Comparing ESD and Climate Change Education in 10 countries

The state of the art of Climate Change Education as ESD in ten countries world wide.

In this report, we present the results of a cross-national analysis providing a broad international overview of the initiatives taken and the problems involved in achieving the goals of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014 here at the midway point.

Based on the findings of research teams from ten different countries spanning six continents, the report also provides a timely survey of the ways in which education can contribute to tackling the challenges of climate change.

This is one of a series of publications resulting from the project ‘Climate Change and Sustainable Development: The Response from Education’ conducted under the auspices of the International Alliance of Leading Education Institutes.

Since the start of the Decade of ESD in 2005, the increasing awareness of accelerating climate change and the potential threats to human existence has led to growing concern for environmental issues.

In December this year, the COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference (the 15th annual Conference of the Parties) will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark. Here Ministers, officials, experts and NGOs from 189 countries will discuss and try to reach an agreement on how to tackle the challenge of climate change. The question is whether the role of education will be included in these negotiations, and, if so, which concept of and approach to education this will entail? There are certainly good reasons for providing the delegates and the global mass media with qualified suggestions of the role education might play.

The booklet covers the following themes of special relevance for Climate change education and education for sustainable development:

• Theme 1: Interpretations of ESD
• Theme 2: Climate Change and Education
• Theme 3: Structural conditions regarding ESD
• Theme 4: Barriers related to development and implementation of ESD/CCE
• Theme 5: Research in ESD and Climate Change Education

Download the climate education report here

Climate Change and Sustainable Development:
The Response from Education
CROSS-NATIONAL REPORT
By Jeppe Læssøe, Karsten Schnack, Søren Breiting and Simon Rolls
(Danish School of Education, University of Aarhus, Denmark)
http://dpu.dk/RPEHE and http://edusud.dk 2009