Decision-Making Towards a Fully Realised Equity Agenda in Sustainable Development: The Case of Sustainable Development Education and the Education-Related Sustainable Development Goal

Abstract

There is wide scientific consensus that global warming is taking place due to the emission of greenhouse gases and it is predicted that developing countries will both suffer the economic impacts to a greater extent and will likely be less able to adapt to changes (McGuigan et al. in Assessing impacts in developing countries and the initiatives of the international community. The Overseas Development Institute, London 2002: 3). There is growing recognition that a global response is required, with ‘real change and real action’ (McGuigan et al. 2002, pp. 30–31), yet the international, national and local responses required to address climate change and poverty are not straightforward as the question of how to simultaneously reduce the impact of human life on the earth and mitigate the effects of this impact on the world’s poorest people is a wicked policy problem. While it is widely recognised that an increased engagement across stakeholder groups is required to address climate change and poverty, currently no framework for conceptualising how to manage diverse worldviews across stakeholder groups to both frame the problem and devise solutions has been forthcoming.