Project variety and established structures: Development and actual practice of ESD in Germany

Abstract

Looking at the statistics of the UN–Decade on ESD (DESD) in Germany in 2014, there are some interesting figures which describe the situation at the end of the Decade: More than 1,700 individual education for sustainable development (ESD)–decade projects have been identified and are still active in all fields and areas of education. Those projects involve more then 2,180 people and 1,660 institutions. These so called ‘decade-projects’ integrate nearly all topics of sustainable development (SD) and touch all relevant areas of education (BNE–Portal 2014). Even if most those projects are run by individuals and/or small to medium size NGOs, taken together they have influenced the educational mainstream in education with regard to ESD in Germany. They also have influenced the structures of education. Other areas of activities are the so–called ESD–communities and ESD–cities. Sixteen communities from small villages to big cities such as Frankfurt and Hamburg have endeavoured to earn the title City/Community of the DESD. Finally, there are the so–called ‘DESD measures’ which aimed to build lasting structures for ESD in Germany. By 2014, 48 different measures were enacted by the UNESCO national committee. The chapter traces the development of ESD in Germany in general and reflects on next steps beyond the DESD with a particular view to the permanent anchoring of ESD beyond 2014.