The UN decade of education for sustainable development : meeting the challenges or another missed opportunity?

Abstract

A review of the historical development and a re-examination of environmental education principles provide the rationale for the paper’s claim for the need to rethink, review and re-adapt environmental education to refocus it on the goals of sustainable development – particularly during the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. The lessons learnt from environmental education initiatives in the formal sector are reviewed and applied to other sectors. The impact of change on communities, how to anticipate and address it through training change agents will also be explored as well as the importance of documentation and promotion of experiences.