Memorandum
29 January 2001

Ministry of Education and Science
International Secretariat

Eva Hermanson
Telephone: +46 8 405 1899
Mobile: +46 709 950 665
Telefax + 46 8 411 0470
E-post eva.hermanson@education.ministry.se

Baltic 21 Education
Education for sustainable development: An overview

1. Background: milestones from Rio to Haga
2. The concept of sustainable development
3. The difference between environmental education and education for sustainable development
4. Definitions of education for sustainable development
5. Some initiatives in education for sustainable development
6. Actors in education for sustainable development
7. Bibliography and websites

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1. Background: Milestones from Rio to Haga

The reduction and eradication of poverty and the prevention of overexploitation and destruction of the environment are matters of survival that concern all our nations. These goals will continue to be important well into the 21st century. At the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio in 1992 member countries adopted a long-term programme of frameworks and guidelines for achieving these goals. The action plan was called Agenda 21.

Prior to this, in 1972 the UN had arranged an environmental conference in Stockholm, and at a conference organised in Tibilisi in 1977 by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) the importance of education for environmental issues had been highlighted.

Environmental education is among the recommendations and action plans in reports from a number of international conferences: the International Conference on Population and Democracy, Cairo, 1994; the World Summit for Social Development, Copenhagen, 1995; the World Conference on Women, Beijing, 1995; and the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, Istanbul, 1996.

Also in 1996, heads of state and government of the Baltic Rim countries, all the Nordic countries, and representatives of the EU decided to draw up an Agenda 21 for the Baltic Sea region. In October 1996 the environment ministers presented Baltic 21 at a meeting at Saltsjöbaden. Baltic 21 was launched as a process within sectors having a direct impact on the environment and environmental development: agriculture, energy, fisheries, forestry, industry, tourism, and transport.

Sweden has been proactive in integrating environmental considerations and the concept of sustainable development into EU frameworks, work which was strengthened in the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty. At the meeting of the European Council in Cardiff in 1998 the transport, energy and agriculture sectors were charged with drafting strategies to integrate sustainable development into their respective fields. These were followed by the inner market, industry and development assistance at the Vienna conference in 1998, and the economic and financial, fisheries general affairs sectors in Cologne in 1999.

Heads of government and the political leadership of the autonomous regions of the Nordic countries urged the Nordic Council of Ministers to take note of the Amsterdam Treaty and the conclusions of the Cardiff meeting of the European Council. From this starting-point a negotiating group was instructed to work out in the year 2000 a cross-sectoral strategy for sustainable development in the Nordic countries and their neighbours.

In March 2000 education ministers from the Baltic Sea region met at Haga Castle to discuss an education sector network within the framework of Baltic 21. It was decided to build a sector network for education for sustainable development, and this was formulated in the Haga Declaration. The three areas to be covered by the network are: formal education below university and college level; higher education; and informal education (liberal adult education). Lithuania and Sweden were made ‘Lead Parties'. The goal is to present a report on the current status in the respective countries with respect to education for sustainable development and to present an action plan, an Agenda 21 for education for sustainable development.

2. The concept of sustainable development

Three overall objectives for sustainable development were presented in 1981 in the World Conservation Strategy worked out by the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) and IUCN (the World Conservation Union). The three objectives were:

• to maintain essential ecological processes and life support systems
• to conserve genetic diversity and wild species
• to ensure sustainable utilisation of species and ecosystems.

However, the first time the concept sustainable development achieved international impact was in the report of the Brundtland Commission in 1987. The report was the result of the work of the UN World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by Gro Harlem Brundtland. The report received some criticism at the time from environmental organisations: among other things sustainable economic development was seen as being given priority over ecological sustainability. The Brundtland Commission's definition of sustainable development - satisfying present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs - is still the most widely-used starting-point for discussions on sustainable development.

In its report ‘Agenda 21 i Sverige, Fem år efter Rio - Resultat och Framtid' (Agenda 21 in Sweden, Five years after Rio - Results and the future) (SOU 1997:105) the National Committee for Agenda 21 writes the following about the Rio Conference action programme for the 21st century: “The document points out measures in a broad spectrum of social sectors aimed at sustainable development. Agenda 21 takes up three dimensions of social development that must work together if development is to be sustainable: the social dimension, the economic dimension and the environment and resource dimension (the ecological dimension). It is natural that these three dimensions are given different emphasis at different times and in different parts of the world. For example, it may be necessary to place extra emphasis on short-term economic and social aspects in countries in acute economic crises or at war. In such cases it is necessary to provide for people's basic needs, such as food, health and dwellings. In a longer perspective, however, the ecological dimension must always be present. Similarly, it is natural that industrialised countries with high consumption of resources and environmental impact emphasise the ecological dimension. The industrialised countries have a responsibility to lead the way in development in such areas as environmentally adapted technology and the effective use of resources.”

In Sweden in 1997 the government set up three objectives for sustainable development:

• Environmental objective -To reduce environmental impact to levels that can be dealt with naturally.
• Production objective -To conserve the production capabilities of the forests, water and land, and increase the utilisation of renewable resources.
• Consumption objective - To bring about considerable improvements in the efficient use of materials and energy.

In other Nordic countries there is often an additional requirement for the effective use of resources.

The OECD has not redefined sustainable development but has instead focused on studies of certain key areas that are crucial for the achievement of sustainable development: trade, investment, technology, natural resources, climate, energy, transport, agriculture, industry and land issues. These matters will be addressed at the next OECD ministerial meeting in the spring of 2001.

The introduction to Baltic 21Series No 14/98 states that sustainable development means harmonising social, economic and environmental goals in order to safeguard the well-being of present and future generations and ecosystems. It is important to deal with the challenge of sustainable development at many different levels: global, regional, national and local. Despite the fact that the focus of Baltic 21 is regional, the global perspective must not be forgotten.

3. The difference between environmental education and education for sustainable development

Environmental awareness among the general public began in the 1960s, not least as a result of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. Among the issues raised in the ensuing discussions was the need for environmental education. In the 1970s the UN environmental conference in Stockholm was followed by the UNESCO ministerial conference on environmental education. A UNESCO conference in Belgrade lay down certain basic criteria for environmental education, forming a logical chain from awareness to participation: Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude, Skills, Evaluation ability, Participation. The Belgrade report also confirmed the need to regard environmental education as a lifelong process, and the importance of involving the whole community, global as well as local.

In the 1980s there was increasing awareness that environmental enhancement could not be viewed in isolation: environmental changes must be seen in their social and economic context. Once the concept of sustainable development became generally accepted as a result of the Brundtland report in 1987 and the Rio conference in 1992, it also became established in the field of education. The environment, along with social and economic factors, is thus one of three dimensions of sustainable development, which means that education for sustainable development is a complex cross-sector undertaking and a challenge for educators and teachers at all levels.

There seems to be agreement that education for sustainable development must be taken seriously and provides added value as a force, phenomenon or instrument in today's education, both formal and informal. Opinions differ, however, concerning the relation and differences between environmental education and education for sustainable development. Some people regard education for sustainable development as a more advanced form of environmental education which incorporates such features as ethics, justice and new ways of thinking. Others maintain that education for sustainable development should be part of any environmental education. Still others claim that environmental education is part of education for sustainable development since it is broader in scope, encompassing as it does a north-south perspective and cultural diversity.

The British researcher and writer John Huckle describes the difference thus:

“Education for sustainable development has a sharper and more critical focus than environmental education. Education for sustainable development, like education for peace or democracy, is a critical and democratic process of reflection and action in our troubled society. Education for sustainable development, unlike environmental education, has strong links with social, political and development education.”

Several major textbooks on environmental science, such as Cunningham and Nebel & Wright, take up sustainability issues.

4. Definitions of education for sustainable development

Existing definitions of education for sustainable development are very similar, irrespective of whether they were formulated internationally or in Sweden. In a publication (International Debate on Education for Sustainable Development, ISBN 2-8317-0527-4) based on an international debate conducted over the Internet at the initiative of the Government of the Netherlands, the conclusion was drawn that a majority of experts in this field feel more familiar with theory than with the practise of education for sustainable development.

Below are some examples of definitions. The overall objective is to make available, through formal and informal education, knowledge and awareness which enable everyone, both now and in the future, to develop and live with available resources. Fundamental to the definitions of education for sustainable development is that it should integrate this awareness into a number of disciplines, such as biology, law and culture alongside broader issues such as democracy and human rights.

Emphasis is placed throughout on the need for education for sustainable development to include both formal and informal education at all levels, from primary and secondary school to higher education and research. The methodological and practical foundations on which to establish education for sustainable development vary enormously between countries. One difficulty and pedagogical challenge is the fact that while in the developing countries and the countries of the former Soviet Union people do live, and are learning to live, in a way that does not waste natural resources - partly through financial necessity -, we in the industrialised world live in a way that ignores the theoretical knowledge we now have.

On the Swedish government's website on sustainable development, the section on education states “The education system should provide teaching on survival issues with ethical, philosophical, cultural and scientific elements on patterns of consumption and production - i.e. on consumer responsibility and the environmental (ecological/economic) impact of different products, from the extraction of raw materials to the final disposal of the product after use. Educational policy (as laid down in the legislation, regulations, curricula, syllabi and programme objectives for upper secondary schools) must therefore be designed in such a way that the importance of striving for sustainable development is clear and supports teaching with this aim.”

Internationally the two terms education for sustainable development and education for sustainability are used synonymously.

The British writer and researcher Stephen Sterling has studied the relation between education for sustainable development and political ideology and claims that the concept of education for sustainable development contains certain basic premises. He characterises education for sustainable development as

• grounded in the local economic, social and ecological context
• innovative, constructive and focused
• holistic and human in scale
• process oriented and integrative
• seeking to rebalance correlated pairs such as knowledge and values
• exploring
• life long - for all persons in all areas.

In the report of the National Forum on Partnerships Supporting Education about the Environment held in San Francisco in 1994, education for sustainable development was defined as follows: “ Education for Sustainability is meant to be a lifelong learning process that leads to an informed and involved citizenry having the creative problem-solving skills, scientific and social literacy, and commitment to engage in responsible individual and cooperative actions. These actions will help ensure an environmentally sound and economically prosperous future. Education for Sustainability has the potential to serve as a tool for building stronger bridges between the classroom and business, and between schools and communities.”

In some areas it is clear that education for sustainable development is more than environmental education. One challenge is to integrate the three dimensions of sustainability: economic, social and ecological sustainability. In a series of reports published by the Swedish Council for Planning and Coordination of Research in 1998 it was confirmed that this integration needs to be strengthened. It is also apparent that in general the questions of poverty and the distribution of economic resources have not been paid sufficient attention in policies and research on sustainable development. Another challenge is to systematically apply concepts such as ecological footprint, sustainability indicators, material flow and ecological rucksack in order to make sustainability issues familiar and thereby comprehensible. These are used in local versions of Agenda 21 but hardly at all in the education sector.

5. Some initiatives in education for sustainable development

What has been called the first sustainable development curriculum was developed in Australia in 1992 by Dr John Fien of Griffith University. The same university also initiated a research project with the UNESCO Asia Pacific Centre for Education Innovation for Development (ACEID). The purpose was the creation of a regional network for teacher educators in 20 countries in Asia and the Pacific Rim. The network passed on information about curriculum construction and methodology for education for sustainable development. The result was a book, published in 1998, entitled ‘Learning for a Sustainable Environment: Professional development guide for teacher educators'.

The first national network for education for sustainable development started up in Canada in 1992 when the Canadian Round Table and environmental groups decided that there was a need for a network for educators and teachers working with sustainable development. The organisation was called Learning for a Sustainable Future and its mandate was to work with teachers throughout Canada in order to integrate the concept of sustainable development into all curricula at all levels.

The 1994 Swedish National Compulsory School Curriculum and National Voluntary School Curriculum include the concept of sustainable development: “Teaching shall highlight how the different sectors of society and our way of life can be adapted to create sustainable development.”

In the USA in 1996 125 government representatives, university lecturers and leaders of NGOs started a workshop which took the form of a five-year project called ‘Education for Sustainability: An agenda for action'. It is supported by the United States Department of Education and is based on six thematic areas: designing sustainable communities, stewardship of resources, thinking about and affecting the future, economics, and global issues. In 2002 a report of the work will be published and the results distributed throughout the United States.

Several universities in South Africa now offer courses, and Rhodes University in particular is well in the forefront of research using the social critical approach to education for sustainable development. Several sources in Africa point out the importance of combining traditional informal education with the formal curricula, particularly at primary and junior secondary levels.

At international level UNESCO through the CSD (Commission on Sustainable Development) has long held a mandate to formulate and reorientate teaching in a new perspective in order to implement chapter 36 of Agenda 21. In January 2000 the results of the Commission's work were published and it was established that education has gradually been recognised as an integrated and essential part of the solution to the world's problems and the building of a sustainable future. In the autumn of 1999 UNESCO's Director-General sent a letter to ministers with responsibility for UNESCO issues in all countries. The purpose was to gather information about each country's priorities and to emphasise that the CSD views governments as having primary responsible for reviewing national policy from a sustainable development perspective; restructuring education systems; integrating education into national strategies for sustainable development; and increasing public awareness of these issues.

In the autumn of 1999 a debate on education for sustainable development was conducted on the Internet. This was the Netherlands' contribute to the CSD working programme. The objective was to explore the broadening of the concept of environmental education to education for sustainable development. One of the conclusions reached by the 47 experts from 20 countries was that the concept of education for sustainable development is a subject which needs further discussion and clarification.

In the Baltic Sea Region the Baltic Sea Project, a schools network under UNESCO, introduced statements on sustainability as early as 1989: one of its objectives is to encourage school students to participate in the development of a sustainable future.

The Baltic University came into existence in 1991. Education for sustainable development in the Baltic Sea Region is the main focus of the project. Today nearly 170 universities in 14 countries are participating in the project and 6000 students take courses every year.

In 1997 the course ‘A Sustainable Baltic Region' was introduced. The material consists of 500 pages of course literature, 10 television programmes and an Internet-based database. The 10-part television series ‘Mission Possible', which has been shown in a number of countries, is the result of cooperation between 17 television companies in 10 countries.

‘A Sustainable Baltic Region' provides an in introduction to the concept of sustainable development and then explores themes such as energy, the flow of materials, agriculture, industry, transport, ethics and politics. The course is being studied at over 100 universities in 14 countries by more than 3000 students annually. The material is available today in English, Latvian, Polish and Russian. The Baltic University has developed a number of degree courses at master's level in collaboration with different actors within the framework of regional development.

See http://www.balticuniv.uadm.uu.se/

6. Actors in education for sustainable development

International and regional organisations

• UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) was previously the most proactive organisation for environmental education internationally. Recently UNESCO has been criticised by various environmental organisations for being too passive. One result of this has been that a number of organisations have got together to produce concrete proposals for implementing the working plan produced by the CSD (Commission for Sustainable Development).
• UNESCO-ACEID (Asia Pacific Centre of Educational Innovation for Development) in collaboration with Griffith University, UNEP and others has produced educational materials for teachers in countries in Southeast Asia.
• UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme) publishes a survey of international environmental educational and training opportunities.
• CEC (Commission on Education & Communication) is a commission within the IUCN (the World Conservation Union). It is today the most powerful organisation in the field of environmental education. Previously most active in information on biological diversity, it now focuses more on general guidelines and methods for environmental education in both formal and informal education. Organises a number of networks including:
• EARCEE - East African Regional Committee for Environmental Education
• SASEANEE - South and Southeast Asian Network for Environmental Education
• LANEE - Latin American Network for Environmental Education
• ECEE- European Committee for Environmental Education
• WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) is an environmental organisation with over five million members and offices world-wide.

A summary of the most active bodies in the field has been put together by the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) and is available on the Internet: http://www.eelink.net/

7. Bibliography and websites

Bibliography 1

Agenda 21, chapter 36
Government Communication 1992/1993:13

Fem år efter Rio - Resultat och framtid, avsnitt 1.3.7 Utbildning och forskning (Five years after Rio - Results and the future, chapter 1.3.7 Education and research)
SOU 1997:105

Education for sustainable development

A Sustainable Baltic Region, books 1-10.
The Baltic University Programme. Uppsala
Published 1997.

The Baltic Sea Project, Learner's guide No 3
From words to action: Environmental education for sustainable development
The National Agency for Education
Published 1998
ISBN 91-88373-8

Communicating Sustainability, Walter Leal Filho
Published 2001 (no. 8 in a series)
ISBN 0-8204-4827-3

Ecopedagogy and Ecodidactics: Education for sustainable development
Published 1998
ISBN 951-708-651-2

Education for Sustainability
Published 1996
ISBN: 1-85383-256-1

Educating for a Sustainable Future: A transdisciplinary vision for concerted action. Published 1997
Environmental Education: An approach to sustainable development
Published 1993
ISBN: 92-64-13771-8

Guidelines for more Effective Education and Training in Environmental Management
Published 2000
(Compendium) Hans Dieleman, Erasmus University Rotterdam

International Debate on Education for Sustainable Development
Published 2000
(Brochure) IUCN, The World Conservation Union
ISBN 2-8317-0527-4

Learning for a Sustainable Environment: Professional development guide for teacher educators
Published 1998
ACEID

Literacy for Sustainable Development in the Age of Information
Published 1998
ISBN 1-85359-433-4

Status Report on Education for Sustainability
Published 1999
(Compendium) Walter Leal Filho, Technical University Hamburg for Sida

A Study on the Development of Education for Sustainability
Published 2000
(Compendium) Uppsala University (Valdy Lindhe) and Scandiakonsult (Marie Grönvall) for Sida

Bibliography II
Sustainable development / environmental education/ transdisciplinary

The Baltic 21 Series 1/98 - 14/98
EC Study Guide to Environment-related Courses
Published 1993
ISBN: 92-826-5151-7

Educating for an Ecologically Sustainable Culture
Published 1995
ISBN: 0-7914-2497-9

Environmental Education Handbook for the Education Sector, Sida
Published 1999
ISBN 91 586 78919 0

Environmental Engineering Education
Published 1997
ISBN: 1-85312-479-6

Greening Education: Prospects and Conditions in Tanzania
Published 1999
ISBN: 91-554-4511-X

Grön fortjenste: undervisningsmateriale om miljöstyrning i virksomheder
Published 1999
ISBN: 92-893-0372-7

Media and Sustainable Development
Published 1995
ISBN: 9966-45-012-2

New Qualifications and Training Needs in Environment-related Sectors
Published 1998
ISBN: 92-827-4037-4

The Role of Education and Research for Economies and Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry
Published 1997
ISBN: 9985-855-13-2

Sustainable Development in a Nutshell: For business and public organisations
Published 1998
ISBN: 952-5220-02-8

Tourism and Sustainable Community Development
Published 2000
ISBN: 0-415-22462-4

Toward Global Planning of Sustainable Use of the Earth
Published.1995
ISBN: 0-444-81904-5

World Environment Report 2000. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Nairobi 2000

Websites

The Government website on education for sustainable development:
Utbildningen en spjutspets in i framtiden
www.hallbarasverige.gov.se/vagar_till/utbildning/utbildning.htm
(Sustainable Sweden
www.hallbarasverige.gov.se/eng/index.htm)

Australian Environmental Education Network
www.environment.gov.au/education/aeen/

The Baltic 21 Series
www.ee/baltic21/

The Baltic University Programme
http://www.balticuniv.uadm.uu.se/

Educating for a Sustainable Future: A Transdisciplinary Vision for Concerted Action
www.unesdoc.unesco.org/ulis/ged.html

Education for Sustainable Future Projects
www.fusion.concord.org/esf/index.cfm

Education for Sustainability: An agenda for action
www.k1111112.hi.us/~lake/TLCF2/sustainability.html

The European Environmental Education Newsletter
http://www.projekte.org/eeen/

Global Rivers Environmental Education Network, Green
www.igc.apc.org/green/index.html

International Institute for Sustainable Development
iisd.iisd.ca/

IUCN The World Conservation Union, Commission on Education & Comunication
http://www.iucn.org/

Learning for a Sustainable Future
www.rescol.ca/vp-pv/terre/

Learning for a Sustainable Future
http://www.schoolnet.ca/learning/

The MINT programme
http://www.hgur.se/envir//

National Forum on Partnership Supporting Education about Sustainability
www.gcrio.org/edu/pcsd/toc.html

Sustainable Centres Projects
http://www.northseanet.org/

United Nations Sustainable Development Website
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/

Swedish Institute for Ecological Sustainability
http://www.ieh.se/