UNESCO Chair

The UNESCO Chair on Education for Sustainable Development with the Earth Charter is coordinated by the Earth Charter Center for Education for Sustainable Development and the University for Peace, based in Costa Rica. It has the goal of implementing educational programmes and research activities in the field of education for sustainable development specifically on the intersection of sustainability, ethics and education. Since, its establishment in 2012, it has developed resource materials and offered programmes (in English, Spanish and Portuguese) with a special emphasis in bringing values and principles of sustainability in processes of teaching and learning. The target groups of the various courses and programmes offered are educators, youth, and decision makers. The resources (books, videos, webinars, podcast series, and other materials) are developed for the use of researchers, as well as courses and workshops implemented by universities and organizations in all regions of the world.

This  UNESCO Chair contributes to the SDG 4.7 and the overall goal of the ESD for 2030 Framework, which builds on the Global Action Programme on ESD, and the United Nations Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD).  The overarching goal is to integrate the values inherent in sustainable development into all aspects of learning. In this sense, this UNESCO Chair contributes in the implementation of UNESCO Resolutions in 2003 (32C/17) and 2019 (40C/80), which, recognize the Earth Charter as an important ethical framework for sustainable development, and encourages Members States to use the Earth Charter in Education for Sustainable Development processes, in particular in the implementation of the ESD for 2030 framework and in connection with the 2017 UNESCO Declaration of Ethical Principles in relation to Climate Change.

Objectives of the Center and the UNESCO Chair are to:

  • Offer training programmes and workshops for various groups on global ethics and sustainability.
  • Offer hands-on training on tools for ethics-based evaluation processes based on the Earth Charter;
  • Undertake research and develop resource materials and training opportunities for educators and policymakers on education for sustainable development;
  • Collaborate with universities and other education and research centers in processes to incorporate values inherent in sustainable development into all aspects of learning;
  • Facilitate partnerships and knowledge sharing among stakeholders in education for sustainable development;
  • Collect and develop best practice narratives and case studies on ESD that highlight the use of the Earth Charter in educational settings.

Partners

This UNESCO Chair is a partner of:

  • UNITWIN Network on Education for Sustainable Development and Social Transformation (UNiESD&ST). Host institutionUNESCO Chair in Higher Education for Sustainable Development (2005), University of Lüneburg: Gerd Michelsen (Germany).
  • International Partner Network of the UNESCO Chair on Education for Sustainable Lifestyles, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences.

RESOURCES