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ESD Promises and Challenges: Increasing its Relevance
Introduction
The expression “education for sustainable development” denotes a complex of concepts, theoretical constructs,
policy prescripts and practical methods and tools connecting education and learning to the social, economic andecological dimensions of sustainable development in their dynamic interaction. Education for sustainable development (ESD) is about how – through education and learning – individuals, groups, organizations and communities,
locally, nationally, regionally and globally, can move towards a greater sustainability of their social, cultural andeconomic practices, relations, institutions and arrangements.
The purpose of the eleven articles in this special issue of Global Environmental Research is to give a glimpse into
where the policy debate about ESD stands and how it might proceed as well as how in a variety of settings ESD isbeing practiced and thus ESD’s distinctive features are being operationalized and defined.
In this Preface we introduce the reader to the world of ESD which, at times, can seem impenetrable because of its
complexity, its manifold manifestations and its language. First, we give the context of the various articles. They referto the conceptualization, the policies and practices of ESD at various levels, whether international, regional, nationalor local. They deal with education and instruction as well as individual and social learning. They relate to ESD in formal settings (e.g., classrooms and schools), non-formal settings (e.g. nature reserves) or informal settings (e.g.,community development). And, they deal more or less explicitly with issues of environment and ecology, economic,
social and cultural development, as well as transition and transformation. Subsequently, we briefly introduce each of
the eleven articles separately. Close reading of the articles leads us in the last section of this Preface to present a set ofobservations with relevance to the theory, policy, research and practice of ESD.

ESD Manifestations
As a way of setting the stage and in order to capture the richness of what diverse groups and communities aroundthe world “do” as ESD practice, we invite the reader to consider five manifestations of ESD: at the local level, at thelevel of countries and geographical regions, at the international level and in the interplay between different levels.
Education, learning and action at the grassroots or community level
Growing numbers of local communities are being confronted by the combined challenges of deteriorating natural
resources, climate change, population transitions, economic transformations and cultural change. They have to findappropriate balances and trade-offs between cultural, social, economic and environmental necessities, demands andaspirations. Some Japanese examples presented in this issue show how a variety of local stakeholders have discovered
ways of using natural processes and ecosystem services to boost quality rice production, restore wetlands, andimprove biodiversity and water quantity and quality, while eliminating pesticides and revitalizing the regional
economy. They also show how school-based education and a great variety of non-formal and informal (social) learning facilitated the underlying processes of discovery and action. Another example from this special issue is the case of
the public health system of Kerala, India. It demonstrates the importance of local cultural traditions and practices that
could form a basis of culturally appropriate pedagogies. Their integration into formal and informal learning practices
leads to significant improvements in sustainability practices.
National policies and schemes
Subsequent to the Earth Summit (Rio 1992) and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg
2002) and in accordance with the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), a number of94

Prefacenational governments have taken the necessary measures to integrate ESD elements in national educational policies
and curricula related to formal education. The Japanese policy to increase the number of schools joining UNESCO’s
Associated Schools Project Network (ASPnet) to 500 in the country by 2014 is an interesting example thereof.
Another example is Kenya’s National ESD Strategy. Aiming at ESD integration across all sectors, Kenya developed
seven interlinked ESD implementation strategies, including the establishment of Regional Centres of Expertise(RCEs) for promoting ESD practice in formal, non-formal and informal learning settings.
Regional policy development
Some years ago, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), concerned about how ESD
would unfold in formal education and non-formal learning settings, asked an international group of experts tooperationalize the complexity of the ESD concept, with particular reference to the central role of the educators(UNECE, 2009). Recently the Expert Group has formulated “ESD competencies” for educators and recommendations
for policy makers for developing these competencies. These are expected to be used by countries and agencies toshape the training of educators and thus exert an “ESD” influence on actual teaching and learning practice.
Another example of regional policy development is “The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Environmental Education Action Plan 2008-2012,” a collaborative framework developed for addressing Environmental Education (EE) and ESD in the ASEAN countries. It focuses on four areas: the formal sector, the non-formal
sector, human resource capacity building and networking, and collaboration and communication. The plan contains avariety of actions, including an ASEAN eco-school network, capacity development for ASEAN leaders working with
ESD and sustainable development (SD), and a special ESD program for youth.
International policy development
As mentioned before, the UN DESD (2005-2014) is the most important international platform at which ESD
policy and practice are presented, shared, debated, assessed and further developed. The DESD, operating under
UNESCO’s auspices, was a direct result of the 2002 Johannesburg Summit. The Decade and its mid-term World
Conference on ESD in Bonn (2009) and the end-of-decade conference to be held in Japan (2014) are an example of
how international momentum is being maintained to promote ESD and to make it a compelling idea across the world.
The DESD provides for the liaison with the educational, learning and communication aspects of other international
conventions and schemes that have immediate relevance to the earth’s sustainability and humanity’s sustainable
development, such as Article Six of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Communication, Education and Public Awareness (CEPA) Work Programme of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD),
the UN Decade on Biodiversity (2011-2020), the Marrakech Process and its Framework Programme on Sustainable
Consumption and Production, the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the UN Convention against
Corruption, and multiple conventions and agreements on human rights.
Across local, regional and global levels
The challenges facing humanity, whether related to climate change, rising food prices or financial and economic
turmoil, are global; while much of their manifestation is local. Learning about these challenges and creating appropriate responses can therefore not be confined to either the local or the global level, exclusively. Local understanding andaction must inform global understanding and action and vice versa. This reality has been the stimulus to bring together
the rich insights, practice and expertise in ESD across local, national, regional and international institutions with theRegional Centre of Expertise on ESD (RCE) initiative. Individual RCEs are networks of local/regional organizations
with joint strategies to implement DESD goals in the regions where they operate. By December 2010, 85
multi-stakeholder networks spreading across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas have been acknowledged as RCEs
by the United Nations University. RCEs are engaged in collaborative research, capacity development, policy andoperational activities across the continents and globally. In this special issue, OFEI-MANU & SHIMANO refer to theGreater Sendai RCE (Japan) and TAYLOR to the KwaZulu Natal RCE (South Africa).

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ESD, the Concept
ESD is not a fixed entity. It has many predecessors, both in theory and in practice. Especially since the Johannesburg Summit (2002) and the launch of the DESD in 2005, both the concept and the practice ESD have been promoted
worldwide. ESD cannot be equated with one particular and codified educational or instructional method or practice,such as “discovery learning” or “experiential learning,” nor with “environmental studies” or “social studies” for thatmatter. ESD can be associated with but is certainly not the same as “climate change education,” “disaster preparedness
education” or “community development.” ESD includes and encompasses any of these practices and approaches, andmore, as illustrated by the articles in this special issue. ESD does not represent particular pedagogies, whether“Dalton,” “Dewey,” “Freire,” “Montessori” or “Steiner,” or “humanistic,” “Buddhist,” “Christian,” “Jewish” or“Islamic” teachings. It embraces some of their basic tenets. ESD goes beyond mere socialization, knowledge transmission, skills learning or awareness-raising. It invites the learners to engage as actors – individually and collectively – inthe realities and challenges with which they are confronted, while transforming these same realities in the perspectiveof greater social, economic, cultural and environmental sustainability.
ESD practice manifests itself in many different settings: in classrooms, seminar rooms and laboratories, in local
communities and community associations, in museums, in the media, in nature reserves and national parks, in corporate institutions, in all spheres and sectors of production and consumption and in the policy development arena. The
great diversity of its manifestations is both ESD’s strength and weakness. It can inspire and give direction to learningand education in a great variety of circumstances; it is flexible. Actually one of its important features is that those who“practice” ESD, i.e., “teachers” and “learners,” are invited to experiment with the methods, techniques and content
appropriate to their particular circumstances and context. ESD’s flexibility could lead to it being regarded as “allthings to all people,” however. This is its potential weakness. An “anything goes” interpretation could undermine theconcept’s traction among educational practitioners and policy makers alike.

ESD’s Distinctive Features
In order to enhance ESD’s traction, it is useful to identify a number of distinctive features that can guide the search
for appropriate ESD practice. They have to do with the educational approaches and methods that will enable learners
to actively engage with the three dimensions of sustainable development: (a) natural capital (the planet and its natural
resources), (b) manufactured capital (the stock of humanity’s physical infrastructure), and (c) cultural, social andhuman capital (the stock of humanity’s knowledge and technology, together with social, cultural and economic formations, arrangements and mechanisms).
Central to ESD is the E of education and learning – the ways and the methods with which people, individually andcollectively, understand their reality, come to grips with it and can act on it. ESD postulates that learning does not happen in isolation, but that it is a social act, inside and outside the classroom or seminar room. Knowledge and understanding are not fixed entities, they are continuously unfolding. Learning, moreover, is meaning making: finding one’s
place or the community’s place or the group’s place in an unfolding reality and making sense of it, through reflexive
action. Learning and education is context and situation-based. Learning and education include knowledge andunderstanding of scientific facts and processes, but they are also related to prior knowledge and understanding (e.g.,cultural norms and indigenous or traditional knowledge). As said before, learning and education recognize that local
action and dynamics may have global consequences and vice versa.
ESD is education and learning for sustainable development. Sustainable development refers to the complexity andintegrated character of humanity’s physical and man-made environment and the development thereof. It recognizes
the systemic forward feeding and backward feeding loops between its three central dimensions: planetary/ecological/environmental, social/cultural and economic, linking past, present and future. With the natural environment acting
as a boundary and basis for human activity, sustainable development encompasses how human communities interact
among themselves and evolve and modify their social, economic and political institutions and mechanisms, while atthe same time interacting with their environment, using it, altering it or adapting to it.
Sustainable development recognizes that humans (re-) create their ecological, social and economic environment ona daily basis. Humans are agents, not necessarily pawns or innocent victims. Within more or less permutable boundaries – of nature, of social and cultural arrangements, of economic and political conditions and power – individuals and96

Prefacegroups can exercise their influence to change circumstances and create conditions for greater social, economic andecological sustainability. It is because of this condition that learning and education are so central. It allows people totake constructive action for creating the conditions for more sustainable livelihoods and well-being of themselves andfuture generations. Apart from being an individual endeavour, learning and action take place in a social and collaborative setting, involving a variety of groups, often with competing, contesting and conflicting interests.
Both the content of ESD and its “pedagogical” premises have a strong future orientation. In a school setting, frompre-school through technical vocational training to university, pupils and students are encouraged to understand theirenvironments and realities and acquire the skills for making present and future choices that will exercise a positive
influence on the sustainability thereof. Similarly, in non-formal and informal learning settings, ESD aims forunderstanding and responsibility-taking as well as initiatives and investments by individuals and their communities
and organizations (locally, regionally, globally) that have “sustainability” repercussions. These actions and initiatives
are meant to create conditions for longer-lasting effects, in such a way that future generations will work from a social,economic and ecological basis that is preferably better than what exists today.
With such a complex pedigree, it is no wonder that ESD is not fixed. It is a continuously unfolding concept as wellas practice. Through policy, research and practice at local, national, regional and international levels, ESD is moving
into a promising direction, while gaining greater public and greater political recognition.

The Articles in the Special Issue
We invite the readers of this special issue to explore how ESD has come into being, how it is unfolding, and how
strong ESD’s traction can be in terms of policy making as well as educational and learning practice on the ground. In
the following sections we offer a brief annotated description of each article, arranged into four groups, dealing with
(1) international ESD policy, (2) national ESD realities, (3) biodiversity, ecosystem services and traditional knowledge,and (4) agency and system thinking in practice.
Group one: international ESD policy
The articles in this group depict the international stage on which ESD was launched and the background against
which the theory and practice of ESD have been developing since. In addition to offering a brief history of the international discourse, the articles focus on how far ESD has been “adopted” by the international community, and how far it
still has to go. This assessment gains significance in the light of the forthcoming Rio+20 Conference (Earth Summit2012), when this same international community will determine the degree to which it has been able to come to grips
with the developmental and environmental challenges that have only increased in significance since Rio (1992) andJohannesburg (2002).
Both TILBURY and WALS concentrate on the evolution of the UN DESD, initiated under the impetus of theGovernments of Japan, Germany, Canada and Sweden. On the basis of their close involvement in the DESD theauthors sketch possible paths forward. TILBURY focuses on the countries’ monitoring and evaluation actions for
DESD that have been and still need to be undertaken in order to demonstrate the extent to which they have adopted
the language, the policies and practices of ESD. She highlights the goals, principles and results related to the threestages of the process, as developed by the Monitoring and Evaluation Expert Group (MEEG). According to TILBURY,
monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is a mechanism for implementing the DESD goals. It enables stakeholders toreflect on the type of changes emerging as a result of ESD actions and to understand the future directions for ESD
development.
WALS, the main author of the study reviewing the UN DESD at its mid-term (UNESCO, 2009), argues that traditions of national governance could define the focus of ESD as either facilitating social learning or emphasizingchanges in peoples’ behavior. From the premise that the diversity of political and socio-cultural realities leads not only
to a variety of ESD interpretations but also to a diversity of relations between ESD and EE in the regions, he analyses
perspectives and strategies on SD and ESD in the Asia-Pacific region. The author presents “social learning” and“competencies for sustainable development” as promising concepts for exploring learning processes and theiroutcomes.

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Group two: national ESD realities
In contrast to the international view of the preceding articles, the articles in this group join experts and practitioners at the country level. Examined are: how they perceive the international ESD discourse, how they translate ESD
concepts and approaches into national policies, how they operationalize those policies and what, according to them,needs to be done for ESD to have broader acceptance and effectiveness.
The articles by LEAL and GROSS & NAKAYAMA are representative of ESD research aiming at informing policy
priorities of the DESD. Such survey-based research relies on the input of recognized experts in the fields of ESD andenvironmental education. The DESD and its strategic priorities, as defined by UNESCO, heavily condition the designof the questionnaires and the interpretation of the results.
LEAL reports on the “state of affairs” of ESD in Europe. He reflects on the results of a survey among ESD experts
in the countries belonging to the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The author shows that ESD
concepts and practice have not yet found enough traction in order to make the difference hoped for. He calls on
governments to undertake action that can overcome a number of the constraints identified.
Similarly, GROSS & NAKAYAMA report on a survey conducted among international experts, with a special focus
on German and Japanese experts, assessing how far the DESD had moved and how far it still had to move at its
half-way point in 2009. They identify networking and the involvement of NGOs, scientists and youth as critical drivers for advancing ESD and accomplishing UNESCO’s Action and Strategy Goals in this respect.
NOGUCHI reports on the significant features of community-based ESD cases in Japan and Asia, with reference totwo projects carried out by the Japan Council on the UN DESD (ESD-J) – a consortium of Japanese NGOs that havespearheaded a proposal for the DESD. The cases are a good illustration of “situated learning” in practice. From aparticular Asian perspective, they emphasize the importance of informal learning processes in community-based
efforts for conserving and/or revitalizing local nature and culture and reinventing local identity more in line withsustainability principles – often in response to “development projects” imposed by national or local governments onrural communities.
Group three: biodiversity, ecosystem services and traditional knowledge
Environment and environmental protection are a common entry point for much ESD, but there are many otherentry points or lenses as well: climate change, water, food, human rights, health, sustainable production and consumption, livelihoods and lifestyles. One can also view ESD from the perspective of the learners and their particular conditions and cultural traditions. Many of these entry points and perspectives, some more explicit than others, are represented and illustrated in the articles grouped here. They show that for ESD to be credible and effective on the groundit has to embrace and combine “modern,” “scientific,” “traditional” and culturally and situationally appropriate
perspectives and practices.
SUNEETHA & BALAKRISHNAN argue that the threat to or loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, apartfrom diminishing the planet’s ecological sustainability create inequities in human access to resources and to the benefits derived from them. Education and learning and a greater coherence between different international instruments
and schemes, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the UN DESD, can make a major contribution to
mitigating and redressing the sustainability of natural resources and therefore enhancing the conditions for sustainablehuman development.
With the “wise use” concept of wetlands as their lens, OFEI-MANU & SHIMANO show how ESD has been
operating on the ground in Japan. They present the example of the social-ecological system of Osaki-Tajiri (Japan).
They show how, through social and collective learning, local stakeholders have become involved in a process ofunderstanding the ecological and biological intricacies of wetlands and rice paddies, while undertaking actions toenhance the social, economic and ecological sustainability of their community. They also describe the barriers encountered and the great challenges ahead.
From the point of view that sustainable development is about countering and mitigating the effects of the untenable
use of natural resources, PAYYAPPALLI & KOIKE demonstrate that biological and cultural diversity are inherently
linked, and that they can serve as entry point for ESD practice on the ground. In the case of Kerala, India, they discuss
how “modern” and “traditional” health practices and techniques attract and reject each other simultaneously and how
traditional or indigenous knowledge can be integrated or “balanced” in practical community learning and education
programs.

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Group four: agency and systems thinking in practice
The transformational aspirations of ESD, only hinted at in many of this special issue’s articles, bring to the fore its
potential for change even radical change. ESD goes beyond addressing the classic problems of development. By
encouraging agency of all actors in society, ESD has a forward-looking orientation on social innovation and diversity.
In this sense ESD holds a clear emancipatory promise. At the same time, ESD is premised on the notion that learning
should start from and with the learners’ own personal experiences and situations. The three articles assembled here
illustrate the underlying principles.
The MEHLMANN et al. and TAYLOR articles explicitly work with the emancipatory approach to learning bybuilding on a variety of assumptions and philosophies that challenge conventional learning models, steeped in linear
thinking, information transfer and a disregard of learner’s agency. In particular, MEHLMANN et al. share insights
into the nature and principles of effective learning and the application thereof in primary schools in Ukraine. Educating for strong social learning and for strong sustainability – a guiding principle of Global Action Plan International
which the authors represent – is discussed from the viewpoint of its theoretical underpinnings, learning processes andteaching methods. The authors stipulate that meaningful and, most importantly, lasting learning can take place only if
the learners are empowered to make sustainable decisions or “care to act.” Context and learning by and from experience are brought forward as other critical components of behavior change for sustainability.
Similarly to the position of MEHLMANN et al., TAYLOR disputes the effectiveness of simply communicating
messages for the purposes of behavior change and calls for different models of teaching, learning and associatedsocial transformation for achieving meaningful and lasting change. He uses the notions of “triad of control,” “practicalreason” and the “open process framework” to elucidate the elements of situated, collaborative meaning making, while
linking them to an actual example of learning during a cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe. He shows that by relating cholera symptoms to scientific facts and explanations, by trying out new ideas and by deliberating the results of such
experiments, learners gained a new understanding of cholera, sanitation and hygiene in their social, economic andenvironmental context. As a consequence, they were enabled to act appropriately.
Building on a variety of examples from policies and practices related to, among others, natural resource use, farming, climate change and economic growth and development, SODERQUIST & OVERAKKER discuss how learning
can be incomplete because of common limitations in ways of thinking, such as the application of too narrow boundaries or time frames, the neglect of time delays and the assumption of one-way causality. The authors present a framework for developing mental models that can address adaptive challenges. It suggests using processes, thinking skills
and technologies that improve the ability of learners to address systemic and complexity aspects of sustainable
development. As illustrations thereof, some educational initiatives that incorporate elements of systems thinking are
mentioned.

Observations
The articles in this special issue cannot fully represent the state of play of ESD. Nevertheless, on the basis of
ESD’s unfolding picture, together with theartciles’ arguments and examples, we can formulate a set of observations
about the possible directions in which ESD theory, policy, research and practice might be evolving.
It is encouraging to see that ESD thinking and practice are increasingly being connected to global and local
initiatives and conventions in such planetary domains as climate change, biodiversity, water, food, economic equity,
social justice, etc. For the same reason ESD is connecting itself to development approaches and methods with longer
histories and traditions, such as farming systems research and integrated agriculture, rural and community development and mapping, and the use of “indigenous” knowledge. In this sense, ESD is becoming less isolated and more
integrated.
The width and depth of the ESD definition allows for multiple interpretations of ESD’s philosophy, principles andpractices. Due to its rather all-encompassing nature ESD is often seen as a politically convenient “umbrella” for various other educational or learning agendas (e.g., UNESCO, 1996). Rather than providing an overarching framework,
ESD can also be seen as a supplementary framework to these other agendas, whether Education for All (EFA), the UN
Literacy Decade (UNLD) or the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It would, however, be naïve to hopethat potential synergies will materialize without further critical analysis and carefully supported actions. Because
being developed in response to sustainability or development issues in particular geographical, political or social con-

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texts, educational movements and sustainability initiatives have their own philosophy, goals and main players, as wellas their own unique history. Systematic clarification of the unique, the particular and the local as opposed to or in
combination with the overarching, the common and global in these initiatives might help to facilitate actual convergence of efforts, going beyond mere hope or lip service.
However, ESD’s multifaceted and all-encompassing nature could also be to its detriment. Because of the difficultyof “grasping” it, there might be a tendency to make ESD more “manageable.” This happens, for example, by turning
ESD into a somewhat beefed-up version of more narrowly defined “environmental education” or “social studies.” Italso happens, when ESD – in the international scene – is simply subsumed under the Education for All (EFA)
umbrella. In both cases ESD’s “critical” characteristics do not receive the credit they deserve. ESD departs from the
EFA agenda in that it is relevant to both “developed” and “developing” countries. Because of the rather dominant
notion of sustainable development, which seeks to change unsustainable patterns of consumption in a context of“limits to growth,” ESD is often viewed as a “luxury” that can be addressed only after “development” has beenachieved. ESD-J’s efforts to highlight informal learning processes in community-based initiatives for local sustainability in Japan and Asia (see NOGUCHI in this special issue), however, may offer a key to directly linking ESD topoverty reduction in “developing countries.” In ESD-J’s formulation, ESD is concerned not so much with overshooting the Earth’s carrying capacity but rather with a “reappraisal” of what has been or is being lost in the process of
rapid modernization. Thus, ESD is essentially conceptualized as a dynamic process of building civil and civic capacity
in realizing sustainable local development. It would be a pity if, just in order to enhance its international visibility,
ESD’s transformative nature would be diluted by an opportunistic alignment of ESD with the MDGs and EFA
agendas.
With respect to the results of ESD or ESD’s effects on sustainable development, there is a fourth observation.
Many of the articles can be regarded as more or less systematic descriptions of certain ESD concepts, policies, situations, projects and practices. A number of them illustrate what ESD is or can be under certain circumstances. However,
the evidence of ESD’s effects or results is mostly anecdotal. None of the articles refer to actual analytical researchusing specifically designed and systematically applied data gathering instruments. It could be plausibly argued thattraditional social science research approaches and instruments are not particularly suited to ESD. By its own nature,
ESD is exploratory, experimental and meaning-making. Therefore, ESD-based initiatives and schemes cannot be
observed through a simple input-output lens, where the input is the “teacher” and the instructional content and the output is what the “students”“reproduce” in their tests and exams, while what goes on between “teachers” and “students”
and “among students” themselves is treated as an impenetrable “black box.” A research approach more in tune with
ESD’s characterizing features should pay explicit attention to what goes on in the “black box” of the learning situation; it should take into account the interaction between the learners and their own home, community, local and global
context. Action research, which places a premium on the full engagement and involvement of those whose actions anddecisions are “being researched,” shows promise in this respect. Nevertheless, there remains the research challenge to
produce systematic, reliable and valid “demonstrable evidence” of the actual learning effects among ESD learners andof the influence their “learning” exerts on sustainable development choices and conditions.

Conclusion
The articles in this special issue show the promise and potential of ESD in terms of concept, policy, practice andresearch. The editors hope that they can spur other practitioners, thinkers, researchers and policy makers to undertake
greater and more systematic efforts at documenting and demonstrating what it takes to realize effective ESD in practice. This would be a great contribution to the Rio Earth Summit in 2012 and the UN DESD end-of-decade conferencein Japan in 2014.

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References
UNECE (2009) Steering Committee on Education for Sustainable Development Proposal for the Establishment of an Expert Group on
Competencies in Education for Sustainable Development, ECE/CEP/AC.13/2009/7, 26 December 2008.
http://www.unece.org/env/ documents/2009/ECE/CEP/AC.13/ece.cep.ac.13.2009.7.e.pdf
UNESCO (1996) Learning: The Treasure Within, The report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the
Twenty-first Century, UNESCO publishing, Paris.
UNESCO (2009) Review of Contexts and Structures for Education for Sustainable Development 2009: Learning for a Sustainable World.
http://www.unesco.org/education/justpublished_desd2009.pdf

Frans LENGLET
Swedish International Centre of Education for Sustainable Development (SWEDESD)
at Gotland University

Zinaida FADEEVA
Education for Sustainable Development Programme,
United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS)

Yoko MOCHIZUKI
Education for Sustainable Development Programme,
United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS)

Frans LENGLET
Frans Lenglet is Director of the Swedish International Centre of Education for Sustainable
Development (SWEDESD) at Gotland University. He is a Dutch national with a PhD in International
Development Education from Stanford University. He has more than 37 years of professional experiencein the design, implementation, management and research of educational reform and capacity developmentin Africa, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America, in association with universities, NGOs, theWorld Bank, UNESCO and ILO and national ministries of education, agriculture and finance. Frans
Lenglet is currently working on identifying, testing and disseminating appropriate, innovative andeffective content, approaches and methods of education and learning for sustainable development, aimed
at empowering individuals, communities and organizations to acquire and act on sustainable choices about
the cultural, social, economic and bio-physical conditions affecting the livelihoods and well-being ofthemselves, other people and future generations, within planetary boundaries.
E-mail: frans.lenglet@hgo.se
Zinaida FADEEVA
Dr. Zinaida Fadeeva is a Research Fellow at the United Nations University Institute of Advanced
Studies (UNU-IAS). Her main responsibilities include undertaking research projects and organising
activities within the framework of the Education for Sustainable Development Programme. Her researchinterests relate to the topics of interorganisational learning and partnerships development, assessment ofhigher education, and sustainable production and consumption systems, among others. She also
coordinates and teaches sustainability-related courses at several universities at the Asia-Pacific region andleadership programmes for the private and public sectors. Before joining UNU-IAS, she worked withresearch and non-governmental organisations in Europe and former Soviet Union countries, dealing withquestions of industry and the environment, nature protection, ecosystem management, human rights andgovernance.
Yoko MOCHIZUKI
Yoko Mochizuki is a Research Fellow for the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
Programme of the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS). Prior to joining
UNU-IAS, she was an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Development, Teachers
College, Columbia University, and taught courses in Comparative Sociology of Education. Her current
research focuses on the theory and practice of ESD and the sociology of international development. In
particular, her research interests include interlinkages between ESD and different fields and movements
for educational transformation, ESD in development cooperation and the convergence and divergence
between ESD and Education for All (EFA). Mochizuki is a Japanese national with a PhD in Comparativeand International Education from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Columbia University.