UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development - Learning Today for a Sustainable Future
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“Environmental, economic and social indicators tell us that our current model of progress is unsustainable. Ours is a world of looming challenges and increasingly limited resources. Sustainable development offers the best chance to adjust our course.“ (UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon)
The UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) will be co-organized in 2014 by UNESCO and the Government of Japan on the occasion of the end of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. It has the following four objectives:
1. Celebrating a Decade of Action (“What have we achieved, what are the lessons learnt?”)
2. Reorienting Education to Build a Better Future for All (“How does ESD reinforce quality education?”)
3. Accelerating Action for Sustainable Development (“How are sustainability challenges addressed through ESD?”)
4. Setting the Agenda for ESD beyond 2014 (“What are the strategies for our common future?”)
The 2014 World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development will carry out a stock-taking of the implementation of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) and celebrate the Decade’s achievements. The Conference will showcase initiatives, actors, networks and ideas that were stimulated by the DESD. Examples of good practice from all over the world will play an important role in identifying viable approaches to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), as well as key areas for future action.
Building on the Bonn Declaration from 2009, the Conference will draw out the relevance of ESD to all efforts to improve the quality of education. It will highlight the role of ESD for the transition to green economies and societies and as a catalyst for cross-sector planning and implementation of programmes in areas such as climate change, biodiversity and disaster risk reduction. It will also address how ESD can help move Sustainable Development policy and action forward to meet different global, regional, national, and local needs.
Reviewing the implementation of the Decade will lead to the development of strategies for ESD activities after 2014. With the target date of the Millennium Development Goals and the Education for All (EFA) objectives approaching in 2015, and two years after the Rio+20 conference, the Conference will also highlight the relevance of ESD for the next set of global education and development goals and will make concrete contributions to the post-2014 education and sustainable development agendas, and will help ensure that Education for Sustainable Development continues after 2014.
The Conference will be preceded by Stakeholder Meetings in Okayama, Japan, from 4 to 8 November 2014.
|Type of Event||Category 4- International Congress|
|Start||10.11.2014 10:00 local time|
|End||12.11.2014 19:00 local time|
|Date to be fixed||0|
|Focal point||Leicht, Alexander|
|Permanent Delegation Contact||Permanent Delegation of Japan to UNESCO|
|Language of Event|
|Estimated number of participants|
|Official Website||2014 UNESCO World Conference on ESD website|
|Link 1||DESD website|
|Link 2||Information Note|