The Mediterranean is prominent in the Final Report of the UN Decade of ESD (2005-2014)

The Final Report of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) entitled “Shaping the Future We Want” prominently refers to the Mediterranean Strategy on ESD as a success on a global scale! The Strategy was endorsed in May 2014 by the UfM Ministers in charge of Environment and Climate Change.  The Report  was formally presented by UNESCO’s Director General in Nagoya during the Opening Ceremony of the World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development.

This report is in fact the final monitoring and evaluation of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), which has activated hundreds of thousands of people to reorient education globally towards a central goal: to learn, to live and work sustainably. ESD has spread across all levels and areas of education, in all regions of the world and is widely considered key in supporting sustainable development.

Through the technical, political and financial support of the H2020 Initiative in recent years, the region was able to show such good results. On page 37, under the heading of “Policy: ESD Actions around the World” the first entry is “The Mediterranean Strategy on ESD (MSESD)” and is mentioned again under in page 47.

Proudly, MIO-ECSDE and the MEdIES Secretariat can claim that they have steadily supported the ESD cause in the Mediterranean, and the MSESD in particular,  way back since the early 2000s when we moved from Environmental Education to Education for Sustainable Development. Indeed MIO-ECSDE, MEdIES, and the network they support of Mediterranean Universities for ESD are also mentioned in various parts of the Report as important networks that have substantially reinforced ESD promotion, as well as research, capacity building, etc. (pp 98, 122, 123, 193).

Now all eyes look toward the speedy implementation of ESD in all Mediterranean countries.