UEEC TFJD143-17-67599 July 13, 2005 21:54

The Decade of Education for Sustainable

Development: Challenges and Opportunities
in México
Edgar González-Gaudiano, Advisor to the Minister of Public Education,
Government of Mexico Regional President for Mesoamerica of the IUCN Education
and Communication Commission

QUERY SHEET
UEEC TFJD143-17-67599 July 13, 2005
Applied Environmental Education and Communication, 4:1–3, 2005
Copyright © Taylor & Francis Inc.
ISSN: 1533-015X print / 1533-0389 online
DOI: 10.1080/15330150591004805
The Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development: Challenges and Opportunities
in México
Edgar González-Gaudiano, Advisor to the Minister of Public Education,
5 Government of Mexico Regional President for Mesoamerica of the IUCN Education
and Communication Commission
The international implementation plan for the 6.
Decade of Education for Sustainable Devel- 7.
opment (DESD) identifies four elements for 8.
5 the achievement of sustainable development 9.
through education: 10.
1. Recognising the challenge (learning to
learn)
2. Collective responsibility and constructive so-
10 ciety (learning to live together)
3. Acting with determination (learning to do)
4. The indivisibility of human dignity (learning
to be)1
These four structural elements make refer-
15 ence to desirable principles of basic education,
the realignment of current educational pro-
grammes, the raising of public awareness, un-
derstanding the meaning of sustainability, and
training. The principles in turn refer to objec-
20 tives that define the goals and areas of action
that it is hoped will be dealt with during the
Decade, namely:
1. Eradication of poverty
2. Gender equality
25 3. The promotion of health
4. Environmental conservation and protection
5. Rural transformation
Address correspondence to Edgar
González-Gaudiano. E-mail:
edgarg@sep.gob.mx
21:54
Human rights
Inter-cultural understanding and peace
Sustainable production and consumption 30
Cultural diversity
Information and communications technolo-
gies.
What is the meaning of this for Mexico and,
particularly, what are the implications for the 35
Ministry of Public Education?
Agenda 21 recognised that profound
change in lifestyles, in development styles, and
in styles of thought and nowledge were funda-
mental to achieving sustainability. All of these 40
changes are related to educational processes
designed to raise public awareness, informed
citizen participation, and the development of
decision-making skills applicable to all matters
affecting quality of life. However, funding for 45
such an approach to education was not forth-
coming and complaints began to be heard,
such as the opinion voiced at the IUCN World
Congress for Conservation (Montreal, 1996)
that “education was the forgotten priority from 50
Rio.” In the 10 years between Rio de Janeiro
and the World Summit for Sustainable Devel-
opment (Johannesburg, 2002), the foreseeable
climate remained largely unchanged. Environ-
mental education has featured as a priority in 55
1 The four kinds of learning mentioned in parentheses
were also the structural elements proposed by the Delors
Commission, which prepared the 1996 report on Learning:
The Treasure Within.
UEEC TFJD143-17-67599 July 13, 2005 21:54
2 E. GONZÁLEZ-GAUDIANO
institutional speeches and declarations, but very
little funding has been provided to establish a
strategy and a plan of action in keeping with the
importance it was given in the rhetoric.
60 In the education field, environmental edu-
cation has been seen as just one more verbose
form of education, as is also the case of mul-
ticultural education, education for democratic
thought, and human rights education: emerg-
65 ing fields, precariously established, perceived as
passing fads that exist on the periphery of edu-
cation and in the folds of the social attitudes of
our times, but which, according to the “makers
of education in the country,” do not manage to
70 impact the mainstream of educational debate
and yet dare to challenge the system for a space
in an already over-burdened school curriculum.
In Mexico, environmental education and
related fields such as training and communica-
75 tions have merely played a supportive role and
have been called “instruments” for environmen-
tal management. That is to say, they are seen
as tools that help achieve environmental goals
(renovation, conservation, etc.), in themselves
80 considered essential ends and, therefore, supe-
rior to education’s role in the creation of social
values, attitudes, and aptitudes.
Why this talk about education for sustain-
able development now?
85 Precisely because it is hoped that we can
transcend the limited role that has been given to
environmental education, to date, in the broad
context of developed countries and many oth-
ers, including Mexico. Too often, the meaning
90 of “environment” has been reduced to “nature,”
and “environmental education” to elementary
schooling.
This is why the resolution for the Decade
speaks of the Dakar Plan of Action of Educa-
95 tion for All, because sustainability is no longer
only linked to ecological policy but also to the
struggle against poverty in search of greater so-
cial equality that affords better opportunities to
the most vulnerable social groups (women, in-
100 digenous peoples, young people, etc.). Educa-
tion for sustainable development is conceived
as education in values, civil and ethical educa-
tion that seeks the formation of a critical citi-
zenry capable of stimulating an analysis of what
is going on with respect to our concerns and 105
desires for social change. And, if sustainable de-
velopment implies new and different thought
processes, it requires creativity, flexibility, and
critical reflection in order to influence the sys-
tems of public participation in decision making. 110
Evidently, this empowerment could never come
about by simply including more course materi-
als and didactic activities in different school syl-
labuses because, although it implies qualitative
modifications in schooling, it transcends such 115
considerations to become a prerequisite for our
transformation into a knowledge society.
One problem that derives from all of this
is that in Mexico, and in other parts of the
world (Latin America and the Caribbean, and 120
certain Spanish and Canadian institutions), we
have been giving environmental education the
same twist, with a socio-critical approach cur-
rently being sponsored for education for sus-
tainable development; therefore, simply substi- 125
tuting the concepts, in addition to losing hard-
won political assets, would add to the confusion
of those who have become more and more in-
volved in this field over recent years.
From a pragmatic standpoint, and in the 130
knowledge that the DESD represents a window
of opportunity to strengthen some of the pro-
cesses and practices slowly established in Mexico
with great difficulty and precious little institu-
tional support, certain groups are beginning to 135
talk about environmental education for sustain-
able development or environmental education
for sustainability, which, as a matter of fact, was
agreed upon at the International Environment
and Society Conference, Education and Sensi- 140
tization for Sustainability held in Thessaloniki,
Greece, 1997.
The Decade is faced with two additional
problems: The first is the conceptual opaque-
ness regarding the nature of sustainable devel- 145
opment and consequently ESD. This does not
permit a clear definition of target groups, prac-
tical strategies, and the scope of projects. UN-
ESCO’s definition of ESD comprises 10 topics
that have to be dealt with, even though in re- 150
ality it is a case of disjointed communities of
UEEC TFJD143-17-67599 July 13, 2005 21:54

DESD: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES IN MÉXICO 3

educators that have gone through their own a) An inter-ministerial commission should be
process, their own struggles. This brings us to set up to agree upon the adoption of insti- 190
the second problem, namely, that generally only tutional individual and group measures that
155 environmental educators are aware of ESD and would include initiating a nationwide call to
are discussing it. Truth be told, although other all federal entities to throw their weight be-
groups of educators, defenders of human rights hind this major undertaking in an effective
and gender, students of multi-cultural issues, coordinated manner. 195
and so on, have found out that they are involved b) A national policy should be developed with
160 in the Decade, at least in Mexico, they do not the different social groups and sectors for
seem to feel included. Furthermore, the seem- the creation of Environmental Education for
ing neglect of environmental education in dis- Sustainable Development that would involve
cussions of ESD may undermine some of the the most diverse spaces of public life. 200
advances made, on a regional level in environ- c) A national fund for Environmental Educa-
165 mental education, such as laws and specialist or- tion for Sustainable Development should be
ganisations and journals. set up with contributions from public, pri-
In the meantime, and to take advantage of vate, and social sectors.
the institutional opportunities that the Decade d) Other education fields such as sustain- 205
may offer, the Ministry of Public Education has able consumption, peace, population issues,
170 considered environmental and sustainability is- health, and water conservation and energy
sues as a backbone in the design of its National savings, among others, should be taken into
“Education for All” Programme. Moreover, it account in the creation of Environmental Ed-
has set up a high-level internal group compris- ucation for Sustainable Development. 210
ing 14 directors of the Ministry’s different agen- e) A support network should be set up that
175 cies, under the coordination of the Interna- would get the entire academic commu-
tional Affairs Directorate, to draw up an insti- nity involved: universities and institutes of
tutional plan of action in this respect that may, higher education, research centres, and pro-
when the time is right, fit in with the plans drawn fessional organisms and colleges. 215
up by other sectors. It is producing a television f) Different ways should be explored to make
180 series with educational goals in mind on a vari- use of the mass media to maximise the impact
ety of topics in conjunction with the Ministry of of Environmental Education for Sustainable
the Environment and Natural Resources. In ad- Development in the public’s daily activities,
dition, a National Commitment to the Decade placing emphasis on matters of employment, 220
of Education for Sustainable Development has public security, and the struggle against cor-
185 been signed by all local governments, principal ruption and unaccountability.
business organisations, churches, academic in- g) Mechanisms of international collaboration
stitutions, and civil society organisms. Nonethe- should be agreed upon, making special men-
less, it would be desirable, as part of the DESD, tion of those of a regional nature: North 225
2005–2014, that: America, Latin America, and the Caribbean.