how education and training can be integrated into
national educational policies;

     (d)   Refining the concept and key messages of education for sustainable
development;

     (e)   Advancing education and training at national level;

     (f)   Providing financial and technical support to the developing
countries;

     (g)   Developing new partnership arrangements exploiting the
communications technologies;

     (h)   Working in partnership with youth;

     (i)   Analysing current investments in education;

     (j)   Making the relevant linkages with the Commission on Sustainable
Development work programme on changing production and consumption patterns.

35.  These priorities have emerged after a period of both conceptual and
operational ferment in terms of understanding the profound role of education
in achieving sustainability.  The work programme provides a much-needed focus
for action for a chapter that is extremely wide-ranging and complex, and
touches on virtually all other chapters of Agenda 21.

36.   The work programme initiated by the Commission on Sustainable
Development at its fourth session is still only a framework, or skeleton, that
needs to be developed in greater detail.  While efforts in this direction have
started, the fact that the implications of the work programme are far-reaching
still needs to be recognized.  The changes called for - reforming educational
systems, rethinking the outcomes of education, developing an interdisciplinary
conceptual framework that reflects the complexity of the notion of sustainable
development, agreeing on the key messages, changing attitude, lifestyles, and
so on - will require time and the concerted effort and support of all sectors
of society.

37.  In order to continue in this direction, what is needed are:

     (a)   Endorsement of the preliminary steps that are being taken to
implement the work programme, as outlined in this report;

     (b)   Continued priority being given by the Commission on Sustainable
Development to education, public awareness and training in its future work;

     (c)   A fully developed work programme for consideration by the
Commission on Sustainable Development;

     (d)   Assigning of priority to the Commission on Sustainable Development
work programme within the United Nations system, and in particular by UNESCO
as task manager for chapter 36;

     (e)   Initiatives by Governments and major groups to further develop the
work programme, with the cooperation of the United Nations system, as
appropriate;

     (f)   Enhanced financing and investment in education for sustainable
development.


                                   Notes

1/   Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development,
vol. I, Resolutions Adopted by the Conference (United Nations publication,
Sales No. E.93.I.8 and corrigendum), resolution 1, annex II.

2/   See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 1996,
Supplement No. 8 (E/1996/28), chap. I, Sect. C, decision 4/11, para. 2.

3/   United Nations Environment Programme, Convention on Biological Diversity
(Environmental Law and Institution Programme Activity Centre), June 1992.

4/   A/AC.237/18 (Part II)/Add.1 and Corr.1, annex I.

5/   A/49/84/Add.2, annex, appendix II.

6/   Learning:  the Treasure Within:  Report to UNESCO of the International
Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century (Paris, UNESCO, 1996).

7/   Kingfisher Books, 1995.  Available from United Nations publications.


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Date last posted: 10 December 1999 17:25:35
Comments and suggestions: DESA/DSD