Beyond 2012: The Future We Want “To Create”

PUNTENNEY, P., LYNGDOH, B., BALLHORN D., PADUA, S. (eds.) 2012. Beyond 2012: The Future We Want “To Create”. Rio de Janerio: UN CSD Education Caucus, 2012.
This publication is the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) Education Caucus' summary Report for Rio+20, where various team members and partners shared their observations and insights.
The primary objective of the Education Caucus is to work within the United Nations system to promote policies that support education and sustainable development. Education for sustainable development engages stakeholders on three levels: the learning individual, the learning organization, and the learning society. For more information follow this link.
Beyond 2012: The Future We Want “To Create”
The fourteen Peoples’ Sustainability Treaties, evolved through a consultative process with hundreds of civil society organizations, converged at the Rio+20 to launch a Manifesto on the final day of the summit. They have declared that another world is possible after Rio+20 and pledged their commitment to a transition toward increasingly sustainable futures on earth.
• Environmental Education for Sustainable Societies and Global Responsibility (draft for Rio+20)
• Sustainability Treaty on Higher Education (draft for Rio+20)
6. UN Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI) & Declaration for Rio+20:
On the occasion of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012, the leaders of the international academic community are called upon to commit to the development of sustainable practices for Higher Education Institutions.
Since Higher Education Institutions educate and train decision makers, they play a key role in building more sustainable societies and creating new paradigms. As educational institutions, they have the mission to promote development through both research and teaching, disseminating new knowledge and insight to their students and building their capabilities. Given the objectives of Rio+20, Higher Education Institutions have a special responsibility to provide leadership on education for sustainable development.
Education for sustainable development aims at enabling everyone to acquire the values, competencies, skills and knowledge necessary to contribute to building a more sustainable society. This implies revising teaching content to respond to global and local challenges. It should also promote teaching methods that enable students to acquire skills such as interdisciplinary thinking, integrated planning, understanding complexity, cooperating with others in decision-making processes, and participating in local, national and global processes towards sustainable development.
7. Global Universities Partnership on Environment and Sustainability (GUPES) Launch
The Global Universities Partnership on Environment and Sustainability (GUPES) is a flagship project of UNEP’s Environmental Education and Training Unit (EETU). GUPES aims to promote the integration of environmental and sustainability concerns in higher education through teaching, research, community engagement and infrastructure as well as enhance student engagement and participation.
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20
The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development - or Rio+20 - took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 20-22 June 2012. It resulted in a focused political outcome document which contains clear and practical measures for implementing sustainable development.
In Rio, Member States decided to launch a process to develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will build upon the Millennium Development Goals and converge with the post 2015 development agenda.
Governments also agreed to strengthen the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) on several fronts with action to be taken during the 67th session of the General Assembly.
See also A/RES/66/288 - The Future We Want [Arabic] [Chinese] [English] [French] [Russian] [Spanish].