Madame Chair,
Following and in line with the Statement already made by Slovenia on behalf of the EU, I would like to to elaborate a bit more on one of the issues less mentioned so far, namely education for sustainable development.
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a powerful tool to achieve sustainable development, peace and stability within and among countries. Therefore we believe that its role should be strengthened further at the international and regional level, regarding both policy and implementation. In this respect, Greece is pleased to play an active role in the process of the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development in the UNECE region and in the development of the UNECE Strategy for ESD.
Furthermore, we believe that ESD, as a cross-cutting issue, is a very useful tool for the promotion of the very important themes tackled by the present UN-CSD cycle, as already highlighted by speakers during the previous, thematic, discussions.
In particular, the role of education, awareness raising and information are crucial for making sustainable consumption and production understandable and for promoting its implementation. Education and awareness can change consumer behaviour and can function as a means towards more sustainable lifestyles of consious citizens. Moreover, assisting developing countries through capacity building and technology transfer is also important for promoting education towards sustainable consumption and production patterns, as already elaborated in detail by the colleagues from Italy, Finland and Sweden and other delegates.
To conclude, and taking into account that UNECE countries have committed themselves to the promotion of ESD through the adoption of the related UNECE Strategy, we like to stress that we consider very important to strengthen the links between the UN-CSD processes and the ESD related activities which take place within the framework of the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development as well as within the UNECE Strategy for ESD.
Thank you Madame Chair.
