The World Summit on Sustainable Development recommended to the United Nations General Assembly that “it consider adopting a Decade of Education for Sustainable Development starting in 2005” (para. 117d, Plan of Implementation). In December 2002, resolution 57/254 on the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development beginning 1 January 2005 was adopted by consensus. The resolution had been introduced by Japan and co-sponsored by 46 countries.

The United Nations General Assembly resolution designated UNESCO as the lead agency for the promotion of the Decade and requested the Organization to develop a draft international implementation scheme.

As the United Nations lead agency in education, UNESCO must play a key role in setting quality standards in education for sustainable development. It needs to reorient its own programmes to include the changes required to promote sustainable development. Improving the quality of education and reorienting its goals to recognize the importance of sustainable development must be one of UNESCO’s and the world’s highest priorities.

The Rio Declaration from the World Conference on Environmental and Development 1992 began by stating:

Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development. They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.

The Johannesburg Declaration at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 built on this aspiration and expressed the commitment of world leaders “to build a humane, equitable and caring global society cognizant of the need for human dignity for all.”

Education as the foundation of sustainable development was reaffirmed at the Johannesburg Summit, as was the commitment embodied in Chapter 36 of Agenda 21 of the Rio Summit, 1992. The Plan of Implementation establishes the linkages between the Millennium Development Goals on universal primary education for both boys and girls, but especially girls, and the Dakar Framework for Action on Education for All. The creation of a gender-sensitive education system at all levels and of all types – formal, non-formal and informal – to reach the unserved is emphasized as a crucial component of education for sustainable development. Education is recognized as a tool for addressing important questions such as rural development, health care, community involvement, HIV/AIDS, the environment, and wider ethical/legal issues such as human values and human rights.