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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.
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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