The UNESCO World Conference 2009 is taking place at the World Conference Center in Bonn from 31 March to 2 April, halfway through the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–2014). Germany will be host to 700 participants from all over the world, including representatives of UNESCO member countries and education experts from civil society.

The goals of the 2009 World Conference

1. To underline the pivotal contribution of education for sustainable development (ESD) to education and education quality as a whole.  ESD is to be understood as a core contribution to all future education and is to play a more central role in debate on education policy.
2. To promote international exchange on the subject of ESD, particularly between industrialised and developing countries. The conference promotes the exchange of good practices throughout the world and offers a forum to address conceptual issues concerning ESD.
3. To take stock of implementation of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development so far. The results of the monitoring and evaluation survey currently being conducted by the UNESCO Secretariat will form the basis for the assessment of activities to date.
4. To develop strategies for the second half of the decade. These include integrating ESD into national education plans, strategies and programmes, mobilising further resources for ESD and setting up North–South and South–South cooperation.

Official Decade projects

Sustainability can only be achieved at a decentralised level. One of the most important strategies for implementing the UN Decade is therefore to support and publicly honour local initiatives, because it is these initiatives that are gradually making the Decade’s growth process visible all over Germany. The national committee, the highest instance of the UN Decade in Germany, presents awards in the categories 'Official Decade Project', 'Contribution to the UN Decade' and 'UN Decade Municipality/District'.

Decade projects in Germany (German)