Education for sustainable development


Education for Sustainable Development was a United Nations program that defined as education that encourages changes in knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to enable a more sustainable and just society for all. ESD aims to empower and equip current and future generations to meet their needs using a balanced and integrated approach to the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. ESD is the term most used internationally and by the United Nations. Agenda 21 was the first international document that identified education as an essential tool for achieving sustainable development and highlighted areas of action for education.

Concept and origin

One definition of Education for Sustainable Development is an "interdisciplinary learning methodology covering the integrated social, economic, and environmental aspects of formal and informal curriculum". The Brundtland Commission defined sustainable development as meeting the needs of the present generation without putting at risk the capacity of generations to come in meeting their own requirements. This Agency used to be the World Commission on Environment and Development created in 1983. The idea of sustainable development originated from the United Nations Conference on Human Environment in Stockholm. There were two more global activities since then. These were the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development 1987 and the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development 1992.
For UNESCO, education for sustainable development involves: