sustainable development 20 years on from the ... - José Eli da Veiga

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(a)
Reform curricula to include education for <strong>sustainable</strong> <strong>development</strong> at all educational levels,
adopting measures to institutionalize, finance and sustain it based on research, capacitybuilding
and the exchange and systematization of experiences
At the professional level, this includes developing skills to identify and reduce environmental and
health-related costs in various professional fields, especially those relating to design, construction, land
use, infrastructure, machinery and equipment, and regulatory frameworks.
(b)
Address pre-existing needs, such as retaining children and young people in the education
system, improving the skills and recognition of teachers in public education, mainstreaming
information and communication technologies (ICTs) in education, and better management
of schools and centralized and decentralized bodies
The school day needs to be lengthened and the curriculum expanded proportionally, and preuniversity
education must be made available for all.
(c)
Promote and encourage education for <strong>sustainable</strong> <strong>development</strong> outside the formal system
This could be achieved, for example, by supporting the work of non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) that run environmental, popular education and human rights programmes for
women and indigenous and Afro-descendent communities (among other groups) in the region in their
own languages. This approach includes democratizing and using ICTs as vehicles for raising broader
environmental awareness.
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
Raise awareness of environmental issues and <strong>sustainable</strong> <strong>development</strong> among the general
public, seeking cultural change and paying special attention to building technical capacity
among disadvantaged and underrepresented groups, such as women, indigenous people and
Afro-descendants
Finance education, especially among the poor, young people and women, on sexual and
reproductive rights, that including a comprehensive sex education that deals from early
childhood with gender equality and self-care issues, in order to help reduce gender violence,
unwanted pregnancies, maternal mortality and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases
such as HIV/AIDS
Reform science and technology systems in order to improve their management and
encourage innovation and knowledge generation, with a view to boosting competitiveness in
knowledge-intensive and environmentally friendly sectors and thus enable a transition to
more <strong>sustainable</strong> <strong>development</strong> (see box VI.4)
Finance cross-disciplinary research that encourages the generation of new technologies aimed at
meeting the needs of the countries of the region and, in particular, disadvantaged groups