Editorial
Welcome to a brand new volume of IJSHE. The journal is now on its fourth year and goes from strength to strength. In this editorial, I think mention should be made to the recently completed World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannesburg, and its outcomes.
The first element that may be highlighted is that a set of new targets has been agreed as part of the implementation plan. Let us look at five:
Halving by 2015 the proportion of people lacking access to basic sanitation. This currently stands at three billion people, half of the total world population. This new target complements the Millennium Development Goal on access to clean water.
Commitment to minimize harmful effects on human health and the environment from the production and use of all chemicals by 2020.
Commitment to halt the decline of fish stocks and restore them to sustainable levels no later than 2015.
Commitment to begin implementation of national strategies on sustainable development by 2005.
Commitment to halt the loss biodiversity by 2010, as earlier agreed by the Parties to the Biodiversity Convention. The endorsement by all Heads of State and Government is a major achievement.
The agreement to establish a ten-year framework for programmes on sustainable consumption and production, with industrialized countries taking the lead in this global effort, is another important result.
On globalization, the Summit has agreed concrete actions to enhance the role of trade for sustainable development, for example by encouraging trade in environmentally friendly and organic products from developing countries and by strengthening international action for corporate responsibility.
Institutions of higher education – and here I include all universities and colleges – no matter if they are in an industrialized or a developing country, can play a special role in implementing the recommendations from Johannesburg at a local and regional level. As can be seen in the news section of this issue, some interesting developments took place and the Global Higher Education for Sustainability Partnership (GHESP) will continue its work.
In any case, via teaching programmes, research and practical projects, steps may be taken towards meeting each one of the above listed recommendations. It is therefore expected that a number of universities and colleges will become more engaged in the environment debate and in following-up what was agreed in Johannesburg.
The achievements of the WSSD on a world level illustrate the fact that Johannesburg was not in vain. But like its predecessor, the UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the main challenge now is to translate those agreements into action.
In this issue of IJSHE we present a set of papers illustrating some of the work going on on the ground. First, an analysis of the potential of environmental sciences graduates as environmental managers, with examples from Milan University, in northern Italy, is presented. Second, the steps that need to be taken into account in bridging the gap between environmental engineering and environmental natural science education assessed at the University of Geneva(Switzerland) are listed and further considered. Third, a distance learning course as a tool to implement sustainable development, prepared by the University of Debrecen (Hungary), is presented. In addition, Surrey University(UK), introduces in this issue an interactive multi-media case study on sustainable engineering design.
Some considerations on deep learning and education for sustainability deriving from Queensland University (Australia) are made and, to round things up, the “policy laboratory for sustainable development”, a new learning context for environmental scientists, is introduced by colleagues from Utrech University (The Netherlands).
We wish you a pleasant and productive reading.
Walter Leal Filho
