Education for Sustainable Development Newsletter
23. december 2021
As 2021 comes to a close, we reflect on a year that mobilized global momentum for the transformation of education so learners are empowered to act for sustainable development, address the climate crisis and build a better future for all.
Teachers, youth and education leaders call for concrete steps to ensure transformative education for all
Education which equips every learner with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to care for each other and the planet and act for the future was at the centre of the 5th UNESCO Forum on transformative education for sustainable development, global citizenship, health and well-being.
From 29 November to 1 December 2021, UNESCO and APCEIU convened over 1600 experts and practitioners in the virtual Forum hosted by the Ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea.
The online broadcast has gathered roughly 30,000 views since the Forum.
You can watch back the live streams of the sessions through this link and share your thoughts about the Forum session, speakers and ideas using the hashtag #TransformativeEducation.
Award Ceremony recognizes the 2021 laureates of the UNESCO-Japan Prize on ESD
During this year’s 41st General Conference, the Award Ceremony of the 2021 UNESCO-Japan Prize on Education for Sustainable Development was held on 19 November 2021 to recognize the outstanding contributions of three organizations to education for sustainable development.
At the ceremony, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, Stefania Giannini, praised – World Vision Ghana (Ghana), the Media Development Center of the Birzeit University (Palestine) and Kusi Kawsay School (Peru) – for being the “boots on the ground” essential to implementing education for sustainable development. Before the panel discussion with the laureates was moderated by H.R.H. Princess Abze Djigma of Burkina Faso, the three winners were introduced through a video screening.
Climate education in the spotlight at COP26: Ministers of Education and Environment meet for historic event
UNESCO’s call to enhance global commitment to climate education was echoed at COP26, through a day of events with Ministers of Education and Environment, teachers, civil society and youth.
Climate education is critical for climate action, yet new UNESCO data from 100 countries shows that only half of the world’s national education curricula make any reference to climate change.
For the first time, Ministers of Education and Environment came together at COP26 to pledge to integrate climate change and sustainable development into learning in an event co-organized by the UK Presidency, Government of Italy, UNESCO and youth partners MockCOP and Youth4Climate.
First-ever climate-neutral UNESCO World Conference on ESD
The first digital UNESCO World Conference for ESD held in May 2021 as a virtual conference from Berlin was also the first climate-neutral digital conference of its size. CO² emissions were offset by supporting international climate protection projects that contribute to the United Nations Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
In order to organize the digital conference in a climate-friendly way, the carbon footprint was calculated based on the internationally recognized standard 'The GHG Protocol: A Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard'. It includes all climate-relevant greenhouse gases that fall under the 'operational control' of the event organizer and is based on ecoinvent 2.2 and the IPCC 2007 assessment method (GWP 100a). The World Conference recorded low overall greenhouse gas emissions per guest (0.02 t CO2e).
UNESCO promotes the linkages between education and culture in the SICA Region
On the occasion of the XIV Ordinary Meeting of the Council of Ministers of Education and Culture of the Educational and Cultural Coordination of the Central American Integration System (CECC/SICA), UNESCO stressed the importance of promoting a functional articulation between the education and culture sectors to promote education for sustainable development and global citizenship. UNESCO urged the Member States of this organization to integrate an intersectoral perspective linking culture and education into their educational models.
Young people call for climate education to #LearnForOurPlanet
Young people around the world are calling for education to change. Listen to the voices of young students from around the world in claiming the crucial role of education and learning in the fight against climate change, including solutions that they are currently implementing or good examples from their school.
Students demand to #LearnForOurPlanet so we can act together to save our planet. Join UNESCO's call to introduce #ClimateEducation at every level of schooling to empower #ClimateAction!
#TrashHack: Empowering students in Mongolia
Trash clogs our oceans, fills our streets, and litters huge areas of the planet. If we continue to live the way we do now, the equivalent of almost three planets would be needed by 2050 to provide natural resources.
UNESCO launched the Trash Hack global campaign in September 2020 to encourage young people to find innovative ways to act towards sustainable development. Listen to the voices of Tsolmon and Namuun, two young women motivated to make a difference in the fight against waste in Mongolia.
Teachers Have Their Say
UNESCO and Education International conducted a global survey of 58,000 teachers, finding that although 81% of teachers were interested in learning more about Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship, training opportunities were not always available and half of the respondents face challenges in teaching these themes, typically because they are not familiar with suitable pedagogies.
Getting every school climate-ready
This document summarizes the findings of selected studies by UNESCO and its partners on how climate change issues are integrated in education.
These findings shed light on four key questions: where do we stand on climate change education; what do teachers say; what are the examples of country good practices on climate change education; and what does inter-ministerial collaboration on education for sustainable development look like?
UNESCO-Japan Prize on Education for Sustainable Development: the laureates for 2021
The ESD Prize, funded by the Government of Japan, encourages outstanding practices of ESD and has greatly contributed to spreading ESD around the world.
The laureates of the 2021 UNESCO-Japan Prize were chosen from 113 nominations submitted. The nominations were assessed by an independent jury comprised of five international ESD experts who recommended the three laureates to UNESCO’s Director-General.
Reimagining our futures together: a new social contract for education
This report by the International Commission on the Futures of Education acknowledges the power of education to bring about profound change. We face a dual challenge of making good on the unfulfilled promise to ensure the right to quality education for every child, youth and adult and fully realizing the transformational potential of education as a route for sustainable collective futures. To do this, we need a new social contract for education that can repair injustices while transforming the future.