A-21: EDUCATION





                                             Distr.
                                             GENERAL

                                             A/CONF.151/26 (Vol. III)
                                             14 August 1992

                                             ORIGINAL:  ENGLISH




               REPORT OF THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON 
                       ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

                    (Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992)




                               Chapter 36

           PROMOTING EDUCATION, PUBLIC AWARENESS AND TRAINING


                              INTRODUCTION

36.1.  Education, raising of public awareness and training are linked to
virtually all areas in Agenda 21, and even more closely to the ones on meeting
basic needs, capacity-building, data and information, science, and the role
of major groups.  This chapter sets out broad proposals, while specific
suggestions related to sectoral issues are contained in other chapters.  The
Declaration and Recommendations of the Tbilisi Intergovernmental Conference
on Environmental Education 1/ organized by UNESCO and UNEP and held in 1977,
have provided the fundamental principles for the proposals in this document.

36.2.  Programme areas described in the present chapter are:

     (a)   Reorienting education towards sustainable development;

     (b)   Increasing public awareness;

     (c)   Promoting training.


                             PROGRAMME AREAS

        A.  Reorienting education towards sustainable development

Basis for action

36.3.  Education, including formal education, public awareness and training
should be recognized as a process by which human beings and societies can
reach their fullest potential.  Education is critical for promoting
sustainable development and improving the capacity of the people to address
environment and development issues.  While basic education provides the
underpinning for any environmental and development education, the latter needs
to be incorporated as an essential part of learning.  Both formal and
non-formal education are indispensable to changing people's attitudes so that
they have the capacity to assess and address their sustainable development
concerns.  It is also critical for achieving environmental and ethical
awareness, values and attitudes, skills and behaviour consistent with
sustainable development and for effective public participation in
decision-making.  To be effective, environment and development education
should deal with the dynamics of both the physical/biological and
socio-economic environment and human (which may include spiritual)
development, should be integrated in all disciplines, and should employ formal
and non-formal methods and effective means of communication.


Objectives

36.4.  Recognizing that countries, regional and international organizations
will develop their own priorities and schedules for implementation in
accordance with their needs, policies and programmes, the following objectives
are proposed:

     (a)   To endorse the recommendations arising from the World Conference
on Education for All:  Meeting Basic Learning Needs 2/ (Jomtien, Thailand,
5-9 March 1990) and to strive to ensure universal access to basic education,
and to achieve primary education for at least 80 per cent of girls and
80 per cent of boys of primary school age through formal schooling or
non-formal education and to reduce the adult illiteracy rate to at least half
of its 1990 level.  Efforts should focus on reducing the high illiteracy
levels and redressing the lack of basic education among women and should bring
their literacy levels into line with those of men;

     (b)   To achieve environmental and development awareness in all sectors
of society on a world-wide scale as soon as possible;

     (c)   To strive to achieve the accessibility of environmental and
development education, linked to social education, from primary school age
through adulthood to all groups of people;

     (d)   To promote integration of environment and development concepts,
including demography, in all educational programmes, in particular the
analysis of the causes of major environment and development issues in a local
context, drawing on the best available scientific evidence and other
appropriate sources of knowledge, and giving special emphasis to the further
training of decision makers at all levels.

Activities

36.5.  Recognizing that countries and regional and international organizations
will develop their own priorities and schedules for implementation in
accordance with their needs, policies and programmes, the following activities
are proposed:

     (a)   All countries are encouraged to endorse the recommendations of the
Jomtien Conference and strive to ensure its Framework for Action.  This would
encompass the preparation of national strategies and actions for meeting basic
learning needs, universalizing access and promoting equity, broadening the
means and scope of education, developing a supporting policy context,
mobilizing resources and strengthening international cooperation to redress
existing economic, social and gender disparities which interfere with these
aims.  Non-governmental organizations can make an important contribution in
designing and implementing educational programmes and should be recognized;

     (b)   Governments should strive to update or prepare strategies aimed
at integrating environment and development as a cross-cutting issue into
education at all levels within the next three years.  This should be done in
cooperation with all sectors of society.  The strategies should set out
policies and activities, and identify needs, cost, means and schedules for
their implementation, evaluation and review.  A thorough review of curricula
should be undertaken to ensure a multidisciplinary approach, with environment
and development issues and their socio-cultural and demographic aspects and
linkages.  Due respect should be given to community-defined needs and diverse
knowledge systems, including science, cultural and social sensitivities;

     (c)   Countries are encouraged to set up national advisory environmental
education coordinating bodies or round tables representative of various
environmental, developmental, educational, gender and other interests,
including non-governmental organizations, to encourage partnerships, help
mobilize resources, and provide a source of information and focal point for
international ties.  These bodies would help mobilize and facilitate different
population groups and communities to assess their own needs and to develop the
necessary skills to create and implement their own environment and development
initiatives;

     (d)   Educational authorities, with the appropriate assistance from
community groups or non-governmental organizations, are recommended to assist
or set up pre-service and in-service training programmes for all teachers,
administrators, and educational planners, as well as non-formal educators in
all sectors, addressing the nature and methods of environmental and
development education and making use of relevant experience of
non-governmental organizations;

     (e)   Relevant authorities should ensure that every school is assisted
in designing environmental activity work plans, with the participation of
students and staff.  Schools should involve schoolchildren in local and
regional studies on environmental health, including safe drinking water,
sanitation and food and ecosystems and in relevant activities, linking these
studies with services and research in national parks, wildlife reserves,
ecological heritage sites etc.;

     (f)   Educational authorities should promote proven educational methods
and the development of innovative teaching methods for educational settings. 
They should also recognize appropriate traditional education systems in local
communities;

     (g)   Within two years the United Nations system should undertake a
comprehensive review of its educational programmes, encompassing training and
public awareness, to reassess priorities and reallocate resources.  The
UNESCO/UNEP International Environmental Education Programme should, in
cooperation with the appropriate bodies of the United Nations system,
Governments, non-governmental organizations and others, establish a programme
within two years to integrate the decisions of the Conference into the
existing United Nations framework adapted to the needs of educators at
different levels and circumstances.  Regional organizations and national
authorities should be encouraged to elaborate similar parallel programmes and
opportunities by conducting an analysis of how to mobilize different sectors
of the population in order to assess and address their environmental and
development education needs;

     (h)   There is a need to strengthen, within five years, information
exchange by enhancing technologies and capacities necessary to promote
environment and development education and public awareness.  Countries should
cooperate with each other and with the various social sectors and population
groups to prepare educational tools that include regional environment and
development issues and initiatives, using learning materials and resources
suited to their own requirements;

     (i)   Countries could support university and other tertiary activities
and networks for environmental and development education.  Cross-disciplinary
courses could be made available to all students.  Existing regional networks
and activities and national university actions which promote research and
common teaching approaches on sustainable development should be built upon,
and new partnerships and bridges created with the business and other
independent sectors, as well as with all countries for technology, know-how,
and knowledge exchange;

     (j)   Countries, assisted by international organizations,
non-governmental organizations and other sectors, could strengthen or
establish national or regional centres of excellence in interdisciplinary
research and education in environmental and developmental sciences, law and
the management of specific environmental problems.  Such centres could be
universities or existing networks in each country or region, promoting
cooperative research and information sharing and dissemination.  At the global
level these functions should be performed by appropriate institutions;

     (k)   Countries should facilitate and promote non-formal education
activities at the local, regional and national levels by cooperating with and
supporting the efforts of non-formal educators and other community-based
organizations.  The appropriate bodies of the United Nations system in
cooperation with non-governmental organizations should encourage the
development of an international network for the achievement of global
educational aims.  At the national and local levels, public and scholastic
forums should discuss environmental and development issues, and suggest
sustainable alternatives to policy makers;

     (l)   Educational authorities, with appropriate assistance of
non-governmental organizations, including women's and indigenous peoples'
organizations, should promote all kinds of adult education programmes for
continuing education in environment and development, basing activities around
elementary/secondary schools and local problems.  These authorities and
industry should encourage business, industrial and agricultural schools to
include such topics in their curricula.  The corporate sector could include
sustainable development in their education and training programmes. 
Programmes at a post-graduate level should include specific courses aiming at
the further training of decision makers;

     (m)   Governments and educational authorities should foster
opportunities for women in non-traditional fields and eliminate gender
stereotyping in curricula.  This could be done by improving enrolment
opportunities, including females in advanced programmes as students and
instructors, reforming entrance and teacher staffing policies and providing
incentives for establishing child-care facilities, as appropriate.  Priority
should be given to education of young females and to programmes promoting
literacy among women;

     (n)   Governments should affirm the rights of indigenous peoples, by
legislation if necessary, to use their experience and understanding of
sustainable development to play a part in education and training;

     (o)   The United Nations could maintain a monitoring and evaluative role
regarding decisions of the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development on education and awareness, through the relevant United Nations
agencies.  With Governments and non-governmental organizations, as
appropriate, it should present and disseminate decisions in a variety of
forms, and should ensure the continuous implementation and review of the
educational implications of Conference decisions, in particular through
relevant events and conferences.

Means of implementation

     Financing and cost evaluation

36.6.  The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total annual cost
(1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme to be about
$8 billion to $9 billion, including about $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion from
the international community on grant or concessional terms.  These are
indicative and order-of-magnitude estimates only and have not been reviewed
by Governments.  Actual costs and financial terms, including any that are
non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the specific strategies and
programmes Governments decide upon for implementation.

36.7.  In the light of country-specific situations, more support for
education, training and public awareness activities related to environment and
development could be provided, in appropriate cases, through measures such as
the following:

     (a)   Giving higher priority to those sectors in budget allocations,
protecting them from structural cutting requirements;

     (b)   Shifting allocations within existing education budgets in favour
of primary education, with focus on environment and development;

     (c)   Promoting conditions where a larger share of the cost is borne by
local communities, with rich communities assisting poorer ones;

     (d)   Obtaining additional funds from private donors concentrating on
the poorest countries, and those with rates of literacy below 40 per cent;

     (e)   Encouraging debt for education swaps;

     (f)   Lifting restrictions on private schooling and increasing the flow
of funds from and to non-governmental organizations, including small-scale
grass-roots organizations;

     (g)   Promoting the effective use of existing facilities, for example,
multiple school shifts, fuller development of open universities and other
long-distance teaching;

     (h)   Facilitating low-cost or no-cost use of mass media for the
purposes of education;

     (i)   Encouraging twinning of universities in developed and developing
countries.


                     B.  Increasing public awareness

Basis for action

36.8.  There is still a considerable lack of awareness of the interrelated
nature of all human activities and the environment, due to inaccurate or
insufficient information.  Developing countries in particular lack relevant
technologies and expertise.  There is a need to increase public sensitivity
to environment and development problems and involvement in their solutions and
foster a sense of personal environmental responsibility and greater motivation
and commitment towards sustainable development.

Objective

36.9.  The objective is to promote broad public awareness as an essential part
of a global education effort to strengthen attitudes, values and actions which
are compatible with sustainable development.  It is important to stress the
principle of devolving authority, accountability and resources to the most
appropriate level with preference given to local responsibility and control
over awareness-building activities.

Activities

36.10.  Recognizing that countries, regional and international organizations
will develop their own priorities and schedules for implementation in
accordance with their needs, policies and programmes, the following activities
are proposed:

     (a)   Countries should strengthen existing advisory bodies or establish
new ones for public environment and development information, and should
coordinate activities with, among others, the United Nations, non-governmental
organizations and important media.  They should encourage public participation
in discussions of environmental policies and assessments.  Governments should
also facilitate and support national to local networking of information
through existing networks;

     (b)   The United Nations system should improve its outreach in the
course of a review of its education and public awareness activities to promote
greater involvement and coordination of all parts of the system, especially
its information bodies and regional and country operations.  Systematic
surveys of the impact of awareness programmes should be conducted, recognizing
the needs and contributions of specific community groups;

     (c)   Countries and regional organizations should be encouraged, as
appropriate, to provide public environmental and development information
services for raising the awareness of all groups, the private sector and
particularly decision makers;

     (d)   Countries should stimulate educational establishments in all
sectors, especially the tertiary sector, to contribute more to awareness
building.  Educational materials of all kinds and for all audiences should be
based on the best available scientific information, including the natural,
behavioural and social sciences, and taking into account aesthetic and ethical
dimensions;

     (e)   Countries and the United Nations system should promote a
cooperative relationship with the media, popular theatre groups, and
entertainment and advertising industries by initiating discussions to mobilize
their experience in shaping public behaviour and consumption patterns and
making wide use of their methods.  Such cooperation would also increase the
active public participation in the debate on the environment.  UNICEF should
make child-oriented material available to media as an educational tool,
ensuring close cooperation between the out-of-school public information sector
and the school curriculum, for the primary level.  UNESCO, UNEP and
universities should enrich pre-service curricula for journalists on
environment and development topics;

     (f)   Countries, in cooperation with the scientific community, should
establish ways of employing modern communication technologies for effective
public outreach.  National and local educational authorities and relevant
United Nations agencies should expand, as appropriate, the use of audio-visual
methods, especially in rural areas in mobile units, by producing television
and radio programmes for developing countries, involving local participation,
employing interactive multimedia methods and integrating advanced methods with
folk media;

     (g)   Countries should promote, as appropriate, environmentally sound
leisure and tourism activities, building on The Hague Declaration of Tourism
(1989) and the current programmes of the World Tourism Organization and UNEP, 
making suitable use of museums, heritage sites, zoos, botanical gardens,
national parks, and other protected areas;

     (h)   Countries should encourage non-governmental organizations to
increase their involvement in environmental and development problems, through
joint awareness initiatives and improved interchange with other constituencies
in society;

     (i)   Countries and the United Nations system should increase their
interaction with and include, as appropriate, indigenous people in the
management, planning and development of their local environment, and should
promote dissemination of traditional and socially learned knowledge through
means based on local customs, especially in rural areas, integrating these
efforts with the electronic media, whenever appropriate;

     (j)   UNICEF, UNESCO, UNDP and non-governmental organizations should
develop support programmes to involve young people and children in environment
and development issues, such as children's and youth hearings and building on
decisions of the World Summit for Children (A/45/625, annex);

     (k)   Countries, the United Nations and non-governmental organizations
should encourage mobilization of both men and women in awareness campaigns,
stressing the role of the family in environmental activities, women's
contribution to transmission of knowledge and social values and the
development of human resources;

     (l)   Public awareness should be heightened regarding the impacts of
violence in society.

Means of implementation

     Financing and cost evaluation

36.11.  The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total annual cost
(1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme to be about
$1.2 billion, including about $110 million from the international community
on grant or concessional terms.  These are indicative and order-of-magnitude
estimates only and have not been reviewed by Governments.  Actual costs and
financial terms, including any that are non-concessional, will depend upon,
inter alia, the specific strategies and programmes Governments decide upon for
implementation.


                         C.  Promoting training

Basis for action

36.12.  Training is one of the most important tools to develop human resources
and facilitate the transition to a more sustainable world.  It should have a
job-specific focus, aimed at filling gaps in knowledge and skill that would
help individuals find employment and be involved in environmental and
development work.  At the same time, training programmes should promote a
greater awareness of environment and development issues as a two-way learning
process.

Objectives

36.13.  The following objectives are proposed:

     (a)   To establish or strengthen vocational training programmes that
meet the needs of environment and development with ensured access to training
opportunities, regardless of social status, age, gender, race or religion;

     (b)   To promote a flexible and adaptable workforce of various ages
equipped to meet growing environment and development problems and changes
arising from the transition to a sustainable society;

     (c)   To strengthen national capacities, particularly in scientific
education and training, to enable Governments, employers and workers to meet
their environmental and development objectives and to facilitate the transfer
and assimilation of new environmentally sound, socially acceptable and
appropriate technology and know-how;

     (d)   To ensure that environmental and human ecological considerations
are integrated at all managerial levels and in all functional management
areas, such as marketing, production and finance.

Activities

36.14.  Countries with the support of the United Nations system should
identify workforce training needs and assess measures to be taken to meet
those needs.  A review of progress in this area could be undertaken by the
United Nations system in 1995.

36.15.  National professional associations are encouraged to develop and
review their codes of ethics and conduct to strengthen environmental
connections and commitment.  The training and personal development components
of programmes sponsored by professional bodies should ensure incorporation of
skills and information on the implementation of sustainable development at all
points of policy- and decision-making.

36.16.  Countries and educational institutions should integrate environmental
and developmental issues into existing training curricula and promote the
exchange of their methodologies and evaluations.

36.17.  Countries should encourage all sectors of society, such as industry,
universities, government officials and employees, non-governmental
organizations and community organizations, to include an environmental
management component in all relevant training activities, with emphasis on
meeting immediate skill requirements through short-term formal and in-plant
vocational and management training.  Environmental management training
capacities should be strengthened, and specialized "training of trainers"
programmes should be established to support training at the national and
enterprise levels.  New training approaches for existing environmentally sound
practices should be developed that create employment opportunities and make
maximum use of local resource-based methods.

36.18.  Countries should strengthen or establish practical training programmes
for graduates from vocational schools, high schools and universities, in all
countries, to enable them to meet labour market requirements and to achieve
sustainable livelihoods.  Training and retraining programmes should be
established to meet structural adjustments which have an impact on employment
and skill qualifications.

36.19.  Governments are encouraged to consult with people in isolated
situations, whether geographically, culturally or socially, to ascertain their
needs for training to enable them to contribute more fully to developing
sustainable work practices and lifestyles.

36.20.  Governments, industry, trade unions, and consumers should promote an
understanding of the interrelationship between good environment and good
business practices.

36.21.  Countries should develop a service of locally trained and recruited
environmental technicians able to provide local people and communities,
particularly in deprived urban and rural areas, with the services they
require, starting from primary environmental care.

36.22.  Countries should enhance the ability to gain access to, analyse and
effectively use information and knowledge available on environment and
development.  Existing or established special training programmes should be
strengthened to support information needs of special groups.  The impact of
these programmes on productivity, health, safety and employment should be
evaluated.  National and regional environmental labour-market information
systems should be developed that would supply, on a continuing basis, data on
environmental job and training opportunities.  Environment and development
training resource-guides should be prepared and updated, with information on
training programmes, curricula, methodologies and evaluation results at the
local, national, regional and international levels.

36.23.  Aid agencies should strengthen the training component in all
development projects, emphasizing a multidisciplinary approach, promoting
awareness and providing the necessary skills for transition to a sustainable
society.  The environmental management guidelines of UNDP for operational
activities of the United Nations system may contribute to this end.

36.24.  Existing networks of employers' and workers' organizations, industry
associations and non-governmental organizations should facilitate the exchange
of experience concerning training and awareness programmes.

36.25.  Governments, in cooperation with relevant international organizations,
should develop and implement strategies to deal with national, regional and
local environmental threats and emergencies, emphasizing urgent practical
training and awareness programmes for increasing public preparedness.

36.26.  The United Nations system, as appropriate, should extend its training
programmes, particularly its environmental training and support activities for
employers' and workers' organizations.

Means of implementation

     Financing and cost evaluation

36.27.  The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total annual cost
(1993-2000) of implementing the activities of this programme to be about
$5 billion, including about $2 billion from the international community on
grant or concessional terms.  These are indicative and order-of-magnitude
estimates only and have not been reviewed by Governments.  Actual costs and
financial terms, including any that are non-concessional, will depend upon,
inter alia, the specific strategies and programmes Governments decide upon for
implementation.


                                  Notes

     1/    Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education:  Final
Report (Paris, UNESCO, 1978), chap. III.

                 2/    Final Report of the World Conference on Education for All: 
Meeting Basic Learning Needs, Jomtien, Thailand, 5-9 March 1990 (New York,
Inter-Agency Commission (UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, World Bank) for the World
Conference on Education for All, 1990).


END OF CHAPTER 36
