Reported from the basement of the UN Headquarters New York, NY. March 1, 2005

The UN General Assembly adopted in December 2002 a resolution designating the ten-year period 2005-2014, under the leadership of UNESCO, as a Decade to promote Education for Sustainable Development. After a gestation period of three years, the DECADE OF EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (DESD) was launched from the UN basement on March 1, 2005. (March 1 happens to be a day of very good omen - as it is recognized in Romania as the beginning of spring - all Romanians wear on this day the “merchisor” which evokes the long flower of the willow tree.)

UN Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, has asked Professor Steven Rockefeller, Chairman, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, to help in this launch, but as Mr. Annan had to be in London for the Quartet’s meeting with the new President of the Palestinian Authority - Mrs. Nane Annan filled in for him.

The event started with a well attended and lively panel that included UN Ambassador Vassilakis from Greece, Dr. Pamela Puntenney, Chairman of the NGO Education Caucus of the Commission for Sustainable Development, and Professor Gunter Pauli, an entrepreneur who has dedicated himself to help bring out the creativity of children in order to make Sustainable Development a reality. He is the Director of the Zero Emissions Research Initiatives Foundation (ZERI) that is involved in activities in various parts of the world (see  info at zeri.org).

Professor Rockefeller covered the history of Sustainable Development starting with the 1972 UN Stockholm Conference on the Human Habitat, the realization that the dramatic increase in human population leads to the threatening of the survival of human civilization. Further milestones were “Our Common Future” in 1987 and eventually the 1992 Rio Declaration and chapter 36 of the Agenda 21 stressing the central role of education in the Sustainable Development concept.

The Ambassador from Greece, whose personal involvement started in 1991, at the last preparatory meeting for Rio, pointed out that in the Mediterranean, under the auspices of the Greek Parliament, the decade for education has already started even before the official launching.

Japan has started the push on education in the running process to the Johannesburg Summit as education should be a top priority alongside Financing, legal and planning. The CSD NGO Education Caucus is pushing now to make education a strategic priority - specially in the context of the Johannesburg Millennium Development Goals.

Professor Pauli pointed out the saying that never measure the height of a mountain before you reached the top. Then you see how low it is. He provided us with samples of educational material he developed in various places including Curitiba in Brazil, where he cooperates with Mr. Jaime Lerner - the local “guru” on economically efficient sustainable development.

Professor Pauli told about 2800 corporations in Brazil that support the concept of Zero emissions, and of work with Las Gaviotas in Colombia in rainforest reforestation.

Mary Joy Pigozzi, Director, the Division for Promotion of Quality Education at UNESCO, Richard Jordan, Jerry Spivak, and many others NGO members participated in a three hour long lively discussion.

The panel was followed by the official launching with the participation of the Director General of UNESCO, Mr. Koichiro Matsura, Prof. Akito Arima, former Minister of Education and former President of Tokyo University, representing here the Prime Minister of Japan, Mrs. Nane Annan, speaking from her experience with children in her many official trips to developing countries, with or without her husband the UN Secretary-General, former President of Mali, Mr. Conare, and Prof. Steven Rockefeller.

Each one, in his way, emphasized the importance of reaching the children because they still have the capacity to think beyond the boxes of our imagination. The DESD must thus think not just of Sustainable Development but education, because the unhindered imagination will bear fruit that will help bring about the needed solutions.

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So far, so good - the half day spent in the UN basement and the launching seemed to me a worthwhile experience until I realized that the news about this launching have not percolated to the UN third floor. What I mean is that the UN Department of Public Information (UN DPI) had no notion of what went on - or perhaps - what is much worse - had no intention what-so-ever to give recognition to the subject of Sustainable Development.

Considering that the Spokesman for the Secretary-General is charged to cover every move of the Secretary-General, and this includes also to the best of our understanding every move of Mrs. Nane Annan, the fact that even her presence did not help the subject of Sustainable Development, leaves us with more then a question-mark on our faces.

Had the Secretary-General been in the building, the participation of the Director General of UNESCO and the personal representative of the Prime Minister of Japan, would have led to the recognition of the launching of the UN DESD by having a joint press conference. By having Mrs. Annan as part of the launching, in the absence of her husband, it still should have led to a press conference organized by DPI. Further, even without Mrs. Annan, there were enough senior officials on these panels to require the calling of a UN Decade be brought to the attention of the press - but plain nothing. There was a UNESCO press release but no UN official press release !

To the best of my knowledge, not a single article by the press accredited to the UN, except this article, has been made public. The only publication I know to write on the launching was the “Taking Issue” - the daily publication of the Sustainable Development Issues Network - an NGO publication - that appeared in the UN basement during the week of the Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting for CSD-13. Does the UN believe that Sustainable Development is a subject to be discussed only among Sustainable Development “affectionados” - of no interest to anyone else and doomed to be of no use to anyone else?

When I asked why did we not have a press conference I was told that the Intergovernmental meeting was not covered because there will be coverage at the time of the CSD meeting. But what about the calling of a UN Decade that is not a function of the CSD ? To that there was no answer.

Don’t bother UN bureaucracy when it may hurt the oil folks - here there are still no news as of March 3, 2005.