The workshop, which was organized by the Japan Council on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development and the UNEP Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific, also agreed on the network's message to Rio+20, in which it calls for educating and empowering local communities to contribute to sustainable development at the grassroots level.
3 April 2012: The Japan Council on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD-J) and the UN Environment Programme Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific (UNEP RRC.AP) co-organized a strategic workshop for the establishment of an Asia NGO Network on ESD (ANNE).
The aim of the workshop, which was held from 10-11 March 2012 in Bangkok, Thailand, was to develop the objectives and functions of the network and its management. The workshop was organized following the decision of seven NGOs from the Asia Good ESD Practice Project Network to establish an NGO network by 2014, the final year of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.
At the workshop, participants developed a roadmap for the establishment of the network by 2014, clarified the responsibilities of member NGOs and agreed on the network’s message to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20). In the message to Rio+20, the network calls for the development of green economy indicators at the local community level and the establishment of appropriate institutional mechanisms, in order to ensure the involvement of local community voices in the national and global development agendas. Highlighting the role of local communities in achieving sustainable development at the grassroots level, it further calls for educating and empowering local communities, underlining that education for sustainable development is a key driver of change to achieve the transition to a green economy and an appropriate institutional framework for sustainable development (IFSD).
The outcomes of the workshop will be presented at a side event to be held at Rio+20, and at an international forum to be held in Tokyo, Japan in October 2012. [ESD-J News Release] [Rio+20 News Release] [Workshop Report]