In line with UNESCO’s efforts at supporting Member States that are committed to the ESD for 2030 process, the Asia-Pacific regional meeting will support countries in formulating and implementing the country initiatives to mainstream ESD in education and development. The COVID-19 pandemic has proven that there is a strong need, now more than ever, to leverage transformative education to empower learners and youth in the Asia-Pacific region in their making informed decisions for sustainable development.

The Asia-Pacific ESD meeting will be an opportunity to build on the momentum of the second Asia-Pacific Regional Education Minister’s Conference (APREMC-II, June 2022), the Transforming Education Summit (TES, September 2022) in New York, and the global launch of the ESD network amongst other key activities/forums (recent and upcoming COP meetings amongst others). This platform would ensure synergy with processes in other regions leading to the global ESD meeting, to be held in Japan in December 2023.

Within the framework of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), Target 7, and the Education 2030 Agenda, ESD offers foundational elements which support the advancement of sustainable development goals. According to the consolidated report on the implementation of the 1974 ‘Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding, Co-operation and Peace and Education relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (2021)’, 71 countries around the world reported their data on the progress of SDG 4.7, namely ESD and GCED. Over 90 per cent of countries reported that they had mainstreamed ESD themes in their laws, policies, and curricula. In some cases, however, these issues are only lightly touched upon. 89 per cent and 86 per cent of countries reported that they have mainstreamed ESD themes in teacher training and student assessment respectively, but on closer examination, there are variations in the training and guidance provided to teachers between countries, as well as within each country.

This is further highlighted in the findings of the global survey of 58,000 teachers conducted by UNESCO and Education International in 2021, which shows that while many teachers report being motivated, they feel more confident as teaching cognitive skills, and less so – including feeling less knowledgeable – about behavioural learning and socio-emotional perspectives. A quarter of those surveyed report still not feeling fully prepared to teach themes related to ESD. Such evidence has implications for educational policy and practice. Within education systems, there is a need to focus on mainstreaming these issues in policy and curriculum, and by using a whole-institution approach in creating an enabling learning environment that is conducive to advancing ESD in Asia-Pacific. Also, government officials, education policy-makers, curriculum developers and teacher trainers need to work together towards this end.

Participation in both the in-person and virtual meetings is by invitation only.