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.pdf2.3.3. THE LUNEBURG DECLARATION ON HIGHER EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
Education in all its forms plays an indispensable role in addressing the critical challenges of sustainable development. The interconnected issues of globalization, poverty alleviation, social justice, democracy, human rights, peace and environmental protection require inclusive partnerships to create a global learning environment.
Higher education has a catalyst role vis-à-vis education for sustainable development and the building of a Learning Society. It has a special responsibility to conduct the scholarship and scientific research necessary to generate the new knowledge needed and train the leaders and teachers of tomorrow, as well as communicate this knowledge to decision-makers and the public-at-large.
The ultimate goal of education for sustainable development is to impart the knowledge, values, attitudes and skills needed to empower people to bring about the changes required to achieve sustainability. Quality education for sustainable development needs to be based on state of the art knowledge and to continually review and update curricula and teaching materials accordingly. It needs to serve teachers, other professionals and all citizens as life long learners to respond to society’s challenges and opportunities, so that people everywhere can live in freedom from want and fear, and to make their unique contribution to a sustainable future.
In October 2001, a conference on «Higher Education for Sustainability: Towards the World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002», was held at the University of Lüneburg, Germany. The conference was jointly organized by the University of Lüneburg and the COPERNICUS Programme of the European University Association (EUA) and was sponsored by the Global Higher Education for Sustainability Partnership (GHESP) formed by COPERNICUS, the International Association of Universities (IAU), the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (ULSF) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
GHESP partner organizations and the experts in attendance at this conference endorse the following:
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1. Taking into account the recommendations and results of: 
UNCED: Chapter 36 of Agenda 21 (1992);
The International Work Programme on Education, Public Awareness and Training for Sustainability adopted by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (1996);
International Conference on Environment and Society (Thessaloniki, 1997);
World Conference on Higher Education (Paris, 1998); World Conference on Science (Budapest, 1999);
World Education Forum (Education for All) (Dakar, 2002); and
2.Building upon the significant networks of the three academic associations which founded GHESP, beginning with over 1000 colleges and universities which pledged to implement comprehensive sustainable development action steps by signing the charters and declarations sponsored by these three organizations;
3.Calls on higher education institutions, NGO’s and other stakeholders to:
a)Ensure the continual review and updating of learning materials to reflect the latest scientific understanding of sustainability;
b)Ensure that the reorientation of teacher education towards sustainable development continue to be given priority as a key component of higher education;
c)Provide continuing education to teachers, decision makers and the public at large on sustainable development;
d)Encourage all educational institutions to include in their activities a strong component of reflection on values and norms with respect to sustainable development;
e)Raise awareness and increase understanding of the importance and relevance of technology assessments and risk assessment;
f)Promote the creative development and implementation of comprehensive sustainability projects in higher education, and all other levels and forms of education;
g)Increase attention to the international dimension and provide more opportunities for inter-cultural exchange in the learning environment;
h)Increase a focus on capacity development and intensified networking among institutions of education; and
i)Promote stronger integration of training and research and closer interaction with stakeholders in the development process.
4.Calls on governments to ensure that the World Summit on Sustainable Development includes education in general, and higher education in particular, in the future international programme of work.
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5. Calls upon the United Nations to:
a)highlight in the Secretary-General’s main policy report the indispensable role of education in general, and higher education in particular, in achieving sustainable development as stated in chapter 36 of Agenda 21.
b)to make education a discussion topic during the multi-stakeholder
dialogue sessions to be held during the preparatory committee meetings for the Johannesburg Summit and during the Summit itself.
6.Calls on UNESCO as task manager for chapter 36 of Agenda 21, in cooperation with UNU and other relevant parts of the United Nations system, to support these efforts concerning the Johannesburg Summit.
7.Furthermore, the EUA-COPERNICUS, the International Association of Universities (IAU), and the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (ULSF) commit to achieving the following targets within next five years:
a)Create a global learning environment for higher education for sustainable development;
b)Promote expanded endorsement and full implementation of the Talloires, Kyoto and Copernicus declarations;
c)Produce an action-oriented Toolkit for universities, managers, administrators, faculty and students designed to move from commitment to concrete action. The Tool Kit would include:
implementation strategies for colleges and universities depending on size, type, demographic characteristics, etc.;
strategies for reform in particular areas of university activity, including teaching, research, operations and outreach, or for comprehensive change across all universities activities;
an inventory of available resources;
an inventory of best practices and compilation of case studies; Enhance the development of Regional Centres of excellence in both
developed and developing countries, and effective networking among them.
The Lüneburg Declaration on Higher Education for Sustainable Development was adopted by the GHESP partners (IAU, ULSF, Copernicus Campus and Unesco), on 10 October 2001 in Lüneburg, Germany, on the occasion of the International COPERNICUS Conference, «Higher Education for Sustainability – Towards the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Rio+10)» held at the University of Lüneburg 8-10 October 2001.
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2.3.4. KYOTO DECLARATION ON SUSTAINABLE DE-
VELOPMENT
Following the Ninth IAU Round Table, in Tokyo, Japan, Participants adopted, on 19 November 1993, the following Declaration :
1.To urge universities world-wide to seek, establish and disseminate a clearer understanding of Sustainable Development –
«development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations» – and encourage more appropriate sustainable development principles and practices at the local, national and global levels, in ways consistent with their missions.
2.To utilize resources of the university to encourage a better understanding on the part of Governments and the public at large of the inter-related physical, biological and social dangers facing the planet Earth, and to recognise the significant interdependence and international dimensions of sustainable development.
3.To emphasize the ethical obligation of the present generation to overcome those practices of resource utilisation and those widespread disparities which lie at the root of environmental unsustainability.
4.To enhance the capacity of the university to teach and undertake research and action in society in sustainable development principles, to increase environmental literacy, and to enhance the understanding of environmental ethics within the university and with the public at large.
5.To cooperate with one another and with all segments of society in the pursuit of practical and policy measures to achieve sustainable development and thereby safeguard the interests of future generations.
6.To encourage universities to review their own operations to reflect best sustainable development practices.
7.To request the IAU Administrative Board to consider and implement the ways and means to give life to this Declaration in the
mission of each of its members and through the common enterprise of the IAU.
It is recommended that each university, in its own action plan, strive to:
1.Make an institutional commitment to the principle and practice of sustainable development within the academic milieu and to communicate that commitment to its students, its employees and to the
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public at large;
2.Promote sustainable consumption practices in its own operations;
3.Develop the capacities of its academic staff to teach environmental literacy;
4.Encourage among both staff and students an environmental perspective, whatever the field of study;
5.Utilise the intellectual resources of the university to build strong environmental education programs;
6.Encourage interdisciplinary and collaborative research programs related to sustainable development as part of the institution’s central mission and to overcome traditional barriers between discipline’s and departments;
7.Emphasize the ethical obligations of the immediate university community – current students, faculty and staff – to understand and defeat the forces that lead to environmental degradation, NorthSouth disparities, and the inter-generational inequities; to work at ways that will help its academic community, and the graduates, friends and governments that support it, to accept these ethical obligations;
8.Promote interdisciplinary networks of environmental experts at the local, national and international level in order to disseminate knowledge and to collaborate on common environmental projects in both research and education;
9.Promote the mobility of staff and students as essential to the free trade of knowledge;
10.Forge partnerships with other sectors of society in transferring innovative and appropriate technologies that can benefit and enhance
sustainable development practices.
In adopting this Declaration, delegates underlined specifically the following points:
1.That sustainable development must not be interpreted in a manner that would lead to «sustained undevelopment" for certain systems, thus blocking their legitimate aspiration to raise their standard of living.
2.That sustainable development must take into consideration existing disparities in consumption and distribution patterns, with unsustainable over-consumption in some parts of the world contrasting with dramatic states of depravation in others.
3.That global sustainable development implies changes of existing value systems, a task UN which universities have an essential mis-
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sion, in order to create the necessary international consciousness and global sense of responsibility and solidarity.
4.That university cooperation for sustainable development must also assure that universities from countries with insufficient proper re-
sources may play an active role in the process.
That IAU, through the intellectual and organisational potential of the Association, its clearinghouse, catalyst and network function, has a major role to play in the implementation of this Declaration.
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2.3.5. THE HALIFAX DECLARATION
Human demands upon the planet are now of a volume and kind that, unless changed substantially, threaten the future well-being of all living species. Universities are entrusted with a major responsibility to help societies shape their present and future development policies and actions into the sustainable and equitable forms necessary for an environmentally secure and civilized world.
As the international community marshals its endeavors for a sustainable future, focused upon the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Brazil in 1992, universities in all countries are increasingly examining their own roles and responsibilities. At Talloires, France in October, 1990, a conference of university presidents from every continent, held under the auspices of Tufts University of the United States, issued a declaration of environmental commitment that has attracted the support of more than 100 universities from dozens of countries. At Halifax, Canada, in December l991, the specific challenge of environmentally sustainable development was addressed by the presidents of universities from Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, Zimbabwe and elsewhere, as well as by the senior representatives of the International Association of Universities, the United Nations University and the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.
The Halifax meeting added its voice to those many others worldwide that are deeply concerned about the continuing widespread degradation of the Earth’s environment, about the pervasive influence of poverty on the process, and about the unsustainable environmental practices now so widespread. The meeting expressed the belief that solutions to these problems can only be effective to the extent that the mutual vulnerability of all societies, in the South and in the North, is recognized, and the energies and skills of people everywhere be employed in a positive, cooperative fashion. Because the educational, research and public service roles of universities enable them to be competent, effective contributors to the major attitudinal and policy changes necessary for a sustainable future, the Halifax meeting invited the dedication of all universities to the following actions:
1.To ensure that the voice of the university be clear and uncompromising in its ongoing commitment to the principle and practice of sustainable development within the university, and at the local, national and global levels.
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2.To utilize the intellectual resources of the university to encourage a better understanding on the part of society of the inter-related physical, biological and social dangers facing the planet Earth.
3.To emphasize the ethical obligation of the present generation to overcome those current malpractices of resource utilization and those widespread circumstances of intolerable human disparity which lie at the root of environmental unsustainability.
4.To enhance the capacity of the university to teach and practise sustainable development principles, to increase environmental literacy, and to enhance the understanding of environmental ethics among faculty, students, and the public at large.
5.To cooperate with one another and with all segments of society in the pursuit of practical capacity-building and policy measures to achieve the effective revision and reversal of those current practices which contribute to environmental degradation, to SouthNorth disparities and to inter-generational inequity.
6.To employ all channels open to the university to communicate these undertakings to UNCED, to governments and to the public at large.
7.Done at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, the 11th day of December, 1991.
THE HALIFAX DECLARATION BACKGROUND
University presidents and senior officials from universities, governments, the business community and NGOs from five continents met in Halifax, Canada in December, 1991 to discuss the role of universities in improving the capacity of countries to address environment and development issues.
An important and somewhat similar process had been initiated at the Tufts European Centre in Talloires, France in October, 1990. It had become clear to the Halifax conference organizers that the UNCED meetings, planned for Rio de Janeiro in June 1992, must be widely seen to be a catalyst for serious efforts to steer the world towards sustainable development patterns. It was also clear that the university community must be challenged to re-think and to re-construct many of its traditional activities and frameworks in order to play a leadership role in a world at serious risk of irreparable environmental destruction.
The conference was organized by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, the International Association of Universities, the United Nations University, and Dalhousie University. Support was received from the Department of External Affairs and International Trade
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Canada, the Canadian International Development Agency, and the Province of Nova Scotia. Mr. Ivan Head, past President of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) served as conference chairman. Among those delivering key-note addresses were the Hon. Jean Charest, Minister of the Environment, Canada; Professor Walter Kamba, President of the I.A.U. and Vice Chancellor of the University of Zimbabwe; and Mr. John Bell, chair of the Canadian Delegation to UNCED.
In readiness for the conference at Rio, key papers from the conference are being published in a special issue of Higher Education Policy, the journal of the International Association of Universities. The detailed proceedings of the conference are being published by Dalhousie University and will be available, upon request, on May 1, 1992.
... Two essential outcomes of the Halifax conference:
A follow-up plan of action, as a basis for practical strategic plans for sustainable development -- details of which are now being refined and pursued by many of the universities represented in Halifax and by their
’converts’. Emphasis is to be placed on concrete actions at home as well as a vigorous and strategic use of world-wide networks.
A Declaration, done at Halifax, which provides a general direction being pursued by the universities now involved. Emphasis is to be placed on education and training, on research and policy information, on far more weight on the value of inter-disciplinary work and on a pro-active role by universities for sustainable development.
Those in attendance at the Halifax conference believe the UNCED process to be a critical step towards an environmentally sustainable future and pledge their support. They invite their colleagues in other universities and institutions to help ensure the long-term success of the UNCED challenge to create a sustainable and more equitable world.
AN ACTION PLAN FOR UNIVERSITIES
From: Creating a Common Future: An Action Plan for Universities.
Follow up to the Halifax Conference on University Action for Sustainable Development, December 9-11, 1991. Halifax : Lester Pearson Institute for International Development, Dalhousie University, 1992.
This plan ’model’ is strategic in approach – not detailed. It is intended to provide a clear sense of direction for a number of core activities to which many others may be added and, of course, from which some may be subtracted. Examples of other possible activities which originated at the conference appear in the recommendations which follow this plan.
This plan outline identifies shortand long-term goals at the local and regional, national, and international levels. The short-term goals are those
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to be effected between December 12, 1991 and June, 1992; the longer-term goals are those which continue past the June 1992 UNCED Conference. While this preliminary plan focuses on the period leading up to the UNCED Conference, it also examines some mechanisms for designing longer term strategies.
1. LOCAL – REGIONAL FRAMEWORK
The local-regional framework comprises actions which may be instituted within the university itself, and those which require that the university interact within the geographic region where it is situated.
Within the university itself, the following actions might be considered in the short-term: Unit/focal Point Identification: the first step recommended is to identify a unit or focal point responsible for developing a sustainable development strategy for the university. Minimally the unit/ focal point would be an individual: ideally the unit should be a small task group linked clearly to an administrative unit in the university for support purposes. The unit must work comfortably across the university system -- so the working style will be important. It should not be a new centre or bureaucratic body: it is simply to be seen as a small task force to help refine and launch these initiatives. The president of the university should work closely with this unit to demonstrate personal commitment to the process.
University Sustainable Development Strategy: It is suggested that within two months of establishment, the sustainable development unit should have completed an initial sustainable development strategy for its particular university (i.e. by March 31, 1992 a the latest). The emphasis should be on actions and results -- not on lengthy papers.
Such a strategy could have two time frameworks:
1.up to June 1992;
2.longer-term. Some longer-term, outputs can/should be started before June, 1992. A more refined strategy can be designed in the later period (e.g. April – August 92).
Practical Tasks: It is suggested that, in the initial strategy, a number of clear and operationally practical tasks be identified. For the shorter-term, each university strategy might include the following eight activities:
1.A meeting between the president and senior management of the university to explain the conference and its outcome and to distribute copies of the key conference papers (including the Halifax Dec-
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