Education for Sustainable Development presents a vision of education that seeks to empower people to assume responsibility for creating a sustainable future. There are many different stakeholders in sustainable development whose participation is essential if long-term developments are to be achieved: governments and intergovernmental bodies, the mass media, the civil society and non-governmental organizations, the private sector and formal education institutions (i.e. schools, universities, research and training institutes). But despite the need for concerted efforts, truly cross-sectoral and interdisciplinary projects and practical activities are seldom seen. In addition, there are few publications where the subject matters of education, innovation and communication - as they apply to sustainable development - are approached in an integrated way.
This book combines approaches, methods and analyses which illustrate the contribution of innovation, education and communication to the cause of sustainable development. It is prepared as part of the INTERREG IIIB (North Sea) Project 'SmartLIFE', a partnership between three EU regions - Germany, Sweden and the UK. It is also a further means of support to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, since there is a paucity of academic and at the same time practice-related books which go over and above the theory of education and of sustainable development and move on to address the various problems related to it.