To create a world that is more just, peaceful and sustainable, all individuals and societies must be equipped with and empowered by knowledge, skills and values as well as be instilled with a heightened awareness to drive such change. There is now a growing international recognition of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as an integral element of quality education and a key enabler for sustainable
development. Both the Muscat Agreement adopted at the Global Education For All Meeting in 2014 (GEM) and the proposal for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) developed by the Open Working Group of the UN General Assembly on SDGs (OWG) include ESD in the proposed targets for the post-2015 agenda.
In 2013, the 37th session of the General Conference of UNESCO endorsed the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD as the follow-up to the UN Decade of ESD (2005-2014). Building on the achievements of the Decade, the GAP aims to generate and scale up concrete actions in ESD. The present Roadmap communicates the GAP endorsed by UNESCO Member States (37 C/Resolution 12) to decision-makers, stakeholders and actors, and provides suggestions for the implementation of the GAP, as well as details on UNESCO’s role.