UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development

Abstract: Quality education, equity and sustainable development are inextricably linked: there will be no educational quality without equity, no educational equity without quality and no sustainable and just development without equitable quality education for all.

During this biennium, UNESCO is organising four major conferences on education:

• the 48th International Conference on Education: "Inclusive Education: the Way of the Future" (25-28 Nov. 2008, Geneva, Switzerland)
• the World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development: "Moving into the Second Half of the UN Decade (31 March-2 April 2009, Bonn, Germany)
• the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education-CONFINTEA VI: "Learning and Living for a Viable Future: the Power of Adult Learning" (19-22 May 2009, Belém, Brazil); and
• the 2009 World Conference: "The New Dynamics of Higher Education and Research for Societal Change and Development" (5-8 July 2009, Paris, France).

This conference cycle must contribute to building a holistic vision by reaffirming everyone's right to quality education and the values of active responsibility and solidarity which education should transmit; by highlighting the need for intersectoral approaches to education, for equity policies and measurable goals and for community participation. UNESCO must ensure that the impact of all four conferences will be more than the total sum of the outcome of each one.

This Side-Event 1. provided information and raised awareness about the common threads and synergies between the themes addressed by UNESCO's four education conferences of which the ESD World Conference is the second, and 2. aimed to inspire all participants – governments and other partners alike -  to link its outcomes and follow-up to policy and practice regarding all different segments of their educational system in view of more holistic approaches.