IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2012) 3-2

Special Contribution on EFA and ESD Review article
erd

Beyond ESD-EFA Dialogue
YOKO MOCHIZUKI*
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Paris, France
Email: y.mochizuki@unesco.org
Received 30 June 2012

Accepted 1 October 2012(*: Corresponding Author)

Abstract The importance of the role of education in achieving sustainable development isunderscored by the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). As
the final year of the DESD approaching in 2014 and the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs) and Education for All (EFA) goals approaching their target date in 2015, this article provides an overview of the emerging context in which Education for Sustainable
Development (ESD) and EFA are played out, based primarily on the review of the recent
UN publications. Building upon the outcomes of the Rio+20 conference and on-going rethinking of development trajectories, the article calls for going beyond the traditional
ESD-EFA dialogue and reshaping education as a critical lever for realizing more resilient,equitable and sustainable societies. The understanding that people are essential agents for
redirecting development paths should profoundly change the ways in which education policy-makers craft and implement education policy.
Keywords Education for Sustainable Development, ESD, Education for All, EFA, climatechange, Rio+20

INTRODUCTIONThe United Nations (UN) Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), spanning
2005-2014, marked its midpoint in 2009. As a global education initiative coordinated by the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the DESD has been closelyaligned, at least conceptually, to the forerunning global education and development initiatives, notably the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Education for All (EFA) movement(see, for example, UNESCO, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009). Whereas the conceptual alignment of‘education  for  sustainability’  with  ‘development  goals’  is  at  times  negatively  interpreted (by someenvironmental educators) as diluting the project of transformative learning for the transition to sustainability, promoting dialogue between Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and EFA
has been emphasized by UNESCO as its official strategy to mobilize support for the DESD. Suchsearching for common ground between EFA and ESD has led UNESCO to the obvious position
that they are both about improving the quality of education. This special section of International
Journal of Environmental and Rural Development is an attempt to advance ESD-EFA synergies bytaking a closer look at the present situation and future prospects of cooperation between ESD and
EFA stakeholders and activities. This article, as an introduction to the section, provides an overview of the emerging context in which EFA and ESD are played out.
SHAPING THE NEW GLOBAL EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT AGENDA
A renewed focus on learning
The 1990 adoption of the EFA goals at the World Conference on EFA (Jomtien, Thailand) demonstrated an international commitment to meeting basic learning needs for all. This commitment wasaffirmed  in  the  2000  Dakar  Framework  for  Action’s  Goal  6,  which  focuses  on  “improving  every  aspect of the quality of education, and ensuring their excellence so that recognized and measurable
learning outcomes   are   achieved   by   all,   especially   in   literacy,   numeracy   and   essential   life   skills”  ⒸISERD1

IJERD – International Journal of Environmental and Rural Development (2012) 3-2(UNESCO, 2000, p.8). As we approach the target year of the EFA goals and MDGs in 2015, there
is growing concern that millions of children and youth do not have the basic knowledge and skills
necessary to succeed in school and life.
Since the official establishment of MDGs in 2000, most developing countries have sought toachieve the education MDGs (MDGs 2 and 3) and EFA goals as part of their national development
policies, education policy formulation and planning, budget allocations and strategic interventions,with support from international and bilateral agencies which in turn aim at achieving these goals as
part of their development assistance strategies. At the same time, high political profile of the
MDGs (agreed by Heads of States) has overshadowed the EFA goals (agreed by sector Ministers).
Education MDGs are restricted to primary level education (MDG 2) and gender equality (MDG 3).
While EFA has always been not only about guaranteeing access but also about achieving quality
learning for all since its inception in 1990, the strong focus on education MDGs has distorted progress with EFA, masking a variety of disparities and neglecting critical factors beyond access andcompletion of primary education.
The education MDGs underline enrolment rates, completion rates and gender parity index as
key indicators of educational development, which has significantly contributed to making advocacy
messages easy to understand and directing   countries’   efforts   towards   getting   more   children   into  school and reducing disparities between groups. These indicators are, however, inadequate for assessing benefits gained from investing in education. It is not access, completion or parity per se thatmatters; it is learning achievement that correlates with development both at individual and collective levels. The  World  Bank’s  education  strategy  now  has  a  new  emphasis  on  learning  achievement  over  enrolment:  “ultimately  what  matters  for  growth  is not the years that student spend in school,but   what   they   learn”  (World   Bank,   2011,   p.   12).   In   order   to   “shift  the   conversation   in   education  from  a  heavy  focus  on  access  to  access  plus  learning”  and  “ensure  that  learning  for  all  is  a  central  component of the  global  development  agenda”,  UNESCO  and  the  Center  for  Universal  Education  at the Brookings Institution convened a “Learning Metrics Task Force” to identify common competencies (learning outcomes) at early childhood, primary and post-primary education levels (Global
Compact for Learning, 2012).
Furthermore, to make a final push to meet the MDGs and prepare for the post-2015 agenda,
the UN Secretary-General  launched  the  global  education  initiative  “Education  First”  in  September  2012. The five-year initiative has three pillars: (1) put every child in school; (2) improve the qualityof education; and (3) foster global citizenship. The second and third pillars demonstrate a renewed
focus on learning, providing ample room for ESD implementation as an integral element of quality
learning. Notably, the initiative identifies   “understanding   local   environments,   designing   greener  technologies, changing consumption and production patterns and coping better with the impacts ofeconomic  and  natural  shocks”  as  skills  essential  to  ensuring  environmental  sustainability,  which  is
added to the list of critical roles of education in development (UN Secretary-General, 2012, p.11).
The Education First initiative provides a platform to enhance the ESD-EFA synergies by recognizing the role of education in promoting environmental awareness, knowledge and skills in addition
to its classic roles in enhancing gender equality, economic opportunities and health.
ESD and Rio+20
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012, also referred to as Rio+20,
provided UN agencies an opportunity to articulate the role of education in contributing to sustainable  development.  As  one  of  the  two  main  themes  of  the  conference,  “green  economy”  has  emerged  as a pathway towards sustainable development. As inputs into Rio+20, many UN documents were
published with explicit references to the role of education in making a transition to greener economies. For one, UNESCO (2011) published a report entitled From Green Economies to Green Societies:   UNESCO’s   Commitment   to   Sustainable   Development, highlighting ESD and greening
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) as important educational contributions
to sustainable development.
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A number of other UN reports also noted the significance of ESD. The UN Environment Management Group (2011)  called  for  ESD  to  ingrain  “requisite  attitudes,  knowledge  and  values  needed  for responsible eco-citizenship”  (p.103).  The UNDP Human Development Report 2011, titled Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All, demonstrated that progress in human development
cannot continue without paying adequate attention to sustainability and equity. In its brief referenceto   the   DESD,   the   Report   singled   out   “tempering   excessive   consumption”   and   “encouraging   sustainable consumption”  as  a  major  goal  of  ESD  (UNDP   2011,  p.27,  Box  2.3).  While  the  UNDP’s  interpretation of ESD was considerably narrower than UNESCO’s   definition, this is neverthelessone indication that ESD is being mainstreamed into the development agenda.
The International Labour Organization’s (ILO/Cedefop, 2011) report Skills for Green Jobs: A
Global View made a conclusion that strongly supports integration of ESD at all levels of education,although it did not use the term ESD: “Coherent  multi-level skills development responses are seenas the most effective approach to greening economies, as they address both consumption and production patterns. They influence consumption by raising environmental awareness through generalschooling or mass media; and they help production move to more environmentally conscious practices through training programmes, vocational, technical and higher education and training, andlifelong  learning  at  enterprise  level”  (p.  xxiii).    
Furthermore, the final report of the United Nations Secretary-General’s  High-Level Panel on
Global Sustainability (2012), titled Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing,highlighted   “[advancing]   education   for   sustainable   development,   including   secondary   and   vocational education, and building of skills to help ensure that all of society can contribute to solutions
that  address  today’s  challenges  and  capitalize  on  opportunities”  as  one  of  the  six  priority  areas  for  action needed to empower people to make sustainable choices (p.6).
The Rio+20 Conference marked a significant milestone in the advancement of ESD. In the
Rio+20 outcome document The Future We Want, nations have agreed to  “promote  education  for  sustainable development and to integrate sustainable development more actively into education
beyond the United Nations Decade of Education  for  Sustainable  Development”.  Another  relevant  outcome of Rio+20 is the agreement by Member States to launch a process to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is to converge wit the post-2015 development agenda.
Preparing for the Post-2015 Development Agenda
With the MDGs and the EFA goals approaching their target date in 2015, the UN SecretaryGeneral established the UN System Task Team to support UN system-wide preparations for the
post-2015 UN Development agenda. The UN System Task Team on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda (2012), in its first report entitled Realizing the Future We want for All, clearly signals
the  integration  of  the  concept  of  sustainability  into  the  mainstream  development  discourse:  “[the]  continuous striving for improvements in material welfare is threatening to surpass the limits of thenatural resource base unless there is a radical shift towards more sustainable patterns of consumption  and  production  and  resource  use”  (p.  i).  The  Task  Team  further  asserts:  “Business  as  usual  …  cannot  be  an  option  and  transformative  change  is  needed”  (p.  i).  Time  is  ripe  to  reconceptualise  the  role of education in making such transformative change happen.
ESD AS STRATEGIC INTERVENTIONS
From Rio to Rio+20
The year 2012 marked the twentieth anniversary of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, which produced
Agenda 21 as a major outcome. Chapter 36 of Agenda 21—which relates to the promotion of education, public awareness and training for sustainable development—consolidated the international
discussions on the role of education in achieving sustainable development, and it is generally
viewed as marking the birth of ESD in the international community. As Task Manager of Chapter
36 of Agenda 21 and lead agency of the DESD, UNESCO has promoted ESD, but its efforts have
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focused largely on advocacy until recently. The 1992 Rio Summit also gave rise to the three Rio
Conventions: the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Convention on
Biological Diversity (CBD) and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The Rio
conventions include Articles which relate to education and oblige the State Parties to the conventions to develop and implement education and training programmes in these areas.
Partly because the main emphasis 20 years ago was to address long neglected and then emerging environmental concerns, environmental health and ecological balance have been emphasized inpolicy  and  practice  on  sustainable  development.  In  the  case  of  UNFCCC,  “the  extreme focus within
the climate field on the science of emissions and impacts on the environment, compounded by thelate entry of social scientists and social organizations into climate change work, as well as the lateattention to adaptation as a priority in policy  and  practice”  have  delayed  the  integration  of  social  dimensions into the climate change discourse—including the ways in which mitigation and adaptation measures are designed and assessed (UN Systems Task Team on Social Dimension of Climate
Change, 2011, p. 8). Today the UN System Task Team on Social Dimension of Climate Change(2011) aims at integrating  “social  dimensions”—dimensions  that  reflect  “the  social,  economic  and  behavioural aspects  of  the  human  conditions” including education—into the climate change architecture (p. 3).
Despite the recognition of ESD as a moral imperative and an important dimension of quality
education, ESD has often been perceived as all-encompassing lofty ideals which have little relevance to strategic education interventions in developing countries. Such perception will quickly
change as sustainability is mainstreamed into the development discourse. The UN System Task
Team on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda (2012) identifies human rights, equality and sustainability as the three fundamental principles upon which a vision for the future should rest. Twenty years since the 1992 Rio Summit, the international development community has come to accept
the limits of the current model of progress and the need for major transformations in patterns ofconsumption and production and social organization. Today both the development discourse andthe climate change discourse are being rearticulated to realize a better world for all, creating many
entry points for ESD as concrete and strategic interventions in developing countries.
Climate change education as a tangible entry point to ESD
In 2009, UNESCO developed its strategy for the second half of the DESD, highlighting climatechange, disaster risk reduction and biodiversity as priority themes. Consequently, UNESCO established the Climate Change Education for Sustainable Development (CCESD) Programme in 2010.
This new development was at times misinterpreted as narrowing down ESD to thematic approaches
to sustainable development and compromising its holistic approach. Such misinterpretation is basedon the assumption that CCESD will be mainly about the greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere and how to reduce emissions.
In   recent   years,   the   concept   and   practice   of   “Climate   Change   Education”   have   gained   importance and been broadened to go beyond a traditional focus on climate science. ESD is increasingly understood as a holistic framework to advance Climate Change Education (Anderson, 2010;
UNESCO/UNEP, 2011, p.56). Child-focused organizations like Plan International and UNICEF
also recognize a holistic approach to education (formal and non-formal) —to  increase  the  learner’s  understanding of key sustainable development issues and readiness to take action for shaping a resilient and sustainable society—as  an  integral  aspect  of  reducing  children’s  vulnerability  to  climatechange and safeguarding their rights.  UNICEF  (2011)  identifies  “promoting  environmental  education  and  life  skills”  as  one  of  the  eight  recommendations  to  enhance  people’s  capacity  to  adapt  to  climate change, and calls for adapting TVET and non-formal education  to  “the  requirements  of  lowcarbon   economies”   (p.   21,   6.6). Polack   (2010)   points   out   that  the   analysis   of   children’s   rights  to  education  should  reflect  “the need for a more holistic approach to education focused around sustainable  development”  (p.34).   These calls for an integrated approach to promoting climate change
ducation—for mitigation and adaptation—and   ensuring   children’s   rights   give   a   strong   support to
ESD implementation in developing countries.
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Climate change is far from a solely environmental matter in terms of its root causes and actualand anticipated impacts, which makes it a strategic entry point to implementing ESD activities in aholistic manner. First, climate change has far-reaching repercussions for where people can settle,
grow food, keep built infrastructure and count on functioning ecosystems. Climate change therefore
touches upon myriad aspects of sustainable development, ranging from human displacement tofood security and sustainable livelihoods, concretizing what it means to address environmental,
economic and social dimensions of sustainable development in an integrated manner. Moreover,climate change does not affect everybody equally, not only because its effects on temperature, rain
fall, sea level and natural hazards vary across regions, but also because the capacity of individuals
and societies to respond and protect themselves also varies tremendously. Overall, developing
countries bear many of the costs of climate change. For example, Small Island Developing States(SIDS) are highly exposed to natural disasters and vulnerable to sea level rise. There is broad consensus on the central importance of education in enhancing resilience of vulnerable groups andcommunities and their coping capacities. In regions vulnerable to extreme weather events—such as
droughts, storms and floods—that can be induced or exacerbated by climate change, there are
emerging positive synergies in efforts to promote Climate Change Education as an adaptation strategy and efforts to integrate disaster risk reduction (DRR) in education.
Second, while focusing on climate change impacts on human life allows ESD interventions totarget the most vulnerable  populations   or   “victims”   of   the adverse effects of climate change, addressing the root causes of climate change and designing mitigation and adaptation measures require ESD programmes to highlight human-beings  as  both  the  “drivers”  of  climate  change  and  the“essential  agents  for  redirecting  development  trajectories”  (UN  System  Task  Team  on  Social  Dimensions of Climate Change, 2011, p. 5). Climate Change Education thus can address the needs ofthe most vulnerable populations (who are also the targets of MDG and EFA interventions), encourage rethinking of the current model of progress, and empower people to become change agents.
Climate Change Education in the context of ESD is especially compelling at this critical juncture
when the international community is deliberating the next set of development goals and many nations are committing themselves to more robust strategies for mitigation and adaptation.
CONCLUSION
Sustainable development has always been about addressing the development and environmental
agendas in an integrated manner, but it has too often been associated exclusively with the environmental agenda. This explains why ESD has often been equated with environmental education.
With Rio+20 and the on-going rethinking of the development goals towards 2015, the development
community and environmental community are making mutual approach towards sustainable development in the genuine sense of the word. As the global development agenda will be renegotiated in
the coming years, we should go beyond the traditional ESD-EFA dialogue (which assumes the dichotomy between ESD and EFA) and start articulating education as a critical lever for realizing
more resilient, equitable and sustainable societies. The understanding that people are essential
agents for redirecting development trajectories should profoundly change the ways in which education policy-makers craft and implement education policy.
DISCLAIMER AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author is responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this article and forthe opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization. The author is grateful to Professor Yuto Kitamura of Sophia University, who was formerly
working on EFA coordination at UNESCO Paris, and Mr Mikko Cantell of Plan Finland, who was formerly with the ESD unit at UNESCO Bangkok, for contributing their articles to this section and providing their thoughtful reflections on the topic.

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