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AGENDA 21, CHAPTER 36



PROMOTING EDUCATION, PUBLIC AWARENESS AND TRAINING






NOTE:     This is a final, advanced version of a chapter of Agenda 21, as adopted by
          the Plenary in Rio de Janeiro, on June 14, 1992.  This document will be
          further edited, translated into the official languages, and published by the
          United Nations for the General Assembly this autumn.





                                                  ........../2

                         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

36.6.  The Conference secretariat has estimated the  average 
total annual cost (1993-2000) of implementing 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 indicitave 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 eduducation, training and publuic 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, building on 
decisions of the World Summit for Children;/3/ 

     (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

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 indicitave 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

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 indicitive and order of 
magnitude estimates only and have not been reviewed by 
Governments.  Annual 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, Inter-Agency Commission (UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, 
World Bank) for the World Conference on Education for All, New 
York, 1990. 

     3/   See A/45/625, annex.


.
