23-25 November 2005

Jakarta, Indonesia

The Asia-Europe Environment Forum, “1/3 of Our Planet: What Can Asia and Europe Do for Sustainable Development?”, was held at the Bidakara Convention Center in Jakarta, Indonesia, on 23-25 November 2005. This conference was organized by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), the Hanns-Seidel Foundation (HSF-Indonesia), the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES-Japan) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
 
As part of the conference, UNESCO Bangkok organized a 1 ½ day workshop: "A Partnership Approach to Education for Sustainable Development" in collaboration with the Hanns Seidel Foundation, United Nations University - Institute of Advanced Studies, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU).

Some of the challenges international agencies face in implementing the DESD, include a mismatch of activities, both within countries and between sector-specific programmes and agencies; duplication of efforts; and a lack of funds to implement ESD at the regional level. To overcome this problem, UN agencies and key ESD stakeholders in the region have initiated the formation of two groups that will enhance coordination and guide the Decade. These groups are the Asia-Pacific UN Interagency Steering Committee for the DESD and the Asia-Pacific Regional Consultative Group for the DESD.

The workshop primarily functioned as the first annual combined meeting of the Asia-Pacific UN Interagency Steering Committee for the DESD and the Asia-Pacific Regional Consultative Group for the DESD.

Objectives of the workshop were threefold:

• Provide an opportunity for members of each stakeholder group to report on their activities and progress during the past 6 months.
• Discuss the priorities and action plans for different stakeholders for 2006.
• Discuss ways in which cooperation between Asia and Europe for ESD could be enhanced

Workshop Report:

Regional ESD Initiatives

Co-chairs for the first part of the session, Mr. Derek Elias, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Programme Specialist, UNESCO Bangkok and Mr. Christian Hegemer, Director, Hanns Seidel Foundation Indonesia, welcomed participants and extended thanks to organizations and individuals involved in preparation and support for the workshop as well as partners that have participated in the development of ESD and the strategy for the Decade of ESD (2005 – 2014).

Presentations delivered during this session provided an overview of current and planned ESD initiatives in Asia-Pacific. Special attention was given by a number of presenters to the linkages between ESD and other global initiatives and programmes as well as demonstrating the ways in which their programmes contributed to the strengthening of ESD in the region through partnerships with each other.

In closing the second part of the session, Mr. Masahisa Sato, Senior Programme Specialist, ACCU, summarized discussion by highlighting the importance of local relevance to ESD as well as the differing capacities of different stakeholders and countries throughout the region. Another key point raised in discussion included the necessity of effective partnerships and networks among and between stakeholder groups as well as at all levels – local, national, regional and global - for the promotion of ESD.

National Level ESD action

Chair for the session, Mr. Carl Lindberg, Chairman of the Swedish Committee on ESD and high level advisor to UNESCO on the Decade of ESD, asserted that ESD must consist of two equally important processes – a top down process (from government and based on knowledge regarding its responsibilities) and a bottom up process (based on personal commitment).

As well as providing an overview of current and planned ESD initiatives at the national level, presentations on National Level ESD action recognized the prior commitment of governments to environment and identified the challenge of moving towards ESD. Some presenters outlined the different ways in which countries, including NZ, Iran and Vietnam, have established national coordinating committees for the Decade of ESD. In NZ, a coordinating committee was established that includes members representing a wide variety of stakeholder groups such as business, civil society, government, teacher training institutions, classroom teachers and youth. A key point raised by presenters was the necessity of employing a partnership approach for ESD.

ESD Stakeholder Initiatives

Chair for the session, Mr. Shuichi Nakayama, Japanese National Commission and Chair of the Education Committee, welcomed participants back to the session. The presenters representing special stakeholder groups outlined their approach and strategy for implementing ESD. In addition, the importance of marketing ESD as an opportunity to boost existing programmes, address existing problems, and act as a tool/approach for change was highlighted. The session was concluded with a presentation and discussion on building ESD synergies. Participants were encouraged to use ESD to catalyze new initiatives and look for new ways to connect and establish multi-level linkages.

Agency and Stakeholder Meeting

During the final session, a brief discussion on engaging the private sector for ESD was led by Mr. Derek Elias. Strategies outlined in the Working Paper: Regional Strategy for ESD were shared and participants were invited to contribute input and share experiences. Very few participants had experience in working with the private sector and many identified it as an important challenge for the Decade of ESD. Following this discussion, the workshop broke into two groups and participants were asked to address the following questions:

Group 1 – What are existing networks/mechanisms through which ESD can be promoted and implemented? How can they be linked?

Group 2 - How can intergovernmental agencies assist your organisation/sector/country in implementing ESD?

In plenary, the groups reported back and consolidated key points and recommendations. A larger number of recommendations were discussed and four priorities for the workshop emerged. These include:

1. All international agreements involving Asia and Europe should be reviewed to identify Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) linkages. The result of the review should be communicated to Asian and European Ministers of Education to remind them of the commitment of the Heads of State to the Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development and the Plan of Implementation of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development. The Minister of Education is the prime mover of ESD activities at the national level and should take the lead in initiating ESD- related policy and programmes.
   
2. Governments must ensure that there is a strengthening of institutional mechanisms at the national, regional and international levels to ensure that ESD is inclusive of new and non traditional partners.
   
3. All conferences on SD should have a special ESD component. As stated in the Plan of Implementation of WSSD, “Education is critical for promoting sustainable development” (paragraph 116). UNESCO National Commissions are asked to identify experts to serve as resource persons in all such conferences that are particularly organized by Asia-Europe Environment Forum. An international meeting of experts should be convened by the 31st of December 2007.
   
4. Governments in Asia and Europe to cooperate and share models of best practices and guidelines on the development of scenario building and forecasting.