| AGENDA 21,
Chapter 36
PROMOTING EDUCATION, PUBLIC AWARENESS
AND TRAINING
36.1. Education, raising of public awareness and training are
linked to virtually all areas in Agenda 21, and even more closely to the ones on meeting
basic needs, capacity-building, data and information, science, and the role of major
groups. This chapter sets out broad proposals, while specific suggestions related to
sectoral issues are contained in other chapters. The Declaration and Recommendations of
the Tbilisi Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education 1/ organized by UNESCO
and UNEP and held in 1977, have provided the fundamental principles for the proposals in
this document.
36.2. Programme areas described in the present chapter are:
Reorienting education towards sustainable development;
Increasing public awareness;
Promoting training.
PROGRAMME AREAS
Reorienting education towards sustainable development
Basis for action
36.3. Education, including formal education, public awareness and
training should be recognized as a process by which human beings and societies can reach
their fullest potential. Education is critical for promoting sustainable development and
improving the capacity of the people to address environment and development issues. While
basic education provides the underpinning for any environmental and development education,
the latter needs to be incorporated as an essential part of learning. Both formal and
non-formal education are indispensable to changing people's attitudes so that they have
the capacity to assess and address their sustainable development concerns. It is also
critical for achieving environmental and ethical awareness, values and attitudes, skills
and behaviour consistent with sustainable development and for effective public
participation in decision-making. To be effective, environment and development education
should deal with the dynamics of both the physical/biological and socio-economic
environment and human (which may include spiritual) development, should be integrated in
all disciplines, and should employ formal and non-formal methods and effective means of
communication.
Objectives
36.4. Recognizing that countries, regional and international
organizations will develop their own priorities and schedules for implementation in
accordance with their needs, policies and programmes, the following objectives are
proposed:
To endorse the recommendations arising from the World Conference on
Education for All: Meeting Basic Learning Needs 2/ (Jomtien, Thailand, 5-9 March 1990) and
to strive to ensure universal access to basic education, and to achieve primary education
for at least 80 per cent of girls and 80 per cent of boys of primary school age through
formal schooling or non-formal education and to reduce the adult illiteracy rate to at
least half of its 1990 level. Efforts should focus on reducing the high illiteracy levels
and redressing the lack of basic education among women and should bring their literacy
levels into line with those of men;
To achieve environmental and development awareness in all sectors of
society on a world-wide scale as soon as possible;
To strive to achieve the accessibility of environmental and development
education, linked to social education, from primary school age through adulthood to all
groups of people;
To promote integration of environment and development concepts,
including demography, in all educational programmes, in particular the analysis of the
causes of major environment and development issues in a local context, drawing on the best
available scientific evidence and other appropriate sources of knowledge, and giving
special emphasis to the further training of decision makers at all levels.
Activities
36.5. Recognizing that countries and regional and international
organizations will develop their own priorities and schedules for implementation in
accordance with their needs, policies and programmes, the following activities are
proposed:
All countries are encouraged to endorse the recommendations of the
Jomtien Conference and strive to ensure its Framework for Action. This would encompass the
preparation of national strategies and actions for meeting basic learning needs,
universalizing access and promoting equity, broadening the means and scope of education,
developing a supporting policy context, mobilizing resources and strengthening
international cooperation to redress existing economic, social and gender disparities
which interfere with these aims. Non-governmental organizations can make an important
contribution in designing and implementing educational programmes and should be
recognized;
Governments should strive to update or prepare strategies aimed at
integrating environment and development as a cross-cutting issue into education at all
levels within the next three years. This should be done in cooperation with all sectors of
society. The strategies should set out policies and activities, and identify needs, cost,
means and schedules for their implementation, evaluation and review. A thorough review of
curricula should be undertaken to ensure a multidisciplinary approach, with environment
and development issues and their socio-cultural and demographic aspects and linkages. Due
respect should be given to community-defined needs and diverse knowledge systems,
including science, cultural and social sensitivities;
Countries are encouraged to set up national advisory environmental
education coordinating bodies or round tables representative of various environmental,
developmental, educational, gender and other interests, including non-governmental
organizations, to encourage partnerships, help mobilize resources, and provide a source of
information and focal point for international ties. These bodies would help mobilize and
facilitate different population groups and communities to assess their own needs and to
develop the necessary skills to create and implement their own environment and development
initiatives;
Educational authorities, with the appropriate assistance from community
groups or non-governmental organizations, are recommended to assist or set up pre-service
and in-service training programmes for all teachers, administrators, and educational
planners, as well as non-formal educators in all sectors, addressing the nature and
methods of environmental and development education and making use of relevant experience
of non-governmental organizations;
Relevant authorities should ensure that every school is assisted in
designing environmental activity work plans, with the participation of students and staff.
Schools should involve schoolchildren in local and regional studies on environmental
health, including safe drinking water, sanitation and food and ecosystems and in relevant
activities, linking these studies with services and research in national parks, wildlife
reserves, ecological heritage sites etc.;
Educational authorities should promote proven educational methods and
the development of innovative teaching methods for educational settings. They should also
recognize appropriate traditional education systems in local communities;
Within two years the United Nations system should undertake a
comprehensive review of its educational programmes, encompassing training and public
awareness, to reassess priorities and reallocate resources. The UNESCO/UNEP International
Environmental Education Programme should, in cooperation with the appropriate bodies of
the United Nations system, Governments, non-governmental organizations and others,
establish a programme within two years to integrate the decisions of the Conference into
the existing United Nations framework adapted to the needs of educators at different
levels and circumstances. Regional organizations and national authorities should be
encouraged to elaborate similar parallel programmes and opportunities by conducting an
analysis of how to mobilize different sectors of the population in order to assess and
address their environmental and development education needs;
There is a need to strengthen, within five years, information exchange
by enhancing technologies and capacities necessary to promote environment and development
education and public awareness. Countries should cooperate with each other and with the
various social sectors and population groups to prepare educational tools that include
regional environment and development issues and initiatives, using learning materials and
resources suited to their own requirements;
Countries could support university and other tertiary activities and
networks for environmental and development education. Cross-disciplinary courses could be
made available to all students. Existing regional networks and activities and national
university actions which promote research and common teaching approaches on sustainable
development should be built upon, and new partnerships and bridges created with the
business and other independent sectors, as well as with all countries for technology,
know-how, and knowledge exchange;
Countries, assisted by international organizations, non-governmental
organizations and other sectors, could strengthen or establish national or regional
centres of excellence in interdisciplinary research and education in environmental and
developmental sciences, law and the management of specific environmental problems. Such
centres could be universities or existing networks in each country or region, promoting
cooperative research and information sharing and dissemination. At the global level these
functions should be performed by appropriate institutions;
Countries should facilitate and promote non-formal education activities
at the local, regional and national levels by cooperating with and supporting the efforts
of non-formal educators and other community-based organizations. The appropriate bodies of
the United Nations system in cooperation with non-governmental organizations should
encourage the development of an international network for the achievement of global
educational aims. At the national and local levels, public and scholastic forums should
discuss environmental and development issues, and suggest sustainable alternatives to
policy makers;
Educational authorities, with appropriate assistance of
non-governmental organizations, including women's and indigenous peoples' organizations,
should promote all kinds of adult education programmes for continuing education in
environment and development, basing activities around elementary/secondary schools and
local problems. These authorities and industry should encourage business, industrial and
agricultural schools to include such topics in their curricula. The corporate sector could
include sustainable development in their education and training programmes. Programmes at
a post-graduate level should include specific courses aiming at the further training of
decision makers;
Governments and educational authorities should foster opportunities for
women in non-traditional fields and eliminate gender stereotyping in curricula. This could
be done by improving enrolment opportunities, including females in advanced programmes as
students and instructors, reforming entrance and teacher staffing policies and providing
incentives for establishing child-care facilities, as appropriate. Priority should be
given to education of young females and to programmes promoting literacy among women;
Governments should affirm the rights of indigenous peoples, by
legislation if necessary, to use their experience and understanding of sustainable
development to play a part in education and training;
The United Nations could maintain a monitoring and evaluative role
regarding decisions of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development on
education and awareness, through the relevant United Nations agencies. With Governments
and non-governmental organizations, as appropriate, it should present and disseminate
decisions in a variety of forms, and should ensure the continuous implementation and
review of the educational implications of Conference decisions, in particular through
relevant events and conferences.
Means of implementation Financing and cost evaluation
36.6. The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total annual
cost (1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme to be about $8 billion
to $9 billion, including about $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion from the international
community on grant or concessional terms. These are indicative and order-of-magnitude
estimates only and have not been reviewed by Governments. Actual costs and financial
terms, including any that are non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the specific
strategies and programmes Governments decide upon for implementation.
36.7. In the light of country-specific situations, more support for
education, training and public awareness activities related to environment and development
could be provided, in appropriate cases, through measures such as the following:
Giving higher priority to those sectors in budget allocations,
protecting them from structural cutting requirements;
Shifting allocations within existing education budgets in favour of
primary education, with focus on environment and development;
Promoting conditions where a larger share of the cost is borne by local
communities, with rich communities assisting poorer ones;
Obtaining additional funds from private donors concentrating on the
poorest countries, and those with rates of literacy below 40 per cent;
Encouraging debt for education swaps;
Lifting restrictions on private schooling and increasing the flow of
funds from and to non-governmental organizations, including small-scale grass-roots
organizations;
Promoting the effective use of existing facilities, for example,
multiple school shifts, fuller development of open universities and other long-distance
teaching;
Facilitating low-cost or no-cost use of mass media for the purposes of
education;
Encouraging twinning of universities in developed and developing
countries.
Increasing public awareness
Basis for action
36.8. There is still a considerable lack of awareness of the
interrelated nature of all human activities and the environment, due to inaccurate or
insufficient information. Developing countries in particular lack relevant technologies
and expertise. There is a need to increase public sensitivity to environment and
development problems and involvement in their solutions and foster a sense of personal
environmental responsibility and greater motivation and commitment towards sustainable
development.
Objective
36.9. The objective is to promote broad public awareness as an
essential part of a global education effort to strengthen attitudes, values and actions
which are compatible with sustainable development. It is important to stress the principle
of devolving authority, accountability and resources to the most appropriate level with
preference given to local responsibility and control over awareness-building activities.
Activities
36.10. Recognizing that countries, regional and international
organizations will develop their own priorities and schedules for implementation in
accordance with their needs, policies and programmes, the following activities are
proposed:
Countries should strengthen existing advisory bodies or establish new
ones for public environment and development information, and should coordinate activities
with, among others, the United Nations, non-governmental organizations and important
media. They should encourage public participation in discussions of environmental policies
and assessments. Governments should also facilitate and support national to local
networking of information through existing networks;
The United Nations system should improve its outreach in the course of
a review of its education and public awareness activities to promote greater involvement
and coordination of all parts of the system, especially its information bodies and
regional and country operations. Systematic surveys of the impact of awareness programmes
should be conducted, recognizing the needs and contributions of specific community groups;
Countries and regional organizations should be encouraged, as
appropriate, to provide public environmental and development information services for
raising the awareness of all groups, the private sector and particularly decision makers;
Countries should stimulate educational establishments in all sectors,
especially the tertiary sector, to contribute more to awareness building. Educational
materials of all kinds and for all audiences should be based on the best available
scientific information, including the natural, behavioural and social sciences, and taking
into account aesthetic and ethical dimensions;
Countries and the United Nations system should promote a cooperative
relationship with the media, popular theatre groups, and entertainment and advertising
industries by initiating discussions to mobilize their experience in shaping public
behaviour and consumption patterns and making wide use of their methods. Such cooperation
would also increase the active public participation in the debate on the environment.
UNICEF should make child-oriented material available to media as an educational tool,
ensuring close cooperation between the out-of-school public information sector and the
school curriculum, for the primary level. UNESCO, UNEP and universities should enrich
pre-service curricula for journalists on environment and development topics;
Countries, in cooperation with the scientific community, should
establish ways of employing modern communication technologies for effective public
outreach. National and local educational authorities and relevant United Nations agencies
should expand, as appropriate, the use of audio-visual methods, especially in rural areas
in mobile units, by producing television and radio programmes for developing countries,
involving local participation, employing interactive multimedia methods and integrating
advanced methods with folk media;
Countries should promote, as appropriate, environmentally sound leisure
and tourism activities, building on The Hague Declaration of Tourism (1989) and the
current programmes of the World Tourism Organization and UNEP, making suitable use of
museums, heritage sites, zoos, botanical gardens, national parks, and other protected
areas;
Countries should encourage non-governmental organizations to increase
their involvement in environmental and development problems, through joint awareness
initiatives and improved interchange with other constituencies in society;
Countries and the United Nations system should increase their
interaction with and include, as appropriate, indigenous people in the management,
planning and development of their local environment, and should promote dissemination of
traditional and socially learned knowledge through means based on local customs,
especially in rural areas, integrating these efforts with the electronic media, whenever
appropriate;
UNICEF, UNESCO, UNDP and non-governmental organizations should develop
support programmes to involve young people and children in environment and development
issues, such as children's and youth hearings and building on decisions of the World
Summit for Children (A/45/625, annex);
Countries, the United Nations and non-governmental organizations should
encourage mobilization of both men and women in awareness campaigns, stressing the role of
the family in environmental activities, women's contribution to transmission of knowledge
and social values and the development of human resources;
Public awareness should be heightened regarding the impacts of violence
in society.
Means of implementation Financing and cost evaluation
36.11. The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total
annual cost (1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme to be about $1.2
billion, including about $110 million from the international community on grant or
concessional terms. These are indicative and order-of-magnitude estimates only and have
not been reviewed by Governments. Actual costs and financial terms, including any that are
non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the specific strategies and programmes
Governments decide upon for implementation.
Promoting training
Basis for action
36.12. Training is one of the most important tools to develop human
resources and facilitate the transition to a more sustainable world. It should have a
job-specific focus, aimed at filling gaps in knowledge and skill that would help
individuals find employment and be involved in environmental and development work. At the
same time, training programmes should promote a greater awareness of environment and
development issues as a two-way learning process.
Objectives
36.13. The following objectives are proposed:
To establish or strengthen vocational training programmes that meet the
needs of environment and development with ensured access to training opportunities,
regardless of social status, age, gender, race or religion;
To promote a flexible and adaptable workforce of various ages equipped
to meet growing environment and development problems and changes arising from the
transition to a sustainable society;
To strengthen national capacities, particularly in scientific education
and training, to enable Governments, employers and workers to meet their environmental and
development objectives and to facilitate the transfer and assimilation of new
environmentally sound, socially acceptable and appropriate technology and know-how;
To ensure that environmental and human ecological considerations are
integrated at all managerial levels and in all functional management areas, such as
marketing, production and finance.
Activities
36.14. Countries with the support of the United Nations system should
identify workforce training needs and assess measures to be taken to meet those needs. A
review of progress in this area could be undertaken by the United Nations system in 1995.
36.15. National professional associations are encouraged to develop and review their codes
of ethics and conduct to strengthen environmental connections and commitment. The training
and personal development components of programmes sponsored by professional bodies should
ensure incorporation of skills and information on the implementation of sustainable
development at all points of policy- and decision-making.
36.16. Countries and educational institutions should integrate
environmental and developmental issues into existing training curricula and promote the
exchange of their methodologies and evaluations.
36.17. Countries should encourage all sectors of society, such as
industry, universities, government officials and employees, non-governmental organizations
and community organizations, to include an environmental management component in all
relevant training activities, with emphasis on meeting immediate skill requirements
through short-term formal and in-plant vocational and management training. Environmental
management training capacities should be strengthened, and specialized "training of
trainers" programmes should be established to support training at the national and
enterprise levels. New training approaches for existing environmentally sound practices
should be developed that create employment opportunities and make maximum use of local
resource-based methods.
36.18. Countries should strengthen or establish practical training
programmes for graduates from vocational schools, high schools and universities, in all
countries, to enable them to meet labour market requirements and to achieve sustainable
livelihoods. Training and retraining programmes should be established to meet structural
adjustments which have an impact on employment and skill qualifications.
36.19. Governments are encouraged to consult with people in isolated
situations, whether geographically, culturally or socially, to ascertain their needs for
training to enable them to contribute more fully to developing sustainable work practices
and lifestyles.
36.20. Governments, industry, trade unions, and consumers should
promote an understanding of the interrelationship between good environment and good
business practices.
36.21. Countries should develop a service of locally trained and
recruited environmental technicians able to provide local people and communities,
particularly in deprived urban and rural areas, with the services they require, starting
from primary environmental care.
36.22. Countries should enhance the ability to gain access to, analyse
and effectively use information and knowledge available on environment and development.
Existing or established special training programmes should be strengthened to support
information needs of special groups. The impact of these programmes on productivity,
health, safety and employment should be evaluated. National and regional environmental
labour-market information systems should be developed that would supply, on a continuing
basis, data on environmental job and training opportunities. Environment and development
training resource-guides should be prepared and updated, with information on training
programmes, curricula, methodologies and evaluation results at the local, national,
regional and international levels.
36.23. Aid agencies should strengthen the training component in all
development projects, emphasizing a multidisciplinary approach, promoting awareness and
providing the necessary skills for transition to a sustainable society. The environmental
management guidelines of UNDP for operational activities of the United Nations system may
contribute to this end.
36.24. Existing networks of employers' and workers' organizations,
industry associations and non-governmental organizations should facilitate the exchange of
experience concerning training and awareness programmes.
36.25. Governments, in cooperation with relevant international
organizations, should develop and implement strategies to deal with national, regional and
local environmental threats and emergencies, emphasizing urgent practical training and
awareness programmes for increasing public preparedness.
36.26. The United Nations system, as appropriate, should extend its
training programmes, particularly its environmental training and support activities for
employers' and workers' organizations.
Means of implementation Financing and cost evaluation
36.27. The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total
annual cost (1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme to be about $5
billion, including about $2 billion from the international community on grant or
concessional terms. These are indicative and order-of-magnitude estimates only and have
not been reviewed by Governments. Actual costs and financial terms, including any that are
non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the specific strategies and programmes
Governments decide upon for implementation.
Notes
Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education: Final Report
(Paris, UNESCO, 1978), chap. III.
Final Report of the World Conference on Education for All: Meeting
Basic Learning Needs, Jomtien, Thailand, 5-9 March 1990 (New York, Inter-Agency Commission
(UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank) for the World Conference on Education for All, 1990).
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