Outcomes and Implications of UNESCO ESD World Conference

"유네스코 지속가능발전교육 세계회의"의 성과와 시사점

The UNESCO World Conference on "Education for Sustainable Development - Moving into the Second Half of the United Nations Decade" was held in Bonn, Germany, from 31 March to 2 April 2009, as the DESD approaches it's mid-point. It brought 900 participants including 47 ministers and deputy-ministers of education from 147 countries. The objectives of the conference were to: (1) highlight the essential contribution of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) to all of education and to achieving quality education ("Why is ESD relevant?"); (2) promote international exchange on ESD ("What can we learn from each other?"); (3) carry out a stock-taking of DESD implementation ("What have we achieved so far, what are the lessons learnt?"); (4) develop strategies for the way ahead ("Where do we want to go from here ?"). The conference provided opportunities for all participants to recognize the importance of ESD as the way to meet challenges of the present unsustainable world and discuss outcomes of first-half of DESD and action plans for second-half of DESD. In particular, one plenary session was focused on the DESD Monitoring and Evaluation process, with a presentation of the key findings of the draft global report on the context and structures of ESD, as well as regional perspectives. As a result of the conference, participants adopted the Bonn Declaration which would serve as the backbone for the further development of the post-Bonn process within the framework of the DESD.