Resources

Education plays an important role in promoting knowledge, skills and values that are necessary for the realization of a sustainable society. It also assists learners to learn to cope with today's challenges such as climate change and urbanization. The overarching theme of the symposium was the critical role of education in promoting sustainable urbanization with a particular focus on climate change and its challenges. This broad theme was divided into two major sub-themes: 1. Role of education in building sustainable cities 2. Mainstreaming climate change in education for building sustainable cities. The key objective of the symposium was to raise awareness about the decade of education on sustainable development and to promote a constructive dialogue between local authorities, practitioners, academia and civil society organizations on the role of education in addressing the challenges of sustainable urbanization and climate change. A major thrust of the dialogue was “moving from rhetoric to action”. Key concepts of the Symposium Cities Half of humanity now lives in cities, and around one billion urban residents live in slums. The urbanization of poverty is therefore one of the most daunting challenges of the 21st century. Cities offer opportunities, but most urban development is largely toxic, segregated and inefficient. If cities are to come to terms with rapid levels of urbanization, they require leaders, managers and staff capable of adopting innovative and robust approaches to planning, developing, managing and financing growth for all citizens. Climate Change Globally, climate change is now recognized as one of the defining challenges of the 21st century. The future of hundreds of millions of people in urban areas across the world will be affected by the different impacts of climate change. Developing and least developed countries have higher vulnerability to climate change impacts compared to developed countries. Climate change has been identified as one of the main strategic perspectives to inform education and learning for sustainable development and by extension sustainable city development. Climate change issues need to be part of public awareness, learning and education for a sustainable future. The integrated, multifaceted vision provided by ESD is particularly well-suited to addressing climate change and city development in terms of understanding its causes, recognising its impact and effects, and preparing and implementing appropriate mitigation and adaptation responses.