This paper explores how ESD activities may be viewed on a continuum from "causal" approaches, seeking to cause change in others, to "enabling" orientations where efforts are made to enable people to implement the principles of ESD and respond to the environmental challenges they face from their own context. An enabling…

Higher education institutions have been encouraged to prepare their graduates to be socially and environmentally responsible professionals. However, previous studies have found a slow uptake of education for sustainable development (ESD) in university curricula, particularly in non-environmental disciplines. This paper investigates the process of…

Youth unemployment is a huge challenge for sustainable development in our societies. Statistics offer an alarming picture of the involvement of youth in the labour markets on a global scale. Germany, due to a strong tradition in vocational education and training deeply rooted in its culture, has very low rates of youth unemployment. The so-called…

Professional associations have a strong influence on what is covered in the curricula of universities, especially that of professional degrees. They also provide members with professional development throughout their careers. Professional associations have the potential to facilitate development of sustainability competency in the workforce in…

As one of 12 members of the drafting committee of Agenda 21's Chapter 36, "Education, Public Awareness and Training", Charles Hopkins reflects on the process of working on the now-famous document. Although it was noncontroversial at the time, Chapter 36 spawned education for sustainable development when it was given to UNESCO to administer within…

Over the past 20 years education for sustainable development (ESD) has become part of the discourse in teacher education and the teaching community has a better grasp of ESD's action-oriented and participatory pedagogies. The International Network of Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) associated with the UNESCO Chair on Reorienting Teacher…

The Earth Charter represents the philosophy and ethics necessary to create a new period of human civilization. Understanding and adoption of this new vision is the most important mission of education for sustainable development (ESD). This article argues that for successful implementation of ESD principles at school, the school education system…

This article reflects on the potentialities of education practices guided by the idea of sustainability and how they can contribute to the reformulation of the contents and methods of learning and to the quality of education. Sustainability entails the transformation of all aspects of school life, from preschool to the university. The article also…

This article explores Earth Charter education as a form of values education that is integral to education for sustainable development. Initially, it outlines how Earth Charter education rests on an ecocentric worldview and a social analysis of ecojustice--terms that are defined and explained. Moving from this rationale, the article explores issues…

This article lists the key outcomes and recommendations of Phase I of the monitoring and evaluation of the DESD. Phase I focused on a review of the structures, provisions and conditions countries and regions have put in place in order to facilitate the development and implementation of ESD. The author also touches upon the constraints and…

Recent research has found that few institutions of higher education implemented the necessary strategies to make their campuses sustainable (Thompson and Green 2005). Ironically, universities are the segment of society with the most access to the intellectual capital needed to provide sound sustainable practices and measurements. Having top…

The mission statement at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) commits the university to the pursuit of academic excellence and the promotion of environmental sustainability. One of the university's guiding principles recognises that "informed and engaged citizens are essential to the creation of a civil and sustainable society." The university's…

This article explores the impact of the sustainable development (SD) agenda on the occupational and professional needs of those who have undergone educational and training programmes in the environmental field either at the undergraduate or the postgraduate level or through relevant professional institutions' continuing professional development…

This paper provides the rationale for a new education for sustainable development (ESD) project being developed in Australia. Titled "Project otherWISE," it seeks to build the capacity of young Australians to be agents of change towards sustainable lifestyles in their communities. The rationale for the project is grounded in three themes that are…

The first set of international recommendations to guide environmental education (EE) was developed in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1977. Ten years later, in 1987, a conference in Moscow, Russia, reviewed progress and focused on institutional strategies and action plans to strengthen environmental education. A third international environmental education…