SADC
Regional Environmental Education Programme

Southern African Development Community (SADC) Countries

Southern African Links

Rhodes University
Rhodes University is a major centre in South Africa for study, teaching and research in Environmental Education, for which it has received international recognition. Both the Murray & Roberts Chair of Environmental Education, the only one of its kind in Africa, and the Gold Fields Environmental Education Service Centre, are located within the Education Department on the Grahamstown campus of Rhodes University. The function of the Chair is to promote environmental education through research, post-graduate teaching and community empowerment.

Southern African Research and Documentation Centre
SARDC is an independent regional information resource centre involved in the collection, production and dissemination of information about the SADC region, with offices in Harare and Maputo and network partners in all SADC member states.

Southern African Development Community
SADC is a governmental organisation established in 1992 aiming to build a Region in which there will be a high degree of harmonisation and rationalisation to enable the pooling of resources to achieve collective self-reliance in order to improve the living standards of the people of the region. SADC is divided into four directorates namely, Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources; Trade, Industry, Finance and Investment; Infrastructures and Services; and Social and Human Development and Special Programmes. One of its objectives is to achieve development and economic growth, alleviate poverty, enhance the standard and quality of life of the people of Southern Africa and support the socially disadvantaged through regional integration.

Johannesburg Summit 2002 (World Summit on Sustainable Development)
This summit brought together over 50 thousand participants, including heads of State and Government, national delegates and leaders from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), businesses and other major groups. The main focus of the summit was on People, Planet and Prosperity, as well as on initiatives towards improving people's lives and conserving our natural resources. The summit produced some important documents which include the WSSD Political Declaration and Action Plan.

National Environmental Education Programme (NEEP-GET)
The National Environmental Education Programme aims to ensure that environmental learning is integrated throughout the curriculum for the General Education and Training (GET) Band, through an effective professional development programme for provincial environmental education coordinators, curriculum support educators and teachers.

Environmental Education Association of Southern Africa (EEASA)
EEASA seeks to support environmental education processes in southern Africa by providing opportunities for the exchange of ideas, projects and opinions on environmental education through its publications (an informal bulletin and an academic journal know as the Southern African Journal of Environmental Education, Ethics and Action, annual conference and workshops, and the activities of working groups in the regions. Its next annual conference will take place in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa from 29th of March to 2nd of April 2004 with a focus on the United Nations Decade on Education for Sustainable Development.

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International Bodies

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
The main objective of UNESCO is to contribute to peace and security in the world by promoting collaboration among nations through education, science, culture and communication in order to further universal respect for justice, for the rule of law and for the human rights and fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world, without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the United Nations.

UNESCO - World Education Report
A broad analysis of the progress made towards the implementation of the right to education in different regions of the world and a full set of World Education Indicators on key aspects of education in over 180 countries.

United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD)
The Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was created in December 1992 to ensure effective follow-up of the Rio Summit (UNCED); to monitor and report on implementation of the Earth Summit agreements at the local, national, regional and international levels. The Commission on Sustainable Development consistently generates a high level of public interest. The Commission ensures the high visibility of sustainable development issues within the UN system and helps to improve the UN's coordination of environment and development activities.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
UNDP's mission is to help countries in their efforts to achieve sustainable human development by assisting them to build their capacity to design and carry out development programmes in poverty eradication, employment creation and sustainable livelihoods, the empowerment of women and the protection and regeneration of the environment, giving first priority to poverty eradication.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
UNEP's mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnerships in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and people to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
UNFPA extends assistance to developing countries, countries with economies in transition and other countries at their request to help them address reproductive health and population issues, and raises awareness of these issues in all countries. UNFPA's three main areas of work are: to help ensure universal access to reproductive health, including family planning and sexual health, to all couples and individuals on or before the year 2015; to support population and development strategies that enable capacity-building in population programming; to promote awareness of population and development issues and to advocate for the mobilization of the resources and political will necessary to accomplish its areas of work.

Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO)
FAO is active in land and water development, plant and animal production, forestry, fisheries, economic and social policy, investment, nutrition, food standards and commodities and trade. It also plays a major role in dealing with food and agricultural emergencies. A specific priority of the Organization is encouraging sustainable agriculture and rural development, a long-term strategy for the conservation and management of natural resources. It aims to meet the needs of both present and future generations through programmes that do not degrade the environment and are technically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable. Their site includes information about their projects as well as statistical information on agriculture, nutrition, fisheries, forestry and food quality.

World Health Organisation (WHO)
WHO promotes technical cooperation for health among nations, carries out programmes to control and eradicate disease and strives to improve quality of life. Their site contains many project reports, publications and other information sources about health and the work of WHO.

Non Government Organisations

The Earth Charter
The Earth Charter is a declaration of interdependence and responsibility and an urgent call to build a global partnership for sustainable development. It sets forth some of the fundamental ethical principles for a sustainable way of life. The Earth Charter Initiative began in 1997 with its secretariat based at the Earth Council (see below) in Costa Rica. By 1999, over forty national Earth Charter committees had been formed, and numerous Earth Charter conferences were held.

Earthwatch Institute
Earthwatch Institute is an international non-profit organization which supports scientific field research worldwide to improve our understanding and management of the Earth. The Institute's mission is to promote sustainable conservation of our natural resources and cultural heritage by creating partnerships between scientists, educators, and the general public.

ENDA Third World
Environmental Development Action in the Third World is a South-based (Dakar, Senegal) international organisation working in collaboration with local organisations to help community initiatives in sustainable development. Their site profiles their current and past projects. In English, French, Spanish and German.

Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE)
The Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) is a non-for-profit non-governmental organisation with member organisations in more than 30 countries. FEE actively promotes education about environment and sustainable development. FEE works within the fields of formal education, teacher/staff training and general awareness raising. Besides the Blue Flag Campaign, FEE also runs 4 other programmes: Eco-Schools, Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE), Learning about Forests (LEAF) and Green Key.

International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
An independent, non-profit organisation with a mission to promote sustainable patterns of world development through collaborative research, policy studies, consensus building and public information.

IUCN - The World Conservation Union
IUCN was founded in 1948 and brings together 78 states, 112 government agencies, 735 NGOs, 35 affiliates, and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries in a unique worldwide partnership. Its mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable. Within the framework of global conventions IUCN has helped over 75 countries to prepare and implement national conservation and biodiversity strategies.

UNED Forum
UNED Forum is an international multi-stakeholder organization, committed to the promotion of global sustainable development. UNED's primary objective is to promote sustainable development through facilitating the involvement of major groups and stakeholders in the policy work of the United Nations and other inter-governmental institutions. UNED is the National Committee for in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in the UK, and UNED activities also support the work of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD). However, UNED is not an official body of the United Nations.

Worldwatch Institute
Worldwatch believes that information is a powerful tool of social change. Hence, it seeks to provide the information to bring about the changes needed to build an environmentally sustainable economy. Worldwatch's mission is to raise public awareness of global environmental threats to the point where it will support effective policy responses.

Networks

Third World Network
The Third World Network is an independent non-profit international network of organizations and individuals involved in issues relating to development, the Third World and North-South issues. Its objectives are to conduct research on economic, social and environmental issues pertaining to the South; to publish books and magazines; to organize and participate in seminars; and to provide a platform representingly broadly Southern interests and perspectives at international fora such as the UN conferences and processes.

Environmental Organisation Webdirectory
A directory of Internet sites on environmental issues including sustainable development.

Sustainable Development
A resource centre for information about sustainable development, utilizing the latest in Intranet Web technology to provide a community-centre atmosphere for the storing, searching and disseminating of sustainable development information.

World Wide Web Virtual Library on "sustainable development"
A comprehensive list of Internet sites dealing with sustainable development, including organisations, projects and activities, electronic journals, libraries, references and documents, databases, directories or metadatabases.

Education International
Education International is a world-wide trade union organisation of education personnel, whose 24 million members represent all sectors of education from pre-school to university in 304 national trade unions and associations in 155 countries and territories.

EELink
A directory of environmental education resources on the Internet.

Green Teacher
Green Teacher is an initiative of the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) of India. The site contains information about starting 'green clubs' at your school, a mini environmental audit for your class and a calendar of international environmental events. It also advertises a range of printed resources that are produced by CEE.

Learning for a Sustainable Environment
A professional development programme produced as a project of the UNESCO Asia Pacific Centre for Educational Innovation for Development and Griffith University.

Teaching for a Sustainable World
A professional development programme produced as a project of the Griffith University Centre for Innovation and Research in Environmental Education commissioned by the UNESCO - UNEP International Environmental Education Programme with the support of the Australian Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories.

World Confederation of Teachers
WCT is a trade-union organisation which gathers education personnel organisations all over the world. Through its statutory activities, its presence, its training and information activities, ... the WCT generates an interaction between the trade-union action on the world, regional and national level and ensures the permanent follow-up between the evolution in the field of education and the situation of the actors on the spot. The objective is the improvement of the working conditions of the education personnel and the conditions of study of the young people as well as the education systems themselves.