The goal of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development(2005–2014) is to integrate the three pillars of sustainable development – society, environment and economy – in a holistic manner that enables all individuals to develop the knowledge, perspectives, values and skills necessary for improving the quality of human life, both locally and globally.

At the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV), UNU Institute of Advanced Studies (UNU-IAS) convened the official side event “Education for Sustainable Development: Focus on Regional Centres of Expertise in Africa”.

Yoshinori Natori, of UNU-IAS, said that the UNU initiative on Regional Centres of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (RCEs) is aiming for a “global learning space for sustainable development”. He reported on the development of the global network, which was launched with seven RCEs in 2005 and has now grown to 55 worldwide, including 10 in Africa.

The main activities of RCEs include developing and producing educational materials (for both the formal and non-formal education sectors), training teachers in the fundamentals of sustainable development and creating partnerships to improve the livelihoods of local communities.