|
On
The Occasion of The Doha International Conference
Georges
Haddad
Director Division of Higher Education UNESCO
The
year 2005 will mark the beginning of the UN Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development.
The
concept of sustainable development began to take shape at the end of
1960s, and in particular, in 1968, at UNESCO, on the occasion of the
Intergovernmental Conference of Experts on the Scientific Basis for
Rational Use and Conservation of the Resources of the Biosphere.
In
1980, the term "sustainable development" was used for the
first time in the "World Conservation Strategy", drafted
by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and
Natural Resources, (since 1990 known as "The World Conservation
Union"), The UN Commission on Environment and Development, now
the Commission on Sustainable Development, that. under the direction
of Ms Brundtland, truly established the use of this term, well
before the 1992 UN Rio Summit on Environment and Development
Education
incontestably reigns as an essential vector in the dynamic process
linked to sustainable development. UNESCO is at the heart of various
actions reinforced by the programme "Education for All"
whose six goals defined during the 2000 Dakar World Forum perfectly
dovetail in support of sustainable development. New and often
abstract knowledge, in most cases originating from university
laboratories and research centres, gives birth to determining
advances in all the fields of socio-economic and cultural
applications. These advances are imparted through teaching to the
concerned populations for them to have an impact.
Illiteracy
is a major obstacle to sustainable development. UNESCO, in
partnership with other international agencies and various NGOs, is
working to combat this plague with ambitious teacher education
programmes, through the setting up of national education policies or
relevant regional policies and through the establishment of
international networks of cooperation, exemplified by the UNESCO
Chairs and Networks Programme.
For
development to be sustainable. the dynamics created by progress
should at the same time serve individual and collective enrichment,
the preservation of the environment and quality of life, the
promotion of solidarity and equitable sharing.
Sustainable development therefore lies in our aptitude to educate
and to form values of responsible citizenry, integrating modern
knowledge white at the same time maintaining historical and
traditional heritage, which remain particularly preserved in a
family environment.
Read
The Papers' Abstract:
|
