ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR EUROPE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
Fifth Ministerial Conference
"Environment for Europe"
Kiev, Ukraine, 21-23 May 2003
STATEMENT ON EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT BY THE UNECE MINISTERS OF THE ENVIRONMENT
Preamble
We, Ministers of the Environment from the region of the United Nations Economic
Commission for Europe (UNECE),
Convinced
that cooperation on education for sustainable development can help to
ensure mutual understanding, strengthen trust between nations and
respect for cultural values, develop friendly relations and tolerance
between nations, and contribute to peace, security and welfare,
Emphasizing that education, in addition to being a human right, is a
prerequisite for achieving sustainable development and an essential
tool for good governance,
Recognizing that environmental education, as it has evolved over many
years in our countries, has increasingly addressed the entire range of
global issues included in Agenda 21[1] and all major United Nations
conferences, and thus represents a core component of education for
sustainable development,
Noting that the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg,
South Africa, 2002) stressed the need to integrate sustainable
development into education systems at all levels of education,