The United Nations were alarmed by environmental, social and human development problems and got a lot of conferences and summits on how to cope with the situations. Many proposals and agendas were made for attaining sustainable development globally but it didn’t attain its success for it has been focused on political agenda and education was not reflected in the strategies on achieving sustainable development. It was in 1992 Earth Summit that they found out that education itself among citizens were lacking for the success of sustainable development.
Education was the missing link and the Philippine Agenda 21 (PA 21) is the country’s response to fulfill its commitments in the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil. The government and key sectors of society agreed to implement an action agenda for sustainable development Sustainable Development is defined as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs” by the Brundland Commission.
Its advocacy is relevant in the Philippine context for it’s about a high quality of life that is ecologically sustainable. Education for sustainable Development has relevance in the Philippine context for our laws, acts, policies and government programs have relations on the proposed agendas in the UN. The PA 21 re-orients education towards sustainable development and it’s implemented in both formal and non-formal basic education and deals with the issues on educating for Sustainable Human Development.
Unsustainable development is driven by a range of interactive political, economic, cultural, environmental and global forces The image of society that guides Philippine Agenda 21 characterizes a significant number of modern societies today, some of which recognize that the key actors in any critical and principled partnership or conflict regarding sustainable development are the government, business, and civil society. To humanize development, there must be interplay of market forces, state intervention, and civil society participation.
The UNESCO’S Decade of Education for sustainable Development focuses on ensuring patterns of sustainable development with an offer of achieving a high quality of life to all to both present and future generations. The DESD is situated with Millennium Development Goals (MDG), Education for All (EFA), and United Nation Literacy Decade (UNLD). These three global initiatives aims for an improvement in the quality of life especially to those who were oppressed, deprived and marginalized citizens for the fulfillment of their human rights including gender equality, poverty reduction, democracy and active citizenship for everyone.
The MDG provides us a set of tangible and measurable development goals within which education is a significant input or indicator. On the other hand, EFA focuses on providing educational opportunities to everyone for it’s a fundamental step to reach the success that we are aiming for. The UNLD is promoting key learning tool for all forms of learning and reduces the illiteracy rates which causes the unsustainable life. While DESD is concerned for all of these three global initiatives for it focuses on the broader context.
The UN believes that through education, success for sustainable development would be attained globally as well as locally for it makes us citizens aware on human development as well as on the things around us. Through education, our ignorance to the reality and on the consequences of our actions were eased. We gain knowledge and life-long skills as we deal on our everyday life and as we face whatever struggles in life. Education for Sustainable Development is indeed a broad concept and generally thought to have three components; the environment, society and economy and these areas were intertwined.
To fully understand what sustainable development is, it is included and integrated with the subject areas taken by the learners for their awareness of what’s going on with the environment and other things around us and especially regarding on human development. Education for sustainable development is advocated on us learners since we were in our younger years. Way back on pre-school and elementary years, we were already taught by our teachers on how to take care Mother Earth in our own little way.
At very young age, we are already being exposed on the things around us….. the different events and phenomena that occur due to the consequences of man’s activities. As way of life becomes modernized, everything changes. There are a lot of changes and improvements especially as technology came into being. Our work becomes easier, likewise on transportation, communication, research works, etc. Everything’s been an easy access in just a blink of an eye. Most of the things now were instant and saves our time and efforts on doing work.
A modern life indeed offers an enjoyable life, but we must not be blinded on whatever good things that we’re experiencing nowadays for there are also disadvantages that were harmful not only to us humans but also to our environment and other organisms living in this planet Earth. We are all enjoying the things we have today and were unable to notice that there’s something in our environment that we should be aware and concern of. Because of modernization the environment is being harmed.
Agricultural lands now and rural areas were mostly converted to residential and commercial sites due to urbanization. As a result, animals and other organisms lose their habitats. We people became cruel to them as we destroy their home just to please our needs and urge for modernization and urbanization. We didn’t care what would happen on them if we took away their home and we even don’t care if they would be harmed may lead to their death if their habitats were destroyed.
Selfishness and greediness of people destructs the equilibrium of nature because the habitats of the nature were the perpetuating place of their species and as they destroy it, a lot of organisms would deplete its reproduction rates. The more the habitats destroyed, the more the extinct and endangered species. On rainy days and whenever a typhoon came we suffer flashfloods, landslides mudslides, etc. and it is because of man’s actions. There are no more forest lands and trees that may sip the rainwater that’s why we suffer a disastrous flood, land and mudslides.
Also, because of building houses and other establishments on the former swamps, and any natural passage of water, as rain comes, we easily got flood because of it. Things happen for a reason and there’s a reason for our sufferings in our life as well as with the environment. As the saying goes, “you’re foolishness will go home to your own body”, the result of any activities done by us humans will surely affects us for all of us are living in the same home.. The planet Earth. Nowadays, we are all suffering from global warming.
Everyone is affected for we are all living in Earth. Human activities are the factor for its occurrence as well as on climate change. We are the ones to be blamed because of the modernization in our life, our environment is harmed, the nature became imbalanced, and a lot of organisms became endangered and extinct because of the unusual climate we are experiencing and for us humans, we are suffering from a lot of diseases which were the consequences of our actions just to benefit ourselves from our needs, we also lose our cultural identities as modernization took place.
We humans has the highest level of thinking capacity among species in this world and pertaining to this fact, we must be able to distinguish what’s right and wrong but still does wrong for the betterment of oneself. It’s because of selfishness and self-centeredness of them for they only think for their own and on the money that they can get from it. Money is everything and can make someone evil for it gives your needs for daily life. When education levels are low, economies are often limited to resource extraction and agriculture.
In many countries, the current level of basic education is so low that it severely hinders development options and plans for a sustainable future. A higher education level is necessary to create jobs and industries that are “greener” and more sustainable. The relationship between education and sustainable development is complex. Generally, research shows that basic education is key to a nation’s ability to develop and achieve sustainability targets.
Research has shown that education can improve agricultural productivity, enhance the status of women, reduce population growth rates, enhance environmental protection, and generally raise the standard of living. But the relationship is not linear. For example, four to six years of education is the minimum threshold for increasing agricultural productivity. Literacy and numeracy allow farmers to adapt to new agricultural methods, cope with risk, and respond to market signals. Literacy also helps farmers mix and apply chemicals (e. g. fertilizers and pesticides) according to manufacturers’ directions, thereby reducing the risks to the environment and human health. A basic education also helps farmers gain title to their land and apply for credit at banks and other lending institutions. Effects of education on agriculture are greatest when the proportion of females educated to threshold level equals that of males. Education directly affects sustainability plans in the following three areas: Implementation. An educated citizenry is vital to implementing informed and sustainable development.
In fact, a national sustainability plan can be enhanced or limited by the level of education attained by the nation’s citizens. Nations with high illiteracy rates and unskilled workforces have fewer development options. For the most part, these nations are forced to buy energy and manufactured goods on the international market with hard currency. To acquire hard currency, these countries need international trade; usually this leads to exploitation of natural resources or conversion of lands from self-sufficient family-based farming to cash-crop agriculture.
An educated workforce is key to moving beyond an extractive and agricultural economy. Decision making. Good community-based decisions – which will affect social, economic, and environmental well-being – also depend on educated citizens. Development options, especially “greener” development options, expand as education increases. For example, a community with an abundance of skilled labor and technically trained people can persuade a corporation to locate a new information-technology and software-development facility nearby.
Citizens can also act to protect their communities by analyzing reports and data that address community issues and helping shape a community response. For example, citizens who were concerned about water pollution reported in a nearby watershed started monitoring the water quality of local streams. Based on their data and information found on the World Wide Web, they fought against the development of a new golf-course, which would have used large amounts of fertilizer and herbicide in maintenance of the grounds. Quality of life.
Education is also central to improving quality of life. Education raises the economic status of families; it improves life conditions, lowers infant mortality, and improves the educational attainment of the next generation, thereby raising the next generation’s chances for economic and social well-being. Improved education holds both individual and national implications. Climate change has become one of the most urgent challenges of sustainable development and is one of the key action themes of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD, 2005-2014).
During the extensive consultations with United Nations agencies, national governments, civil society organizations, experts and specialists for the drafting of the International Implementation Scheme for the DESD, the issue of climate change emerged as one of the main strategic perspectives to inform education and learning for sustainable development during the Decade. Climate change issues need to be part of public awareness, learning and education for a sustainable future so that sustainable behaviours become daily habits.
The DESD provides a framework for adaptation to and mitigation of climate change by enhancing and promoting active learning and innovative ways of framing climate change issues so that they make sense in the context of people’s everyday lives, helping to translate passive awareness into active concern and behaviour change. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) seeks to enable individuals to make informed and responsible decisions and actions, now and in the future.
Educating about climate change builds the skills and attitudes needed to question the way we think, the values we hold and the decisions we make in the context of sustainable development. The integrated, multifaceted vision provided by ESD is particularly well-suited to addressing climate change in terms of understanding its causes, recognising its impact and effects, and preparing and implementing appropriate responses. Furthermore, ESD is a key means to build a global lobby for effective action, showing people that heir actions can contribute to lasting solutions. Seminars were conducted regarding ESD and through presentations and discussion; the seminar illustrated how education should change and respond if we are to tackle global challenges like climate change effectively, and how ESD is particularly useful for guiding and assisting this process. Too often, sustainable development is reduced to its ecological dimension while the economic, social, cultural and ethical aspects are left aside.
It is therefore incumbent on ESD to address not only the ecological but also the non-ecological causes, implications and consequences of global warming and climate change and other environmental problems. In our science subject, we learned that improper waste disposal can harm us as well as our environment so we are taught on the proper waste segregation and disposal. We classify and segregate waste according to biodegradable and non-biodegradable wastes. For the non-biodegradable waste materials, we can do the 3R while the biodegradable materials can be buried on ground which can be a fertilizer to plants together with animal manure.
But still, we are throwing garbage’s everywhere at times we can’t see garbage cans or trash cans and even if we have seen one, still, we throw just throw it somewhere especially in canals, seas, rivers not knowing that the bacteria of waste that we have thrown could be spread out for it’s in the bodies of water that we have thrown and water undergoes a cycle. The polluted water will evaporate into air, condensed and precipitate as rain, snow, etc as it falls back to the surface of the earth and so on. So, there’s a tendency that we can drink water from the place where we have thrown our garbage for water undergoes a cycle.
So we must not throw our garbage’s on bodies of water for we would be much affected. Instead, we must help clean the canals, and have an advocacy on protecting the bodies of water because if not, also the marine life would be affected for they live in water.. they may eventually die and also us people for we also get the food we eat from them. The ESD has six salient features 1. Interdisciplinary and holistic: ?The learnings for sustainable development is embedded in the whole curriculum,and not as a separate subject. ESD is being integrated with ther subject areas for it’s a broad concept and for learners to fully understand in an easier way of what ESD is all about. 2. Values driven: ? The assumed norms, shared values and principles underpinning sustainable development are made explicit so that it can can be examined, debated, tested, and applied; 3. Critical thinking and problem solving ?It leads to confidence in addressing the dilemmas and challenges of sustainable development. The acquired knowledge and life-long skills by learners or individuals will help them in coping up with their problems by critical thinking. . Multi-methods: ?Various methods are used in ESD for it’s a broad concept and varied approaches help the teachers to facilitate learning. One approach is not enough for learners to understand ESD because it’s a complicated concept. Various methods of teaching and is needed to meet the learning goal. 5. Participatory decision making: ?Learners participate in decisions on how they are to learn and on how they can help attain sustainable development as they understand the concept of ESD. 6. Locally relevant: Addressing local as well as global issues, and using the language or languages which learners most commonly use. MTB-MLE is needed for there are terms that are too deep to understand for the learners especially for the young ones. ESD EMPHASIS 1. Primacy of Developing Full Human Potential. People are at the core of development initiatives. 2. Holistic Science and Appropriate Technology. The search for solutions to the complex milieu of development problems has to be undertaken with the perspective that situates specific problems in the larger social and ecological context.
This approach facilitates the development and use of appropriate technology. 3. Cultural, Moral and Spiritual Sensitivity. Nurturing the inherent strengths of local and indigenous knowledge, practices and beliefs while respecting the cultural diversity, moral norms and spiritual essence of Filipino society. 4. Self-determination. Respecting the right and relying on the inherent capacity of the country and its peoples to decide on the course of their own development 5. National Sovereignty.
Self-determination at the national level where the norms of society and the specifics of the local ecology inform national governance. Includes human and environmental security as well as achieving and ensuring security and self-reliance in basic staple foods. Recognizing the crucial role of farmers and fisher folk in providing for the nutritional needs of the nation. 6. Gender sensitivity. Recognizing the important and complementary roles and the empowerment of both men and women in development. 7. Peace, Order and National Unity.
Securing the right of all to a peaceful and secure existence. 8. Social Justice, Inter-, Intra-Generational and Spatial Equity. Ensuring social cohesion and harmony through equitable distribution of resources and providing the various sectors of society with equal access to development opportunities and benefits today and in the future. 9. Participatory democracy. Ensuring the participation and empowerment of all sectors of society in development decision-making and processes and to operationalize intersectoral and multisectoral consensus. 0. Institutional viability. Recognizing that sustainable development is a shared, collective and indivisible responsibility which calls for institutional structures that are built around the spirit of solidarity, convergence and partnership between and among different stakeholders. 11. Viable, sound and broad-based economic development. Development founded on a stable economy where the benefits of economic progress are equitably shared across ages, communities, gender, social classes, ethnicities, geographical units and across generations. 2. Sustainable population. Achieving a sustainable population level, structure and distribution while taking cognizance of the limited carrying capacity of nature and the interweaving forces of population, culture, resources, environment and development. 13. Ecological soundness. Recognizing nature as our common heritage and thus respecting the limited carrying capacity and integrity of nature in the development process to ensure the right of present and future generations to this heritage. ESD GAPS & WEAKNESSES
The growing population and on how resources could be allocate to the people. Cultural diversities are also a problem for people in the world varies in culture, beliefs, traditions and practices. ESD STRENGTH Education itself is the key for the success of ESD because people were trained and taught on how to achieve a sustainable life and attain human development. The full participation of women is essential to achieve sustainable development. The creativity, ideals and courage of youth and the knowledge of indigenous people are needed too.
Nations should recognize and support the identity, culture and interests of indigenous people •Sustainable development requires better scientific understanding of the problems. Nations should share knowledge and innovative technologies to achieve the goal of sustainability References http://www. edu. gov. mb. ca/k12/esd/characteristics. html http://www. desd. org/About%20ESD. htm http://www. esdtoolkit. org/discussion/default. htm http://www. psdn. org. ph/agenda21/unity. htm
