United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development

The SDGs recognize that all countries must stimulate action in the following key areas – people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership – to tackle the global challenges that are crucial for the survival of humanity.

ESD is explicitly mentioned in Target 4.7 of SDG4, which aims to ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development and is understood as an important means to achieve all the other 16 SDGs.

[4] Based on proposals by Japan and Sweden, the United Nations General Assembly, at its 57th Session in December 2002, adopted Resolution 57/254 to start the DESD,[5] following the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation, which emphasised that education is an indispensable element for achieving sustainable development.

[6] Along with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) process, the Education For All (EFA) movement, and the United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD), the DESD also aimed to achieve an improvement in the quality of life, particularly for the most deprived and marginalised, fulfillment of human rights including gender equality, poverty reduction, democracy and active citizenship.

[8] The focus of GUPES is around three pillars: Education, Training and Network,[9] and is based on the experience and scaling up of the successful Mainstreaming Environment and Sustainability in African Universities (MESA) project.