Office at the United Nations, New York

Fifteen African and twenty Japanese university-based experts teaching sustainable development met at UNU Headquarters from 25 to 27 February to launch a three-year UNU Project on Education for Sustainable Development in Africa (ESDA). The project, seed-funded by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), is to develop and test a post-graduate programme of education for sustainable development in Africa on the basis of a network to be established between African and Japanese universities under UNU auspices.

The three-day conference was opened with keynote speeches from Prof. Hiroshi Komiyama (President, the University of Tokyo), Prof. Calestous Juma (Professor of the Practice of International Development, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University) and Prof. Said Irandoust (President, Asian Institute of Technology). On the last day of the conference, an open symposium was organized jointly by UNU's Institute for Sustainability and Peace and Institute for Advanced Studies on the "Role of Universities in the Promotion of Education for Sustainable Development in Africa."

Former Minister of Education, Japan, and former President of the University of Tokyo, Prof. Akito Arima delivered a keynote address to high-light the critical role universities should play in preparing future generations for sustainable development tasks.

The ESDA Project, carried out as part of UNU's plan to assume a postgraduate education function, also represents one of the UNU's contributions to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD).