Tomorrow today; 2010 - unesdoc - Unesco

UNEP’s environmental education activitiesIbrahim Thiaw, Director of the Division of Environmental Policy Implementation, United Nations Environment ProgrammeUNEP’s environmental education and training (EET) activitiesaim to promote attitudes and value systems thatinfluence environmentally ethical behaviour by developingunderstanding, skills and values that will enable peopleto participate as active and informed citizens in the developmentof an ecologically sustainable and socially just society.Environmental education is fundamental to the achievementof the goal of sustainable development. Education, awarenessraising and training are essential to United Nations EnvironmentProgramme (UNEP) fulfilling its mandate of inspiring, informingand enabling nations and people to achieve sustainable development.MESA partnershipUNEP is a global leader in science-based environmental policy. Globally,there is an urgent need to develop useful, high quality training andknowledge materials to assist universities and other tertiary institutionsin integrating environment and sustainability issues into the teaching,research and management of their institutions. To excel and be crediblein science-based environmental policy, UNEP seeks to strengthenits interactions with universities and to develop new relationships aswell. UNEP’s continuing successful engagement with universities,for example under Mainstreaming Environment andSustainability into African Universities (MESA), 1 gives ita comparative advantage.Universities serve not only as a conduit to reachthe future generation but also as a pool of intellectualcapital that can be generated, utilized immediately andlinked to policy. Universities play a major role in socioeconomicand cultural behavioural change. In addition,they are taking and will continue to take the lead inthe planning and implementation of future sustainabledevelopment initiatives. The choice of universities isstrategic because:• In their role as producers and transmitters ofknowledge, universities are vital in formulating,influencing and implementing policies, guidelinesand management strategies in environmentaland sustainable development-related fields. Mostgovernments not only depend on experts fromuniversities, but also rely on and utilize researchoutputs from them• Universities’ core mission of teaching is aninstrumental process of building and developingImage: UNEPParticipants at the 1st MESA Workshop, Nairobi, Kenya, 2008[ 126 ]