Mobius Foundation Successfully Hosted the International Conference on Sustainability Education (ICSE), 2019

‘International Conference on Sustainability Education (ICSE)’ was jointly organised by Mobius Foundation, The Climate Reality Project, India in partnership with UNESCO, New Delhi office. The two-day conference would explored the ways to address the challenges halting the path of sustainable education.

ICSE 2019, planned with a view to exploring pathways to address current and emerging sustainability challenges through education by empowering learners with new skills, values and attitudes that lead to more sustainable societies. The Conference was organized as a major sustainability event to bring together thought leaders, practitioners, teachers, educators, policymakers as well as youth from around the globe to share innovative ideas, case studies, practices and policies and come forward with recommendations for incorporating environmental sustainability as a core concept in the school education system.The Conference was focused upon various facets of sustainability education taking a holistic viewpoint in terms of ESD (Education for Sustainable Development), EE (Environmental Education) and Climate Change Education (CCE). It will have the main focus on the South Asian region particularly on school education at the primary, middle and secondary levels.

Objectives
The conference focused on sharing innovative ideas and understanding of sustainability education within the overall objective of strengthening the role of education in changing attitudes and behaviour towards positive action for a better quality of life and environment ultimately leading to the achievement of SDGs and creating a sustainable future for all.

Dr. Ram Boojh (Director Programmes, Former UNESCO and Environment Programme Specialist) says, “The idea to organize this Conference came from the need for reorienting education towards sustainability issues in the context of the global commitment for Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals.”

Mr. Pradip Burman, Chairman, Mobius Foundation says, “ICSE 2019 has been organized with its ultimate goal of developing societies competent in the principles of sustainability and striving to live within the carrying capacity of the planet. ICSE 2019 aims to aid the implementation of education for sustainable development (ESD) which is culturally-relevant, locally appropriate, occurring across national school education system.”

Sustainability education is an untapped resource in addressing challenges related to the environment, climate change and sustainable development. Although there have been various efforts globally in this direction, still educators, as well as policy and decision-makers, have not yet fully utilized the potential of education to address these challenges. Environment education over the years has come up as a distinct discipline and various approaches and methodologies of teaching and learning have evolved at various levels. However, there is a need to bring out specifics and intricacies of environmental education as an agent of change and transformation in true sense. It is also interesting to note the transition from environment education (EE) to education for sustainable development (ESD) and moving towards more focused climate change education (CCE) which reflects the need for reorienting educational priorities to the newer global challenges of today.

About Mobius Foundation

The Mobius Foundation is a non-profit organization promoting environmental sustainability through sustainable, relevant solutions that enable communities to break longstanding practices which are detrimental to human existence on Earth.

It spearheads various educational programs in India, which include setting up a residential green school in Karnataka and a day school in Uttar Pradesh. It also promotes population stabilization and ecological conservation through Project Aakar and Project Sanjeevani.