Workshop Partner

Values determine human behaviour in a significant way. Most values, and actions based on them, are culture-specific. There are some, however, that are shared universally, though human behaviour anchored in them may differ across communities.

Sustainable development is a global concern, and the ways in which its realization is attempted, have of necessity to consider the fact of interconnectedness in nature and in human society.

These ways must also take into account the varied ecological as well as sociopolitical and economic realities of different nations, and of different regions and sections of people within a nation. This apparent contradiction between divergence and interconnectedness – in nature, among communities – poses a challenge to ‘value-education’ not only in terms of the content but also in terms of how to ‘promote’ a set of values. Is a particular action – a policy, a law an investment, an agricultural practice – right or wrong because of the social and ecological realities within which it takes place, or inspite of them? Are social realities in conflict with ecological realities in a given region? If so, are there norms which must be adhered to or may be violated or modified while attempting a reconciliation of the conflicting factors?

These and many other questions must be addressed by the strategies worked out to set in motion processes leading to sustainability. More often than not, the strategies entail tradeoffs, acceptance of which depends on the stakeholders’ judgments which in turn are contingent upon values in not insignificant ways.

The discussions in this workshop on Values and Perspectives were divided into 3 sessions as follows:

1. Are values inherent in the concept of sustainable development? Do the values mentioned in the UNESCO document on the strategies for sustainable development need modifications, elaboration, additions?
2. How should values related to sustainability be treated by the ‘educators’ with regard to content determination and presentation?
3. Are there actions flowing from a sustainability-related value that allow of no variations based on local social and ecological considerations? For example, are there norms that are different for the rich and the poor with regard to access and use of a given natural resource?

Output

The workshop output are in the form of a report of the discussion and also became input for the plenary discussion on the UN DESD Draft Implementation Scheme and the Ahmedabad Declaration.