UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development - Pre-conference workshops

In September 2020, UNESCO held a global series of online workshops on how to transform society through learning with Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tragic impact on human life around the world: killing hundreds of thousands of people, causing global economic decline and school closures in over 180 countries. It has challenged the structures of our societies and our ways of life. This disruption also presents a historic chance to redesign our societies and reroute from the current path. UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Education, Stefania Giannini, has called upon governments to “build back better”, and change education to meet the climate emergency through Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and the Agenda 2030. ESD reassesses what we learn, where we learn and how we learn to ensure we develop the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that enable us to make informed decisions and actions on global problems such as the climate crisis and the COVID-19 crisis.

Transforming learning to transform societies towards sustainability is the aim of the ESD for 2030 framework. This roadmap for ESD in 2020-2030 was officially launched at the UNESCO World Conference on ESD which took place from May 17-19 2021, in Berlin, Germany. In the lead-up to the World Conference, UNESCO was invited to a series of ESD online workshops in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany, and with the German Commission for UNESCO as advisory partner. The discussions and results from the series of online workshops will be used to further develop the conference program and help shape the agenda in Berlin next year.  

Topics for the workshops have already been announced:

#1: The big conversation: ESD and the world beyond Covid-19 on 9 September 2020, 12:30 GMT+2

#2: ESD in remote and digital settings: Lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic on 14 October 2020, 10:00 GMT+2

#3: Youth, ESD and resilience: Empowering and mobilizing young people under crisis on 11 November 2020, 14:00 GMT+2

#4: ESD and global health: Inter-linkage of the health of people and planet on 9 December 2020, 12:30 GMT+2

#5: ESD and Climate Emergency: ‘Bend the curve for climate change’ on 10 February 2021, 10:00 GMT+2

#6: ESD and lifestyle: Re-designing consumption and production on 10 March 2021, 14:00 GMT+2

#7: ESD for 2030 framework and the Berlin Conference: Time to act - Now or Never on 14 April 2021, 12:30 GMT+2

More information and registration here: https://en.unesco.org/themes/education-sustainable-development/ESDfor2030-workshops