Lecture 01: Introduction

Summary

This lecture, led by NPTEL IIT Kharagpur, introduces Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), tied closely to the UNESCO's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Primarily, the focus is on understanding these goals with a deep dive into SDG 4: Quality Education. Emphasis is placed on the historical context of the SDGs, originating from the Brundtland Commission in 1987 and evolving through major international milestones, notably the 2015 declaration. The course outlines how various goals interlink and stresses on global citizenship and partnerships, urging all countries and individuals to collaboratively tackle pressing global challenges, aiming for a sustainable future by 2030.

Highlights

• Introduction to UNESCO's 17 Sustainable Development Goals and their significance 🌱.
• Deep focus on SDG 4: Quality Education and its subgoals, addressing global citizenship and education 🌐.
• Historical evolution of SDGs from the Brundtland Commission to the 2015 landmark agreements 📜.
• Discussion on the interconnected nature of sustainable development goals and interdisciplinary approaches 🤲.
• Emphasis on global participation and the shared responsibility of achieving these goals by 2030 🌎.

Key Takeaways

• Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is vital for achieving UNESCO's 17 SDGs 🌍.
• The course highlights SDG 4: Quality Education, emphasizing its role in global citizenship 👩‍🏫.
• The lecture underscores the interconnectedness of all 17 SDGs and the importance of interdisciplinary approaches 🔗.
• 2015 was a pivotal year for international sustainable development agreements 📜.
• Achieving these goals requires collective responsibility and action from all global citizens by 2030 🤝.

Overview

This introductory lecture kicks off an exciting journey into Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), strongly rooted in UNESCO's broader vision expressed through its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The course invites participants to deeply explore these goals, with a special emphasis on SDG 4: Quality Education. Through this focus, learners will unpack the critical role of education in fostering global citizenship and advancing technical and vocational education, closely aligned with UN targets.

Understanding the historical backdrop of the SDGs forms a significant part of this course. The journey traces back to the Brundtland Commission of 1987, marking a seminal point where global leaders recognized the urgency of sustainable development. The evolution continued through various international summits and agreements, culminating in the 2015 declaration which solidified the 17 goals. This historical context provides learners a comprehensive view of the advancements and persistent challenges.

The course consistently emphasizes the interdependent nature of the SDGs. Students will engage with content highlighting how achieving one goal, like Quality Education, intricately links to others such as economic growth, social equality, and environmental preservation. Through fostering a global partnership approach, the course underscores every individual's role in driving collective action towards a more equitable and sustainable future, with 2030 as the ultimate target for these transformative goals.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Introduction to ESD focuses on the key aspects of Education for Sustainable Development, highlighting its foundation in UNESCO's 17 sustainable development goals.
• 00:30 - 02:00: Course Objectives and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) The chapter begins with an introduction to the course, which focuses on education for sustainable development. The initial discussion involves the course objectives and expected learning outcomes, setting the stage for delving into the history and background of sustainable development education. Key concepts such as 'education', 'sustainability', 'sustainable development', and the 'UNESCO Sustainable Development Goals' are introduced, highlighting their importance in understanding the broader notion of education for sustainable development. The course aims to provide all participants with a comprehensive understanding of these crucial ideas.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Expected Learning Outcomes and References The chapter focuses on UNESCO's 17 sustainable development goals with a particular emphasis on Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), which aims for quality education for all. It covers sub-contents of SDG 4, specifically how education for sustainable development (ESD) can aid in achieving SDGs 4.7 and 4.4, which focus on global citizenship and technical/vocational education.
• 02:30 - 04:00: Brief History of Sustainable Development Goals The chapter begins by highlighting the importance of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their global partnership. It mentions the expected learning outcomes which include linking SDGs with various disciplines and interdisciplinary topics. It also provides guidance on where to find more information about SDGs, specifically recommending resources available through UNESCO portals and related websites. The chapter sets the stage for a deeper discussion on sustainable development goals.
• 04:00 - 06:00: Introduction to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals The introduction chapter covers the basics of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals initiated by UNESCO in partnership with its member countries starting from 2015. It briefly touches upon the history and background, mentioning the Brundtland Commission established in 1987, but focuses mainly on the recent developments in sustainable goals set by UNESCO.
• 06:00 - 09:00: The Relationship between SDGs and Society This chapter discusses the relationship between Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and society, with a specific focus on the UNESCO 17 SDGs targeted to be achieved by 2030. It provides an overview of each goal: 1) No poverty, 2) Zero hunger, 3) Good health and well-being, 4) Quality education, 5) Gender equality, 6) Clean water and sanitation, 7) Clean and affordable energy. The chapter appears to serve as an introduction to understanding how these goals intersect and impact various societal aspects.
• 09:00 - 12:30: Global Challenges Addressed by SDGs This chapter titled 'Global Challenges Addressed by SDGs' outlines various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that target significant global issues. These include the goal of promoting decent work and economic growth, developing infrastructure, reducing inequalities, and creating sustainable cities and communities. Other goals focus on sustainable consumption and production patterns, climate action, marine life conservation, and life on land. Each SDG aims to address specific challenges related to these areas, providing a framework for nations to strive towards balanced environmental and economic progress.
• 12:30 - 18:30: Origin and Evolution of the Sustainable Development Goals This chapter discusses the fifth and sixth Sustainable Development Goals: justice, peace, and strong institutions (#16), and global partnership (#17). Though a brief discussion on these 17 goals is mentioned, the main focus of the chapter is Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), which relates directly to the Quality Education goal (#4). The purpose of discussing the Sustainable Development Goals is to understand these global aims.
• 18:30 - 22:30: The Role of UNESCO and the 2030 Agenda In this chapter titled 'The Role of UNESCO and the 2030 Agenda,' the focus is on the universal declaration adopted by all member states of the United Nations in 2015. This declaration aims to end poverty, protect the planet, conserve resources, and preserve cultural heritage. The goal is to ensure that people not only enjoy peace and prosperity in the present but also preserve these benefits for future generations. This aligns with UNESCO's mission of conservation and sustainable development.
• 22:30 - 27:30: International Agreements and Landmark Year 2015 The chapter discusses the evolution of international agreements with a focus on the year 2015 as a landmark. It highlights how UNESCO developed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the future generation. Prior to 2015, UNESCO set various goals, subject to monitoring, evaluation, and scrutiny. With the consensus of all member states in 2015, UNESCO revised and declared that each country must achieve 17 new goals.
• 27:30 - 32:00: Division and Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals The chapter discusses the division and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with a focus on bridging the gap between developing and developed countries by the year 2030. The goals aim to not only protect the planet and ecosystems but also to improve societal conditions, community welfare, and economic growth. This reflects the foundational objectives outlined in the 2015 UNESCO declaration where all 17 SDGs are interconnected.
• 32:00 - 37:00: Global Responsibility for Achieving SDGs The chapter titled 'Global Responsibility for Achieving SDGs' focuses on the interconnected and interdependent nature of global challenges. It emphasizes the importance of considering all aspects of these challenges, aligning with the triple bottom line approach within the sustainable development paradigm, which is divided into three domains: society (people), environment (planet), and economy (profit).
• 37:00 - 39:30: Conclusion and Next Steps This chapter discusses the fundamental domains that structure the categorization of 17 goals, focusing on three primary domains: People, Planet, and Prosperity. People encompass social aspects, the Planet pertains to environmental concerns, and Prosperity addresses financial growth and economic matters. The chapter emphasizes the interdependence of these domains and how they collectively shape the overarching goals. The conclusion highlights the importance of integrating these domains for achieving sustainable development objectives.

Lecture 01: Introduction Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Hello everybody. Welcome to this course on Education for Sustainable Development that is ESD. We will discuss about the details of ESD that is which is primarily based on UNESCOs 17 sustainable development goals.
• 00:30 - 01:00 So, the course is about education for sustainable development. So, let us explore what are its objectives and expected learning outcomes and thereafter we will move on to the its history and background. So, the as because the primarily we will discuss about the concepts key concepts like the education what is sustainability, sustainable development, UNESCO sustainable development goals and education for sustainable development. So, the course objectives are primarily that is all of you will gain about the idea and
• 01:00 - 01:30 understanding of UNESCOs 17 sustainable development goals. And will exclusively work on or discuss on Sustainable Development Goal 4; that is Quality Education for all and all its sub contents. And you will be able to analyze how this ESD can help you to achieve SDGs 4.7 and 4.4 which exclusively deals with global citizenship and technical and vocational education.
• 01:30 - 02:00 Then I will be able to link SDGs sustainable development goals and a global partnership with all related disciplines and interdisciplinary topics ok. So, these are the expected learning outcomes. Whatever we have discussed about these objective, these are all expected learning outcomes. So, now these are some of the references. You can get plenty of references in UNESCO portal and UNESCO related websites. So, now let us discuss about sustainable development goals.
• 02:00 - 02:30 Most of us we are familiar with sustainable development goals UNESCO and from time to time its declarations. Starting from the Brundtland commission in 1987. So, we will explore little bit history and background, we will not go into the depth of that history, but a little bit background of these UNESCO sustainable development goal, which has been initiated by UNESCO with along with its member countries in 2015 onwards
• 02:30 - 03:00 and the target was to meet by 2030. So, so therefore, we will have a this brief discussion about the historical background of this UNESCO 17 sustainable development goals, ok. So, these are as you can see from this picture these are the 17 goals. The first one is the no poverty, zero hunger. SDG 3 is the good health and well-being, 4 is the quality education, 5th is the gender equality, 6th is the clean water and sanitation, 7th is the clean and affordable energy, 8
• 03:00 - 03:30 is the decent work and economic growth. 9th is you can say; you can say its about the infrastructure development, 10th about the reducing the inequalities and 11th is about sustainable cities and communities, 12th is about sustainable consumptions and productions, 13 is about climate, climate action, 14th is about marine life, 15th is about life on land.
• 03:30 - 04:00 16 is about justice peace and institution strong building strong institutions, 17th is about global partnership. So, these are the some of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. We will have a brief discussion on this, but exclusively we will focus on ESD that comes under quality education SDG 4. So, the basic purpose of the Sustainable Development Goals is to know about the Global Goals, which
• 04:00 - 04:30 were adopted by all the member states of United Nations in 2015. As a universal declaration as a universal declaration to end poverty to protect the our planet, to protect our resources, to conserve our resources and preserve our heritage culture everything that to ensure for ensuring that the people not only enjoy the peace and prosperity at present. But for the future generation we are also preserving, is restoring it conserving it
• 04:30 - 05:00 for the future generation. So, this is the basic idea about UNESCO SDGs. Earlier it was also the different types of goals were set by UNESCO from time to time and the action plan was also going on, but after the monitoring an evaluation and after the scrutiny all the member states again they decided to revise it and ultimately in 2015 with the consensus of all the member states. Now, UNESCO declared that these 17 goals are to be achieved by each and every country both
• 05:00 - 05:30 developing and developed country by 2030. So, the basic intention is to not only to protect our planet, but our you know planet and ecosystem, but our you know our society, our community as well as the our economic conditions economic growth. So, this is the basic background of 2015 declaration of UNESCO and all the 17 goals are somewhere
• 05:30 - 06:00 related to each other, are interdependent we can say. So, all the so taking into account the whole domain or whole all the aspects of the challenges that we are facing right now, all the challenges all the issues all the things, so and as per the triple bottom line parameter of sustainable development paradigm development paradigm. So, it has been primarily divided into three domains: one is a society that is people human
• 06:00 - 06:30 resource, another is you can say environment definitely our ecosystem environment and third one is the financial growth financial domain which is the economic domain, financial domain or we can say call it as the prosperity domain. So, this people planet and prosperity is the basic domain on the basis of which all the 17 goals have been divided have been categorized, but all these goals are interdependent in
• 06:30 - 07:00 each other and the whole and the almost all the issues have been covered by the 17 goals. And UNESCO has also declared that ESD that is which comes under SDG 4 that is education for Sustainable Development Goal as the key tool for educating people, for spreading awareness for enabling all the countries and the governments and the education systems to you know to manifest to achieve these 17 goals for every each and every country by 2030.
• 07:00 - 07:30 So, these sustainable development goals primarily these are bold commitments thus all the member countries or the UNESCOs bold commitment to tackle some of the pressing more pressing challenges that we are facing nowadays. Challenges from the climate change impact to the fragile in natural infrastructure, natural resources achieving gender equality, better health, eradicate poverty, fostering peace and inclusive society, reduce inequalities economic prosperity.
• 07:30 - 08:00 Then you know taking care of our ecosystem in terms of our marine life as well as the taking care of our biodiversity and building sustainable cities and the reducing the; that means, reducing the habits of unsustainable consumption and production of the products all kinds of things. All these are that these are related to all the three domains of our life like our thinking domain, our thinking domain our effective domain, how do we feel about it its value
• 08:00 - 08:30 system, its requirement etcetera and the behavioural domain. So, taking into account the all the domains of our behaviour and activity and thought process etcetera. So, we can say this SDGs, 17 SDGs this can it can be say it called as an paradigm shift in our thought process, paradigm shift in our behaviour, paradigm shift in our approach
• 08:30 - 09:00 towards life, approach towards not only life, but our ecosystem. So, hence the whatever pressing challenges emerging challenges where nowadays facing nowadays. How to mitigate those challenges how to mitigate those challenges. Starting from our carbon emissions global warming to terrorism to inequalities to riots to you know all kinds of economic slowdown, pandemic all kinds of things challenges that we are facing.
• 09:00 - 09:30 How to resolve it, how to mitigate it, if you can only achieve all these 17 goals for every country you can achieve individually as well as globally individually; that means, by country wise as well as globally, if you can achieve it by 2030. Then we can prosper we can believe in a sustainable world, which is not just sustainable for our present generation, but we can restore it, conserve it, preserve it for our future generations. So, these are the basic aims of UNESCO sustainable development goals.
• 09:30 - 10:00 So, this 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that is adopted by United Nations 2015. It provides a shared blue print for peace and prosperity for the people and planet now and for future as well. So, its the heart of this, so as it is a heart of the 17 SDGs which are an urgent call for actions by all the countries. So, all the countries both developing and developed countries they should take the responsibility
• 10:00 - 10:30 of moving ahead dealing with all these challenges and mitigating these challenges and moving towards the achievement of all the 17 goals, 17 goal, 17 SDGs as discussed as explained by as narrated by UNESCO. So, the origin of this let us discuss about the origin of the Sustainable Development Goals. So, the thing actually these are this is these goals are not just to not just to end the
• 10:30 - 11:00 poverty and other deprivation, but also go hand in hand with the strategies that improve the health, that improve the education, that improve the that reduce the inequality as per the economic growth. And while tackling the climate change and working condition one and the climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forest and everything. So, all the domains that is from the; that means, from the planets, all the domains like the air atmosphere to the land to the marine life, to the you know to the economic growth
• 11:00 - 11:30 to education to health to you know deprivations all kinds of and the resource depletion everything, it includes everything. So, the SDGs actually build on the decades by the work on the countries and the united nation including the even department of economic social affairs. Actually, it started in June 1922. June 1922 the earths summit held in Rio de Janeiro Brazil ok.
• 11:30 - 12:00 So, at that summit more than 170 countries 78 countries adopted that attended and adopted agenda 21, which is the agenda 21, which is the comprehensive plan of action to build the global partnership for sustainable development and to improve the human lives and protect the environment. So, it started in the journey began from 1992 earth summit by at held at Rio de Janeiro.
• 12:00 - 12:30 Thereafter the member states unanimously adopted this Millennium Declarations in the at Millennium Summit in September 2000 at United Nations headquarter New York. So, after 92 then 2000 again all the member states they attended this Millennium Summit and again they decide then they elaborated of elaborated of the on 8 millennium development goals. So, in that summit they identified 8 Millennium Development Goals to reduce the extreme poverty
• 12:30 - 13:00 by 2015. So, the Millennium Development Goals MDGs primary focus was to reduce extreme poverty by 2015. Actually, the it started with all kinds of the poor impoverished and you know under developed countries like you know from Africa African countries etcetera. It began the journey from there and gradually it expands it move towards the all the countries of the countries and continents.
• 13:00 - 13:30 So, again thereafter the Johannesburg Declaration; the Johannesburg Declaration known as DGs and Plan Implementation World Summit again held in 2020 in South Africa and again it reaffirmed the global community’s commitment to end poverty and to take care of the environment, and to built and to built on the Agenda 21, which actually and the both Agenda 21 and the Millennium development goals, Millennium Declarations by including more emphasis on
• 13:30 - 14:00 the multilateral partnerships. Hence, here comes the partnership, global partnership, multilateral partnership as the vehicle as the tool to achieve all these items of Agenda 21 as well as the MDGs as well as MDGs. So, again it is pursued in 2002 in South Africa. Then again thereafter, so thereafter at the united nation conference in 2012 ok. 2012 June 2012 Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro Brazil 2012 again member states adopted the
• 14:00 - 14:30 outcome document, again outcome document that what kind of future we want The Future We Want that they adopted this outcome document in which it was decided that the process to develop a set of SDGs to build up on the MDGs and establish the UN High-level Political Forum for the Sustainable Development. So, here they actually after evaluating all these things, they found some of the gaps
• 14:30 - 15:00 some of the loop holes in MDGs that is the millennium development goals. So, after analyzing and reflecting on these gaps and the short comings, again all the member countries they decided to again modified revise and prepare and prepare a fresh forum political forum, fresh forum fresh sustainable development goals based on the document. That is the future we want and they again they try to how to; that means, fill up those
• 15:00 - 15:30 gaps those shortcomings, how to overcome those short comings and it can move ahead for achieving all other goals, they decided the discuss on that table. So, then Rio de Janeiro also outcome also containing the other measures of implementing sustainable development goals. Including the mandate of future programs, work in development finance, small all kinds of small and developing states etcetera.
• 15:30 - 16:00 So, in 2013 the general assembly set up at 30 member open working group to develop a proposal on the SDGs. So, the process again began in 2013 with a general assembly based on a 30 member committee. So, regarding the development of the proposal SDG proposals. Then thereafter so by that time Brundtland commission had also Brundtland report has also already given declarations about our common future in 1987.
• 16:00 - 16:30 And the World Commission on the World Environment and Development and then sustainable development all these thing committees reports were also referred. So, nor when and prime ministers committee report all kinds of issues or interconnected issues between the social equity, economic growth integrated all the three areas etcetera. So, primarily based on the Brundtland commissions report in declarations in 1987 on the common future on our common future. So, they discuss about the Brundtland reports Brundtland commissions report; that means,
• 16:30 - 17:00 how to get the solution of the problems of environmental degradations as discussed in the commission report and as and again to investigate the numerous concern that has been raised in previous decades related to human activity or having the severe negative impact on the planet that and that patterns of growth and development that would be unsustainable. And which and finding out the all the loop holes of the Millennium Development Goals
• 17:00 - 17:30 and evaluation the evaluating the progress of that, then again this 30 member committee of UNESCO, they decided they started the journey of finalizing these sustainable development goals since 2013. So, then so all these Earth Summits and the Agenda 21 all these are going on, it has been started this journey has been started since 1992 87.
• 17:30 - 18:00 You can say that 1887 the Brundtland reports and the commissions report it started all these things in 2000 then the 2013 the journey finally, begins towards the final and final discussion, final elaboration on the sustainable development goals. And after that so after that this Millennium Development Goals actually the elaboration of these with the elaboration of the Millennium Development Goal and to what extend it reduced
• 18:00 - 18:30 the extreme poverty etcetera by evaluating all this thing in 2015. Then again the set up that this SDGs can be replaced the MDGs can be replaced by the SDGs. Because the SDG will be covering its more will be covering a broader issues and so they postponing these MDGs after evaluating its progress they that they move towards the SDGs. How these 17 SDGs?
• 18:30 - 19:00 The categorizations began from since 2013 to 2015 they finalize it. So, they say that let us remove this MDGs or let us take these SDGs as the replacement of the MDGs. And so finally in 2015 this SDGs sustainable 17 sustainable SDGs were declared by UNESCO with the consensus of its member states. So, therefore, this 2015 has become a pivotal year ok. So, in 2015 January General Assembly began the negotiation process with regard to the
• 19:00 - 19:30 post development agenda and agenda for sustainable development. So, the and subsequent adoption of 2030s Agenda for Sustainable Development with 17 SDGs, as its core domains under which again under each domain each SDG there are so many targets and sub domains and that is the declaration took place in the with the United Nations
• 19:30 - 20:00 Development Summit in September 2015. So, 2015 we can say as a landmark year for the international policy shaping multilateralism with the adaptation of several major agreements also. So, at the same year also Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and then Addis Ababa Action Agenda for Finance Development 2030 agenda for sustainable development, UN Sustainable Development Summit and Paris Agreement of climate change. All these issues and the all these agreements took place in 2015.
• 20:00 - 20:30 Hence 2015 in the history of UNESCO is considered as a very pivotal year or spear heading year of our present wall or the our future we can say our proposed future world future planet. So, the situation is right now the situation today is the division of the Sustainable Development Goals.
• 20:30 - 21:00 In the United Nations department of economic affairs that took place and support and capacity building for the SDGs and then including the water energy, climate, ocean, urbanization, transport, science and technology global sustainable development and all partnership all kinds of these all kinds of these thematic issues were discussed there. After which, so this division of SDGs took place in the agenda of in the agenda implementation
• 21:00 - 21:30 with the implementation of 2030 agenda. And now it becomes a reality with reality with a major stakeholder of the major stakeholder as the inhabitants of the; that means, global citizens inhabitants of the global citizens they become the major stakeholder of this to implement this the global goals. And to make it a reality make it a reality. So, now it is the responsibility of on all the countries all the countries all the continents
• 21:30 - 22:00 as well as all the citizens of this planets. Is not just about this country that country or only member countries etcetera. But it is the it is the responsibilities, it is the responsibility civic responsibility it is the responsibility of all the citizens of this planet that is the that is where we all of us we are the global citizen and this is our responsibility how to make our planet more sustainable not only for the present generation, but for the future generation
• 22:00 - 22:30 by and the deadline the timeline is 2030. So, let us discuss on this let us discuss on this all the 17 goals briefly that we will discuss in the next class. So, now this introductory session on this ESD primarily covers the brief history of UNESCO 17 goals background, then the journey the journey brief history since to Brundtland
• 22:30 - 23:00 commissions report. The origin of this SDGs and the United Nations conference etcetera. Brief history just to we just discuss about the brief background historical background of this SDGs and 2030 agenda declaration. So, now we will move on to the each and every SDGs what comes under the main focus of this SDG and primarily we will be exclusively dealing with the ESD that comes under SDG 4 that is
• 23:00 - 23:30 the quality education. How ESD plays an important role, vital role, key role in not only enhancing the awareness educating people, changing the mindset, changing the life style, but also help the people in achieving all the 17 goals for each and every country. Thank you.