How could alpine farmers in the Swiss village of Törbel survive over centuries in adverse conditions? Why did the Hohokam culture suddenly collapse after more than 1000 years? Looking back in history, did truly sustainable societies ever exist? 300 years ago Carl von Carlowitz the so called „father of the term sustainability” died. Why is it worthwhile to remember him today? Was the discovery of America, which gave us the sense and philosophy of a world without limits, perhaps not a blessing after all?

Over 650 participants, including learners, facilitators and managers of Kominkan(Community Learning Centre of Japan) and other Community Learning Centers (CLCs), community educators, representatives from governments, United Nation agencies and researchers gathered together for the Kominkan-CLC International Conference on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), held in Okayama-City, Japan from 9 to 12 October 2014. Participants discussed how to sustain and promote ESD through community-based learning, drawing on their rich experience of working together with local communities.

The Japanese RCE Meeting was held in Sendai, Japan on 16 March 2015 hosted by RCE Greater Sendai. All six Japanese RCEs (RCE Greater Sendai, RCE Yokohama, RCE Chubu, RCE Hyogo-Kobe, RCE Okayama and RCE Kitakyushu) came together and reported activities implemented in 2014. Below are the major activities of each RCE.

In September 2015 UIL will offer four CONFINTEA research scholarships for a period of one month each to researchers from UNESCO Member States (particularly from the global South). The scholarships are mainly based on private donations from the British educationalist Peter Jarvis and his publisher Taylor & Francis and the Nomura Centre for Lifelong Integrated Education in Japan.

LONDON, Feb 12 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - U.N. development goals for 2030 risk failure without clearer, more measurable targets that are based on the latest scientific evidence, researchers warned on Thursday.

World leaders are due to adopt later this year a set of new development objectives, such as ending hunger, promoting healthy lives and tackling climate change, to replace eight expiring U.N. Millennium Development Goals. To read the full article click here.

Scientific review labels development targetsas vague, weak or meaningless. Read the full article here.

The science of building a perfect world from Road to Paris, Science for Smart Policy

Science, technology and medicine are of course integral to the development of economies. Indeed, fundamentally, development is about wider access to precisely these things. But what does science have to tell us about the development process itself, about whether the objectives we choose are achievable, desirable? Is there a ‘more scientific’ approach to the goals we set ourselves?