Aichi-Nagoya Declaration on Education for Sustainable Development
We, the participants of the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development held in AichiNagoya, Japan, from 10 to 12 November 2014, adopt this Declaration and call for urgent action to further strengthenand scale up Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), in order to enable current generations to meet theirneeds while allowing future generations to meet their own, with a balanced and integrated approach regarding theeconomic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. This Declaration recognises that people
are at the centre of sustainable development and builds on the achievements of the United Nations (UN) Decade ofESD (2005-2014); the deliberations of the UNESCO World Conference on ESD in Aichi-Nagoya; and the Stakeholder
Meetings held in Okayama, Japan, from 4 to 8 November 2014, namely, UNESCO ASPnet International ESD events,
the UNESCO ESD Youth Conference, the Global Regional Centres of Expertise Conference, and other relevant
events and consultation processes, including regional ministerial meetings. We express our sincere gratitude to theGovernment of Japan for hosting the UNESCO World Conference on ESD.
1. CELEBRATING the significant achievements made by the UN Decade of ESD (2005-2014), in particular, inputting ESD higher on national and international agendas, advancing policy, improving the conceptual
understanding of ESD, and generating substantive good practice amongst a wide range of stakeholders,
2. EXPRESSING our appreciation to many governments, UN entities, non-governmental organizations, all types of
educational institutions and setups, educators and learners in schools, communities and workplaces, youth, thescientific community, academia and other stakeholders who have actively committed to and participated in theimplementation of the UN Decade of ESD, and to UNESCO for the leadership role it has played as lead agency ofthe Decade,3. RECALLING the international commitment to further promoting ESD that was included in the outcome documentof the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), The Future We Want,th

4. NOTING that the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD, endorsed by the 37 session of the General
Conference of UNESCO as a follow up to the Decade of ESD and a concrete contribution to the post-2015
agenda, aims at generating and scaling up ESD actions in all levels and areas of education, training and learning,
5. REAFFIRMING ESD as a vital means of implementation for sustainable development, as recognised inintergovernmental agreements on climate change (Article 6 of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Changeand its Doha work programme), biodiversity (Article 13 of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its work
programmes and related decisions), disaster risk reduction (Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015), sustainableconsumption and production (Sustainable Lifestyles and Education Programme of the 10-Year Framework ofProgrammes on Sustainable Consumption and Production 2012-2021), and children’s rights (Articles 24[2], 28
and 29 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child), among many others,
6. WELCOMING the growing international recognition of ESD as an integral and transformative element of inclusive
quality education and lifelong learning and an enabler for sustainable development, as demonstrated by theinclusion of ESD as a target in the Muscat Agreement adopted at the 2014 Global Education For All Meeting andin the proposal for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the Open Working Group of the UN General
Assembly on SDGs,
7. RECOGNISING the establishment of the UNESCO-Japan Prize on ESD approved by the Executive Board ofthUNESCO at its 195 session,We, the participants,
8. EMPHASISE the potential of ESD to empower learners to transform themselves and the society they live in bydeveloping knowledge, skills, attitudes, competences and values required for addressing global citizenship andlocal contextual challenges of the present and the future, such as critical and systemic thinking, analyticalproblem-solving, creativity, working collaboratively and making decisions in the face of uncertainty, andunderstanding of the interconnectedness of global challenges and responsibilities emanating from suchawareness,

9. STRESS that ESD is an opportunity and a responsibility that should engage both developed and developing
countries in intensifying efforts for poverty eradication, reduction of inequalities, environmental protection andeconomic growth, with a view to promoting equitable, more sustainable economies and societies benefiting allcountries, especially those most vulnerable such as Small Island Developing States and Least DevelopedCountries,
10. UNDERSCORE that the implementation of ESD should fully take into consideration local, national, regional andglobal contexts, as well as the contribution of culture to sustainable development and the need for respecting
peace, non-violence, cultural diversity, local and traditional knowledge and indigenous wisdom and practices, anduniversal principles such as human rights, gender equality, democracy, and social justice,
11. APPRECIATE the commitments to ESD expressed by all concerned stakeholders through their specificcontributions to the GAP Launch Commitments,
12. COMMIT ourselves to building and maintaining the momentum of the launching of the GAP, in its five Priority
Action Areas for ESD, namely policy support, whole-institution approaches, educators, youth, and localcommunities, through inclusive quality education and lifelong learning via formal, non-formal and informal settings,
13. CALL UPON all concerned stakeholders, including governments and their affiliated institutions and networks, civilsociety organisations and groups, the private sector, media, the academic and research community, andeducation and training institutions and centres as well as UN entities, bilateral and multilateral development
agencies and other types of intergovernmental organisations at all levels, to: a) set specific goals, b) develop,
support and implement activities, c) create platforms for sharing experiences (including ICT-based platforms), andd) strengthen monitoring and evaluation approaches in the five Priority Action Areas of the GAP in a synergisticmanner,
14. URGE all concerned stakeholders, in particular Ministries of Education and all ministries involved with ESD, higher
education institutions and the scientific and other knowledge communities to engage in collaborative andtransformative knowledge production, dissemination and utilization, and promotion of innovation across sectoraland disciplinary boundaries at the science-policy-ESD practice interface to enrich decision-making and capacity
building for sustainable development with emphasis on involving and respecting youth as key stakeholders,
15. INVITE governments of UNESCO Member States to make further efforts to:a) Review the purposes and values that underpin education, assess the extent to which education policy andcurricula are achieving the goals of ESD; reinforce the integration of ESD into education, training, and sustainable
development policies, with a special attention paid to system-wide and holistic approaches and multi-stakeholder
cooperation and partnerships between actors of the education sector, private sector, civil society and thoseworking in the various areas of sustainable development; and ensure the education, training and professional
development of teachers and other educators to successfully integrate ESD into teaching and learning;b) Allocate and mobilise substantial resources to translate policies into actions, especially building necessary
institutional capacities for both formal and non-formal education and learning at national and sub-national levels
along the five Priority Actions Areas of the GAP; andc) Reflect and strengthen ESD in the post-2015 agenda and its follow-up processes, ensuring, first, that ESD is
maintained as a target in the education goal and also integrated in SDGs as a cross-cutting theme; and, second,that the outcomes of the 2014 World Conference on ESD are taken into consideration at the World Education
Forum 2015 to be held in Incheon, Republic of Korea from 19 to 22 May 2015,
16. REQUEST UNESCO’s Director-General to continue to:a) Provide global leadership, support policy synergy, and facilitate communication for ESD, in cooperation withgovernments, other UN entities, development partners, private sector and civil society, within the framework of theUNESCO Roadmap to Implement the GAP;b) Harness partnerships and mobilise networks including the UNESCO ASPnet, UNESCO Chairs, Centres under theauspices of UNESCO, the World Network of Biosphere Reserves and World Heritage Sites, as well as UNESCO
Clubs and Associations; andc) Advocate the importance of ensuring adequate resources including funding for ESD.