OUR MESSAGETO
RIO+20Asian NGO Network on Education for Sustainable Development(ANNE)
We are NGOs, promoting ESD
at the local communities in Asia.

June 2012

Our Key Principles

ANNE is emphasizing on 4 perspectives in achieving sustainable development.

Key Perspective 1: Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)Core of sustainable development is people andpeople’s knowledge, value and attitude determine

implemented since 2005 with UNESCO as thelead agency. However, school education or formal

sustainable development, and therefore, educationis the key to sustainability. The importance ofeducation has been confirmed in the past UNCSD

education approach seems to be more dominant
than non-formal and informal education. How tobuild the capacity to deal with the complex issues

processes as seen in Chapter 36 of Agenda

at the grass root level should have received more

21. United Nations Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development (UNDESD) has beenattention.

Key Perspective 2 : Local Community
Majority of the poor and marginal population
still today primarily depends on the local natural
resources both for their livelihood and quality oflife. There are inherent sustainability values incommunity-based natural resource management.

Local community is the key unit of sustainable
development and therefore without sustainabilityof local natural resources, the global green
economy will not be possible.

Women

NGO working for sustainable local community development 1
Empowering local women - GRAM NIDHI eco-enterprises for sustainable
livelihoods.
Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Gujarat, India

2

OUR MESSAGE TO RIO+20

Key Perspective 3 : Non Governmental Organisations (NGO)In A s i a , t h e re a re n u m e ro u s N G Os t h a t
have been committed to the local sustainable

Looking at the reality of the local community
in Asia, there are numerous and profound day-development through taking the formal, nonformal and informal educational approach forthe local community empowerment. We haveto-day needs for activities to solve unsustainableissues, such as hygiene and sanitation problems,
depopulation of rural communities caused bydocumented, analysed and disseminated 34 local
community-based case studies during the Asia
Good ESD Practice Project (AGEPP). AGEPP

urbanisation and youth outmigration, poverty andloss of biodiversity and indigenous knowledge.
NGOs play a key role in finding culturally,

showcased the importance of not only formal,
but also non-formal and informal education as
the agent for change towards sustainable local

economically and socially appropriate solutions,developing and applying a locally adequate
knowledge by integrating local, indigenouscommunity development. We are convincedthat the local empowerment is the core elementof sustainable society, and that the local NGOs
often play the key role for facilitating the local
empowerment processes.

knowledge and modern, scientific expertise, andbridging the diverse local stakeholders including
marginalised people.

Key Perspective 4 : Asia
Asia will be the key global driving force
economically in the 21st Century and its way ofdevelopment will give significant impacts globally.

The solution against unsustainable patterns in Asia
is essential in achieving sustainable developmentof the world.

Residents

NGO working for sustainable local community development 2Saving city swamps & eco lake building project.
Jeonju Council for Local Agenda 21, Jeollabuk-do, Republic of Korea

Asian NGO Network on Education for Sustainable Development (ANNE)3Our message to Rio +20
We, the Asian NGO Network on Education for Sustainable Development (ANNE), met in
March 2012 in Bangkok, Thailand, and developed a following message to Rio+20:
ANNE actively working on ESD at the community level in Asia, documented, analysed anddisseminated 34 local community-based case studies during the Asia Good ESD Practice
Project (AGEPP). AGEPP showcased the importance of formal, non-formal and informal
education as the agent for change behind the communities’ quest towards achieving the realessence of sustainable development at the community level.
Through AGEPP, we recognized that majority of the poor and marginal population still
today primarily depend on the local natural resources both for their livelihood and qualityof life. We also found out that there are inherent sustainability values in community-based
natural resource management. Without sustainability of local natural resources, the global
green economy will not be possible. Thus, the sustainability of local natural resources
should be an integral part in determining the green economy.
In the absence of an effective and sustainable institutional mechanism, local communities
are not connected and well included in the design of the institutional framework forsustainable development (IFSD). That leaves the local communities nowhere in sight, andtheir voices are not recognized in the national and international development agendas.
Therefore, there is a need for adequately integrating local community components in IFSD.

Indigenous Peoples
NGO working for sustainable local community development 3
Ikarahan, the Northern indigenous people developed the environmentally soundand economically viable products and established their own school for theirfuture generation.
Kalahan Educational Foundation, Luzon, Philippines

4OUR MESSAGE TO RIO+20

We appeal the need and seek appropriate support and assistance for activities that would leadto developing green economy indicators at the local community level and also appropriate
institutional mechanisms. That would connect and include local community voices in
the national and global development agendas. We believe that the local communities candemonstrate an example to make sustainable development possible at the grass root level. It
can be achieved by empowering the local community. This is the learning and education
process, ESD. ESD is the driver of change to ensure the green economy and appropriate
IFSD.
We, ANNE, working on ESD at the local communities in Asia commit ourselves toworking together and are prepared to partner and collaborate with like-minded groups andindividuals. We are exploring strategic partnerships to empower the local communities
in enhancing ESD as the key to sustainable development that we hand over to our future
generations.

Rural-Urban

NGO working for sustainable local community
development 4
Connecting cities and rural villages - beyond
depopulation and urbanization
Green Earth Center (GEC), all areas of Japan

Asian NGO Network on Education for Sustainable Development (ANNE)

5About ANNE
ESD-J and 6 NGOs from 6 Asian countries
collaboratively conducted the Asia Good ESD

The idea of the Asia NGO Network on ESD(ANNE) was developed by the member NGOs

Practice Project (2006-08), in order to document
and analyse ESD efforts by the civil sector in Asia,and to strengthen the network among the AGEPP

who committed in AGEPP, and agreed on among
them at the Surabaya Workshop held in August
2010. ANNE is a network for NGOs that work

members through documentation. The membersincluded BINTARI Foundation (Indonesia),
Environmental Broadcasting Circle (Philippines),

for sustainable development and local community
empowerment in Asia, and is expected to beformally established by 2014, which is the final

Centre for Environment Education (India), NRCNFE (Nepal), Friend of Nature (China) andLocal Sustainability Alliance of Korea. 34 cases

year of the United Nations Decade on Educationfor Sustainable Development (UNDESD). The
report of the Surabaya Workshop is downloadable

were submitted under AGEPP. The case study
documents in English, Japanese, Indonesian,Tagalog, Chinese and Korean are downloadablefrom AGEPP website (www.agepp.net/)from the ESD-J web site:
http://www.esd-j.org/j/documents/g2a_project_proceedings.pdf

ANNE Background2005

Call for networking Asian NGOs on ESD at the Conference on
Education for a Sustainable Future, organised by CEE, India,
in January

2006-2008 Asia Good ESD Practice Project (AGEPP) – documented
and analysed 34 practices by 6 NGOs from China, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Philippines, and Nepal. Started
AGEPP web site: www.agepp.net/ and published AGEPP
Case Hand book
2008

AGEPP member made the policy proposal to G8 Summit
held in Japan, “Asian Civil Societies’ message to G8 Summit“Establish Effective Mechanism for Sustainable Society”

2010

Agreed on networking Asian NGOs on ESD at Surabaya
Workshop, in Indonesia. Developed a message from AGEPP
members to CBD COP 10 held in Japan, “Possible ESD
contribution to biodiversity conservation in Asia”

2012

Held the working group discussion on the establishment ofAsia NGO Network on ESD (ANNE) by 2014, the final yearof UN DESD, at Bangkok Workshop, in March. Developed amessage to Rio+20 by ANNE, “Our Message to Rio+20”

Photos show the ANNE discussion process from 2006 to 2012.

6OUR MESSAGE TO RIO+20

About ESD-JThe Japan Council on the UN Decade ofEducation for Sustainable Development (ESD-J)

social welfare, and peace and all these are working
for the same goal of achieving a sustainable

is a non-profit organization founded in 2003
in order to promote Education for SustainableDevelopment. ESD-J has developed an ESD
civil network by connecting the people andorganizations, such as NGOs, educationalworld. Based on this network, ESD-J’s activities
include policy advocacy, educational material
development, training and information sharing.

institutes, municipal governments, businessmore easily understood. ESD-J is involved withentities, and media. We conduct activities for thepromotion of ESD nationally and internationally.

development of ESD activity handbooks which
introduce local ESD activities, support of “networkmeetings” which bring together people fromdiverse fields to discuss local issues, and ESD

ESD-J members include about 100 organizations
and about 300 individuals from various fields,such as environment, development, human rights,

One main goal of activities is to make ESD

model community building.

ESD-J Activities
※
※
※
※
※

Policy Advocacy for ESD Promotion
Support for local ESD activities and networking
Develop international ESD networking
Information sharing with various media outlets
ESD Training and dissemination of information

Contact:

Japan Council on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD-J)
5-53-67-B2F Jingumae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001 Japan
E-mail:info_e@esd-j.org TEL:+81-3-3797-7227 FAX:+81-3-6277-7554

Asian NGO Network on Education for Sustainable Development (ANNE)7

We are NGOs, promoting ESD
at the local communities in Asia.

FishermenNGO working for sustainable local community
development 5
Fishermen’s climate change adaptation efforts throughdeveloping sustainable fishery.
BINTARI Foundation, Semarang City, Indonesia

Published by

Japan Council on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable (ESD-J)
This brochure was published with the support of Japan Fund for Global Environment.
＊ Cover photos show the ANNE discussion process from 2006 to 2012.