This report was prepared by Zinaida Fadeeva and Yoko Mochizuki We thank the following people and institutions for valuable contributions made: Tim Barker, United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies, Japan Robert S. Brown, Toronto District School Board, Canada Rietje van Dam-Mieras, Open Universiteit Nederland, Heerlen, The Netherlands Zinaida Fadeeva, United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies, Japan Hans van Ginkel, United Nations University, Japan Paul Harpley, Toronto Zoo, Canada Jos Hermans, Hogeschool Zuyd, Heerlen, The Netherlands Charles Hopkins, York University, Canada Shigeki Iwabuchi, Tajiri High School, NPO Fuyu-Mizu-Tanbo (Winter-Flooded Rice Field) Project, Japan Takaaki Koganezawa, Miyagi University of Education, Japan Mary MacDonald, City of Toronto, Canada Pim Martens, Universiteit Maastricht, The Netherlands Yoshimi Matsui, United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies, Japan Rosalyn McKeown, Center for Geography and Environmental Education, University of Tennessee, USA Kazuyuki Mikami, Miyagi University of Education, Japan Yoko Mochizuki, United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies, Japan Hiroshi Nishimiya, Ministry of the Environment, Japan Yukihiko Oikawa, Kesennuma Omose Elementary School, Japan Jos Rikers, Open Universiteit Nederland, Heerlen, The Netherlands Katsunori Suzuki, United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies, Japan Joel Weiss, University of Toronto, Canada Robert Spencer, Consultant, Canada City of Sendai, Japan ESD Tohoku Global Seminar, Japan Igune School in Sendai, Japan Miyagi University of Education, Japan NPO Fuyu-Mizu-Tanbo (Winter-Flooded Rice Field) Project, Japan The cover design is based on the Green Ribbon, the global symbol of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). ESD envisions a world where everybody has the chance to benefit from quality education and to learn the lifestyles, behaviours and values necessary to build a sustainable future. The United Nations has designated 2005-2014 as the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). This report is printed on 100% recycled paper. Mobilising for Education for Sustainable Development : Towards a Global Learning Space based on Regional Centres of Expertise Foreword The importance of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) was emphasised by many international fora and reflected in key documents. In 1992, the Earth Summit has recognised the critical role of education in achieving a sustainable future. Chapter 36 of Agenda 21 specifically addresses reorienting education towards sustainable development, and encompasses all streams of education, both formal and non-formal, basic education and all the key issues related to education for sustainable development. In December 2002, the 57th Session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to launch the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) from January 2005, following the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. UNESCO became the lead agency for the Decade which, as one of the first steps developed a draft International Implementation Scheme for DESD. As a response to the challenges of ESD and DESD, the United Nations University-Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) initiated a new programme on Education for Sustainable Development (EfSD) in 2003. Through our activities in six programme areas, we aspire to facilitate actions leading to the fulfilment of the objectives of DESD. EfSD programme has a two-step approach—first, to provide intellectual and conceptual reflections on challenges of ESD and second, to assist in actual implementation of the ESD initiatives. Our six programme areas are 1) advocacy and awareness raising about ESD, 2) promotion of Regional Centres of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (RCEs), 3) development of ESD curricula and learning materials, 4) support of Resource Project of the Global Higher Education for Sustainability Partnership (GHESP), 5) promotion of distance on-line learning through ICT; and 6) training the trainers. Among the six areas, promotion and support of RCEs takes a particular importance. An RCE is a group of organizations which deliver ESD to a local community. Our efforts are directed to the development of the concept, assisting the pioneering initiatives as well as critically examining how an RCE translates and articulates a global vision of ESD into the context of the local community in which it operates. This report introduces the main goals, aspirations and concepts behind ESD and RCEs as a strategy for bringing ESD to the regional/local level. It also presents the first three initiatives of implementing the RCE concept. These three RCEs in Japan, Canada and Europe provide the readers with ideas about a variety of challenges faced by the regional/local actors as well as strategies for achieving desirable goals. Mobilising for ESD through RCEs is on-going in various parts of the world including different parts of Asia and Pacific, Africa, America and Europe. Collaboration with these up-coming RCEs is our commitment. For example, we are happy to be the centre for RCEs promotion. Lessons from up-coming RCEs and collaboration among them will constitute the content of our future publications. While communicating achievements of RCEs, these envisioned reports have another, very significant function. The process of preparation of such reports serves as an interactive ground for contributing authors working with and inside RCEs. Such process will promote development of networking among RCEs and, thus, will contribute to the development of the Global Learning Space for Sustainable Development. A H Zakri Director, UNU-IAS May 2005 III Contents Foreword III List of Figures,Tables and Boxes VI List of Abbreviations and Acronyms VII Preface - Mobilising for Sustainable Development 1 Introduction 3 Education for Sustainable Development : Part 1. Concepts,Roles and Mechanisms of Implementation Chapter 1 Mobilising for Education and Sustainable Development 7 1.1 The Need for ESD Everywhere 7 1.2 Goals of ESD 8 1.3 ESD : Building Capacity in Civil Society 10 1.4 Adult Education 11 1.5 Gender and Education with Implications for Sustainable Development 12 1.6 Concluding Remarks 12 Chapter 2 Challenges and Roles for Higher Education in Promoting Sustainable Development 13 2.1 Effects of Globalisation on Universities 13 2.2 A Copernican Revolution 13 2.3 Challenges of ESD and Higher Education 14 2.4 IHE and Issues of ESD 16 2.5 ESD Partnership Success Stories 19 2.6 Next Steps: Regional Centres of Expertise 20 2.7 Concluding Remarks 21 Chapter 3 Regional Centres of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development : Concepts and Issues 22 3.1 The Need for Regional Centres of Expertise 22 3.2 What is a Regional Centre of Expertise? 22 3.3 The Range of RCE Activities 23 3.4 RCEs as a Means to Promote the Global Learning Space for Sustainable Development 24 3.5 Core Elements of RCEs 24 3.6 The Way Forward: First Steps 28 IV Part 2. Efforts to Establish Reginal Centres of Expertise Chapter 4 A Case of the Greater Sendai Area RCE in Japan 31 4.1 Background 31 4.2 Core Competencies of Main Actors of the Proposed RCE in the Greater Sendai Area and Existing Partnerships in the Area 36 4.3 Towards the Greater Sendai Area RCE: Evolving Processes 42 4.4 The Greater Sendai Area RCE in light of the Core Elements of RCEs 43 4.5 Promises and Challenges of the Greater Sendai Area RCE 49 Chapter 5 Tronto: A Case of a North American Regional Centre of Expertise Challenges and Roles for Higher Education in Promoting Sustainable Development 52 5.1 Background 52 5.2 Sustainability and the City of Toronto 52 5.3 Engaging Public Education to Address Sustainable Development 57 5.4 Public Institutions, NGOs and Other Sources of Sustainability Education (ESD) 61 5.5 Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) 64 5.6 NGO Partners and Sustainability 65 5.7 The Creation of Toronto as an RCE 66 Chapter 6 A Regional Centres of Expertise 'Learning for Sustainable Development' in Europe 71 6.1 Introduction : Some Reflections on Knowledge Generation and Policymaking 71 6.2 Learning, Education and Learning Environments 72 6.3 The European Urban Environment as a Learning Environment 73 6.4 A Regional Centre of Expertise ‘Learning for Sustainable Development’ in the Rhine-Meuse + Region 74 6.5 A European Network of RCEs 77 6.6 Conclusion 78 Chapter 7 First Lessons and Future Challenges 79 7.1 Moving Beyond Good Practices : Building Visions for DESD 79 7.2 Need for Engaging Other Disciplines and Discourses 79 7.3 Interactions Between Sciences and Policy 80 7.4 Knowledge Translatio : Contribution of Science to Decision Making and Education 80 7.5 Mobilising for RCEs : Some Initial Challenges 81 References 84 Appendix A. The Ubuntu Declaration 90 Appendix B. Historical Milestones in the Field of Education for Sustainable Development 92 V List of Figures, Tables and Boxes List of Figures Figure 3.1. Potential Management Components of an RCE 25 Figure 3.2. Collaborative Links of an RCE 26 Figure 4.1. Geographical Location of the City of Sendai 33 Figure 4.2. The Greater Sendai Area 33 Figure 4.3. Exisiting Collaboration and Networking in the Greater Sendai Area from the Perspective of Miyagi University of Education 46 Figure 5.1. Geographical Location of Toronto Regional Centre of Expertise on ESD 53 Figure 5.2. Most Common Countries of Birth of Students Born Outside Canada, Spring 2004 (Elementary and Secondary Schools) 57 Figure 5.3. Most Common Home/Primary Languages Other than English, Spring 2004 (Elementary and Secondary Schools) 58 Figure 5.4. Implementation of RCE Concept: Identification of Messengers for ESD 68 Figure 5.5. Implementation of RCE Concept: Providing Information to the Messengers 68 Figure 5.6. Implementation of RCE Concept: Maintaining Process and Anticipating Outcomes 68 Figure 6.1. An Abstract Model of a Typical European Urban Area 73 Figure 6.2. EU Rhine-Meuse Region 74 Figure 6.3. Location of Rhine-Meuse Region in Europe 75 Figure 6.4.