Name : Nayab Amjad

Roll no : mcf1900609

Program : MA Education (morning)

Course : Education for Sustainable

Development

Assignment Topic : Significance of ESD

Submitted to : Mam Farzana

 Assignment Topic:

Significance of ESD to achieve the Goals of SD

What is SD ?
Sustainable development is a concept that appeared for the
first time in 1987 with the publication of the Brundtland
Report, warning of the negative environmental consequences
of economic growth and globalization, which tried to find
possible solutions to the problems caused by industrialization
and population growth.

(Sustainable development)

 Sustainability is development that satisfies the needs of the present without

compromising the capacity of future generations, guaranteeing the balance between
economic growth, care for the environment and social well-being.
 The concept of needs goes beyond simply material needs and includes values,
relationships, freedom to think, act, and participate, all amounting to sustainable living,
morally, and spiritually.

Specifically, sustainable development is a way of organizing society so that it can exist in the
long term. This means taking into account both the imperatives present and those of the future,
such as the preservation of the environment and natural resources or social and economic equity.

Goals of SD:
 The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were
adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 as a universal call to action to
end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity
by 2030.
  The 17 SDGs are integrated—that is, they recognize that action in one area will
affect outcomes in others, and that development must balance social, economic and
environmental sustainability.

Through the pledge to Leave No One Behind, countries have committed to fast-track
progress for those furthest behind first. That is why the SDGs are designed to bring the world
to several life-changing ‘zeros’, including zero poverty, hunger, AIDS and discrimination
against women and girls.

Everyone is needed to reach these ambitious targets. The creativity, knowhow, technology
and financial resources from all of society is necessary to achieve the SDGs in every context.

17 Goals of Sustainable Development :

What is ESD?
  Education for Sustainable Development provides an exciting vision of an
interdisciplinary and learner-centred way to empower students to advance a pro-social
and environmental agenda in their organisations, communities and personal lives.

 Education for Sustainable Development allows every human being to acquire the
knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to shape a sustainable future.
 Education for Sustainable Development means including key sustainable development
issues into teaching and learning; for example, climate change, disaster risk reduction,
biodiversity, poverty reduction, and sustainable consumption. It also requires
participatory teaching and learning methods that motivate and empower learners to
change their behaviour and take action for sustainable development.
 Education for Sustainable Development consequently promotes competencies like critical
thinking, imagining future scenarios and making decisions in a collaborative way.
 Education for Sustainable Development requires far-reaching changes in the way
education is often practised today

Importance of Education for sustainable development:

Globalisation and digitalisation connect the world. As a result, cultures mix, economies grow and
communication speeds up. The world becomes increasingly complex and uncertain.
In addition to these mega-trends, humanity is altering the planet’s climate, animals and
landscapes in unprecedented ways, and threatening all life on earth.
We’ve entered the Anthropocene – a new geological area shaped by humanity:
Given these global developments, students have an increasing demand for education that goes
beyond teaching knowledge and skills just to find a job.
Above all, students need new perspectives to be able to understand the rapidly changing world
they live in. In addition, they need to participate in this world. Many of them also want to help
reduce poverty, protect the environment and create inclusive societies. To realise this ambition, a
new approach to education is needed.
Sustainability education provides this alternative approach, aiming to educate students as global
citizens for sustainable development.
Converse to the traditional way of teaching, Education for Sustainable Development means
adopting a more holistic approach to education with the aim of creating a better world for this
generation and future generations of all living things on planet Earth. This allows every child to
acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to shape a sustainable future.

Education for Sustainable Development incorporates key environmental challenges like climate
change into core subjects like math, science and art, and involves modifying the teaching-
learning process to a more all-encompassing approach. Students are thus able to relate what they
learn in the classroom to their real life actions, and will increasingly be in a better position to
take the lead in changing behaviours and adopting sustainable lifestyles, the more this type of
education is adopted.

As schools no longer function in isolation, their integration with the world outside has exposed
students to different people and cultures’, giving them the opportunity to appreciate what the
planet offers, while respecting the need to use resources efficiently and responsibly.

One evident example of how environmental education is helping to shape a sustainable future is
from an Eco-School in the UAE recently awarded the Green Flag, a symbol of excellence in
environmental performance. These students identified the need for more wall space to spread
environmental awareness messages in their school, so they created a huge mobile wall of used
cartons piled one above the other! Besides reducing the amount of waste produced in their school
and saving school funds, these students put forward the important message within their school
community and beyond, of thinking innovatively to make maximum use of available and
reusable resources.

Significance of ESD in light of different reports:

Council of the European Union, 2010
  "ESD is essential for the achievement of a sustainable society and is therefore desirable at
all levels of formal education and training, as well as in non-formal and informal
learning."
Sustainable Development Education Panel Report, 1998

 "ESD is about the learning needed to maintain and improve our quality of life and the
quality of life of generations to come ... ESD enables people to develop the knowledge,
values and skills to participate in decisions about the way we do things individually and
collectively, both locally and globally, that will improve the quality of life now without
damaging the planet for the future."

Good quality education is an essential tool for achieving a more sustainable world. This was
emphasised at the UN World Summit in Johannesburg in 2002 where the reorientation of
current education systems was outlined as key to sustainable development.

 Education for sustainable development (ESD) promotes

the development of the knowledge, skills, understanding,
values and actions required to create a sustainable world,
which ensures environmental protection and
conservation, promotes social equity and encourages
economic sustainability. 

The concept of ESD developed largely from

environmental education, which has sought to develop the
knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and behaviours in people to care for their environment.

Education for Sustainable Development is not only about being environmentally-friendly; it also
involves developing life-skills including leadership, communication and management; all of
which are extremely important for personal development. By equipping young people with these
relevant capabilities in addition to their environmental knowledge, they can excel at living lives
which not only further humanity, but that care for and respect our planet’s resources too.

The aim of ESD is to enable people to make decisions and carry out actions to improve our
quality of life without compromising the planet. It also aims to integrate the values inherent in
sustainable development into all aspects and levels of learning.
There are a number of key themes in ESD and while the dominant focus is on environmental
concerns, it also addresses themes such as poverty alleviation, citizenship, peace, ethics,
responsibility in local and global contexts, democracy and governance, justice, human rights,
gender equality, corporate responsibility, natural resource management and biological diversity.

---It is generally accepted that certain characteristics are important for the successful
implementation of ESD, reflecting the equal importance of both the learning process and the
outcomes of the education process (adapted from ‘UN Decade of Sustainable Development’
UNESCO Nairobi Cluster, 2006). 

ESD should: 

 Be embedded in the curriculum in an interdisciplinary and holistic manner, allowing for a

whole-institution approach to policy making.
 Share the values and principles that underpin sustainable development.
 Promote critical thinking, problem solving and action, all of which develop confidence in
addressing the challenges to sustainable development.
 Employ a variety of educational methods, such as literature, art, drama and debate to
illustrate the processes.
 Allow learners to participate in decision-making on the design and content of educational
programmes.
 Address local as well as global issues, and avoid jargon-ridden language and terms.
 Look to the future, ensuring that the content has a long-term perspective and uses
medium and long-term planning.