Since the global launch of the Decade of ESD in March 2005, countries in the Asia-Pacific region have shared innovative approaches to initiating ESD through the establishment of national ESD committees, conducting national workshops and seminars and through online discussions about the processes for developing national ESD monitoring systems. Evidence from the first years of implementation suggests that ESD needs to be integrated into national development strategies to further promote change through quality education, requiring coordination among national stakeholders.

However, coordinating an education initiative that engages a wide range of sectors from the environment and culture to health and science poses a lot of new questions. Furthermore, practical challenges still exist for ESD in the Asia-Pacific region  – many potential partners struggle to move beyond the scope of environmental education to fully engage in ESD; collaboration among key stakeholders and sectors is often difficult; UNESCO Member States also have concerns about the depth and substance of activities being branded as “ESD”; financing is a barrier to moving ESD forward; and, very important for coordination, national sustainable development priorities still need to be acknowledged to guide ESD programmes towards concrete objectives.

• Focusing ESD on national sustainable development priorities – Countries can focus ESD by identifying three or four key national sustainable development priorities, such as food security, literacy, health, climate change, etc., to develop a practical foundation for ESD and foster the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to address sustainable development more generally.
• Incorporating ESD into national development plans – ESD not only needs to be included on the national agenda, but also incorporated into national sustainable development strategies, national poverty reduction strategies, education sector development plans, etc.
• Establishing inter-ministerial support for ESD – Cross-sectoral collaboration is seen as essential for linking ESD to EFA, the MDGs and other programmes in order to steer education and learning towards addressing national sustainable development priorities.
• Internalizing ESD within national budget structures – Budget ownership needs to be advocated for ESD within the relevant ministries, starting with education.
• Establishing support for capacity building – ESD capacity is needed for policy makers, for educators (to support the integration of thematic content into curricula and relevant pedagogy and learning), and for national ESD indicator development and monitoring.

Asia-Pacific ESD Coordination Tool

One of the key outcomes from the sub-regional workshops was the collaborative development of the Asia-Pacific ESD Astrolabe, a tool for building ESD capacity and coordinating ESD initiatives at the national and subregional levels in the region. The Astrolabe assists countries in building on the lessons learned from the subregional capacity building workshops, by identifying thematic and programmatic priorities to guide ESD, engaging stakeholders from across sectors and linking ESD to ongoing education initiatives, activities and current funding mechanisms. The Astrolabe is part of an ongoing collaborative effort that stems from the Asia-Pacific ESD Monitoring project implemented in 2006 - 2008.

Project Activities: Asia-Pacific Sub-regional ESD Consultations (2008-2009)

• Central Asia ESD Coordination and Capacity Building Workshop, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, 17-19 June 2008.
• ESD Coordination and Capacity Building Workshop – Bangkok Cluster, Ha Long Bay, Viet Nam, 4-8 August 2008.
• South East Asia ESD Coordination and Capacity Building Workshop, Manila, Philippines, 12-14 September 2008.
• East Asia ESD Coordination and Capacity Building Workshop, Hangzhou, China, 28-30 October 2008.
• South Asia ESD Coordination and Capacity Building Workshop, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 18-21 November 2008.
• ESD Coordination and Capacity Building Workshop – Tehran Cluster, Tehran, Iran, 28-30 April 2009.