At the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), Rio de Janeiro 1992, it became clear that national governments alone would be unable to undertake all the actions necessary to bring about sustainable development. As partners for governments, Agenda 21, the major programme adopted at UNCED, identified nine key societal sectors, terming them major groups. These are: women, children and youth, indigenous peoples, non government organisations (NGOs), local authorities, workers and trades unions, business and industry, the scientific and technological community, and farmers. They are tasked with sharing the responsibility for achieving sustainable development. One of the ways in which major groups do this is through sustainable development education (SDE), hence the CSD’s interest in case-studies covering this field.

In relation to the case-study material assembled for the CSD 1998 Session, the major groups are the actors as well as the authors. For the purposes of the case-studies, education is broadly defined to encompass all forms of learning whether concerned with knowledge, skills, awareness, or attitude. Likewise, it includes learning in all contexts, informal and formal, as well as that which occurs throughout all the stages of life.

The collection attempts to be broadly representative of activities from a range of geographical areas and socio-economic conditions. Additionally, it seeks to include examples demonstrating the extent and diversity of the educational activities being undertaken. To try to achieve this, the selection of material was performed, whenever possible, in partnership with leading international bodies from the groups concerned.

The studies depict the major groups as much more than passive recipients of education. They are revealed as dynamic and imaginative providers of programmes that are of immediate relevance for building sustainable development. It is hoped that the significance of the enterprise and energy captured in these case-studies will be apparent to all who read them. Certainly, they present an eloquent case for consideration to be given to ways in which major groups’ educational activities can be supported.

In the present context, perhaps more importantly, they provide information derived from actual practice. This can be used not only to examine existing strategies for SDE, but also to generate new ones.

In this presentation, the author will analyse what future directions the case-studies appear to support