A-21: EDUCATION
Distr.
GENERAL
A/CONF.151/26 (Vol. III)
14 August 1992
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
REPORT OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON
ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
(Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992)
Chapter 36
PROMOTING EDUCATION, PUBLIC AWARENESS AND TRAINING
INTRODUCTION
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:
(a) Reorienting education towards sustainable development;
(b) Increasing public awareness;
(c) Promoting training.
PROGRAMME AREAS
A. 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:
(a) 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;
(b) To achieve environmental and development awareness in all
sectors of society on a world-wide scale as soon as possible;
(c) 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;
(d) 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:
(a) 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;
(b) 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;
(c) 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;
(d) 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;
(e) 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.;
(f) 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;
(g) 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;
(h) 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;
(i) 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;
(j) 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;
(k) 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;
(l) 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;
(m) 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;
(n) 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;
(o) 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:
(a) Giving higher priority to those sectors in budget allocations,
protecting them from structural cutting requirements;
(b) Shifting allocations within existing education budgets in favour
of primary education, with focus on environment and development;
(c) Promoting conditions where a larger share of the cost is borne
by local communities, with rich communities assisting poorer ones;
(d) Obtaining additional funds from private donors concentrating on
the poorest countries, and those with rates of literacy below 40 per cent;
(e) Encouraging debt for education swaps;
(f) Lifting restrictions on private schooling and increasing the
flow of funds from and to non-governmental organizations, including
small-scale grass-roots organizations;
(g) Promoting the effective use of existing facilities, for example,
multiple school shifts, fuller development of open universities and other
long-distance teaching;
(h) Facilitating low-cost or no-cost use of mass media for the
purposes of education;
(i) Encouraging twinning of universities in developed and developing
countries.
B. 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:
(a) 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;
(b) 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;
(c) 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;
(d) 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;
(e) 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;
(f) 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;
(g) 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;
(h) 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;
(i) 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;
(j) 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);
(k) 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;
(l) 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.
C. 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:
(a) 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;
(b) 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;
(c) 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;
(d) 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.
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Notes
1/ Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education: Final
Report (Paris, UNESCO, 1978), chap. III.
2/ 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).
END OF CHAPTER 36
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