The Centre for Environment Education (CEE), over the past 22 years, has been working in the field of environment and sustainable development education and communication in the country. It has developed innovative programmes, educational materials, undertaken demonstration projects and built capacities in this field. Recognizing the complexity and vastness of the task, CEE has worked in partnership with a range of organizations at the national, regional and international levels. The strategy at CEE has been to collaborate with others in building synergies; achieve a multiplier effect; enhance effectiveness; and widen the range of its programmes. Since its inception in 1984, CEE has worked in areas of environmental education and sustainable development with diverse communities such as rural and urban, governments, teachers, school children, higher education authorities among several.
CEE has been designated as the nodal agency for implementation of DESD in India. As a nodal agency for the decade, CEE has the following objectives:

To give an enhanced profile to the central role of education and learning in the common pursuit of sustainable development
To facilitate links and networking, exchange and interaction among stakeholders in ESD
To provide a space and opportunity for refining and promoting the vision of sustainable development – through all forms of learning and public awareness
To foster increased quality of learning and education for sustainable development
To develop strategies at every level to strengthen capacity in ESD

CEE is committed to strengthening ESD into its existing programs. ESD is intrinsic to CEE's objective to imrove public awareness and understanding of the environment, with a view to promoting the conservation of nature and natural resources, leading to a better environment and a better quality of life. CEE takes the Decade as an opportunity to strengthen existing partnerships, and build new ones with a number of institutions with a variety of sectors.

Recent work on ESD @ CEE:

Samvaad- a Dialogue on Sustainable Rural Development
The event, held during December 2004 brought together more than 1200 community representatives, including women and children representatives, from nearly 200 project villages of CEE and VIKSAT (Vikram Sarabhai Centre for Development Interaction), to discuss experiences in sustainable rural development in these communities and plan for the future. Government personnel, NGOs, academics, and other experts also took part in the discussion. Thematic working groups discussed issues of agriculture and livestock, formal education, water and sanitation, governance, joint forest management, wasteland development, and women and health. The exhibitions included panels on village achievements, NGO projects and ICT in the rural sector.

Education for Sustainable Future
The first International Conference of the Decade, Education for a Sustainable Future (ESF), was organized by CEE in January 2005 and was supported by several partners including UN agencies and the Government of India. The Conference attended by 900 participants from 50 countries, welcomed the Decade and committed to add substance and vigour to the DESD process, moving forward in a spirit of urgency, commitment, hope and enthusiasm. The Conference highlighted the role of ESD in the context of the expectations for the Decade. During the plenary sessions, keynote speakers from across the world helped focus the conference on critical issues facing educators and communicators. Participants discussed sector specific concerns and developed roadmaps for ESD action at 20 concurrent workshops. They also studied the DESD Implementation Scheme with a view to enrich and enhance the document.

South Asia ESD Situational Analysis:
CEE carried out a situational analysis of ESD – policy, programmes and capacities in South Asia with a specific focus on India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. This was done as part of UNESCO’s Asia Pacific Situational Analysis documentation. The analysis outputs were added into the discussions at ESF.

in Formal Education

Strengthning Environment Education in School System (StrEESS)
Strengthening Environmental Education in School System (StrEESS) is a project initiated by the Ministry of Environment and Forests of the Government of India in partnership with the State Education Departments and the Centre for Environment Education. One thrust of this initiative is to put these processes in the context of ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ which is the focus for the Decade. This initiative involves development of textbooks in compliance with the NCERT Syllabus which follows the Supreme Court direction of making EE compulsory; orient text-book writers for the same; facilitate training and development of resource material for training and classroom. This is being carried in Phases:
Phase I involved a study of the status of EE in the country, and participatory processes to discuss strengthening of EE in schools.
Phase II involved pilot implementation of the plan in 8 states.
Phase III involves the extension of implementation of the plan in 10 states.

Supplementary Material: Joy of Learning
Joy of Learning is a series of three activity books trargeting different age groups of children. The books contain various activities which are related to the school curriculum. The activities in the book can be used by teachers as supplementary material for teaching various subjects of the school curriculum.

Green Teacher: Diploma in Environment Education
CEE and Common Wealth of Learning (COL), Vancouver, Canada have established the Green Teacher: Diploma in Environmental Education, a Distance Learning Programme. The programme addresses the rapidly growing need for continuing education and professional development in the field of Environmental Education (EE), and is geared to build capacity of teachers and educators.

in Non- Formal Education

Anandshala: A School of Joy
The Anandshala initiative is an attempt to develop ways by which the school environment provides the quality of physical and learning experience for the children. Catering to remote tribal villages in South Gujarat, India, the initiative has been a partnership between UNICEF, Department of Primary Education (Gujarat state) and CEE. These village schools had a lack of infrastructure facilities owing to their remoteness and also were low on students’ attendance, especially those of girls. Needs assessment studies of these areas revealed that one of the causes for having a low turn-out of girls in these schools was because of lack of separate toilet facilities for them. These and a number of locale specific issues including those of nutrition and health were addressed through the infrastructure development and working with the teachers and village community on the approaches to teaching and learning.

CEE as the Centre for Environmental Information System (ENVIS)
CEE is the ENVIS centre for Environment Education. As an ENVIS centre CEE gathers information and disseminates roles and coordinates with various organizations and expert institutions keeping updates on the ESD initiatives in the country and outside.

Knowledge Management for Sustainable Development
Knowledge for Sustainable Development (KSD), a core unit of CEE, aims to develop general awareness and policy support on key environment and development issues. Its
projects and programmes identify and articulate these issues, bringing them to a stage of trial, research and implementation through a process of consultation and discussion. It presently has three units in Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Kannur. The project seeks to provide support to policymakers and the general community in the search for ecologically sustainable development alternatives. Its specific objectives are:

• to identify viable and innovative ideas and themes from experts in a variety of fields across the Asia Pacific region;
• to develop these ideas and themes through dialogue into full fledged alternatives that can be published as educational material (books, modules) and made commercially available;
• to disseminate ideas and generate debate on the alternatives with a view to promoting its significance for policy and practice through workshops, seminars, reviews and articles. The project is committed to the use of state-ofthe- art communication technology in achieving its objectives. Strategy: The emphasis in the third phase of this project has been to
• framework to the book series through additional focus on livelihood generation and field practice;
• extend the involvement of authors in other E&D activities like E&D forum, lectures and talks that can enable better dissemination of ideas emerging from the project;
• evolve a participative and consultative process for effective management of the project through seminars and workshops;
• create a meeting ground in the E&D interface through a website discussion forum and through the proposed Asia Pacific Network Newsletter (APNN);
• initiate a pre-publication consultative process of peer review and pre-publication workshops; and
• do an external review for adequate evaluation of the project, ensuring a process of continual improvement.

Facilitating NGO and Community Initiatives

UNDP GEF/ CCF Small Grants Program (SGP)
The Small Grants Programme (SGP), launched in 1992, is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) established a year earlier. It seeks to support in developing countries, projects and programmes that protect the global environment. SGP is globally implemented by UNDP on behalf of Implementing Agencies (IAs) and Executing Agencies (EAs) of GEF and executed by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). The programme includes activities that demonstrate community-based, innovative, gender-sensitive approaches and lessons learned from other development projects that could reduce threats to the local and global environments. SGP-India is jointly administered by UNDP and GoI-MoEF. Since September 2000 it is being implemented by CEE as the National Host Institution (NHI).


Indian Railways, CEE and SGP Partnership
A partnership is being initiated between Indian Railways, SGP and CEE to initiate a project on Clean and Green Railway stations in the National Capital Region (NCR), New Delhi. SGP, CEE and the SGP partner NIDAN, Patna, will provide technical and programme support to initiate sustainable solid waste management systems, recycling and reuse of waste water generated at railway stations, alternative energy technologies and vegetative measures through medicinal plant nurseries, for greening of waste land to make railway stations in and around the NCR clean and environment-friendly.

Training, Networking and Capacity Building

Networking
Networking is a key tool in enhancing the quantum and variety of ESD efforts around the globe. To this end, CEE in partnership with IUCN-CEC launched in 1993 a regional
network called SASEANEE (South and Southeast Asia Network for Environmental Education). Its Secretariat, located at CEE, has over the years been actively involved in ESD
related efforts and activities in the region. The main activities of SASEANEE include information servicing, capacity building and material development for ESD.

Training Professionals in ESD
CEE has been involved in capacity building for EE in the Asian region since 1993. With the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) saw the strengthening of CEE’s training programmes in ‘education and communication for sustainable development’.

Education for Environmental Sustainability in Formal Education: An International Advanced Training Programme
This advanced training programme, sponsored by Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) aims to provide professionals working in the field of EE and ESD an opportunity to exchange knowledge and experiences in EE processes within formal education. The course design, comprising a common module in Sweden followed by special modules in South Africa (for African participants) and India (for Asian Participants), ensures that participants are able to explore a wide range of perspectives within EE/ESD. The programme is coordinated by Ramboll Natura AB, Sweden in partnership with Regional Environmental Education Centre, South Africa and CEE, India.

Reviewing Training programme in Education and Communication for Sustainable Development (TECSD)
CEE in partnership with IUCN-CEC, UNEPROAP, UNESCO and WWF has been conducting an international 3-month residential training programme since 1994. Training, Capacity Building and Networking 123 Given the changing context of in-service training, CEE, with support from the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Canada initiated a review of the programme delivery so as to meet the current in-service training requirements. During January-March a COL deputed consultant worked closely with the training team to review the strengths of the programme as well as those aspects of it which may need to change in the current context.

Capacity Building for ESD
Capacity building for ESD is one of the seven key strategies mentioned in the UNDESD International Implementation Scheme. Since the early 1990s CEE has taken major initiatives to build capacities in ESD across the region at institutional, professional, and national levels.

Environmental Education in Teacher Education
The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) has commissioned CEE to develop a set of four resource books on EE for teacher educators. The writing of these has been completed. The content of the books is based on NCTE’s teacher education syllabus in EE. The books were also laid out and designed and have been sent to NCTE for review. Phase II of the project envisages field testing the books with practising teacher educators.

Open and Distance Learning for SD
One of the objectives of UNDESD is to provide space and opportunity to refine and promote the vision of SD through all forms of learning and public awareness. This means that ESD is for everyone at every stage of life. Open and Distance Learning (ODL) has a better capacity than conventional education to engage all spaces of learning at various stages. It is with this premise that CEE has begun to explore the potential of ODL in realising SD, especially in providing an effective and efficient alternative for training and capacity building in ESD.

Tech-mediated Open and Distance Learning
Along with piloting ODL programmes, CEE also made attempts towards exploring the potential of technology in distance education. CEE has the licence for Adventus Learning
Management System (LMS), designed and created by Metalearn. This year, based on feedback about the relevance of Green Teacher programme for teachers in South Asia, CEE, with support from COL, Canada, launched the preparatory phase of Green Teacher online training programme.

South Asia Youth Environment Network (SAYEN)
South Asia Youth Environment Network (SAYEN), set up in July 2002, is supported by the UNEP Asia and the Pacific and is linked to TUNZA, UNEP Strategy for Children and Youth. All the SAARC countries are members of SAYEN. Centre for Environment Education (CEE) hosts the secretariat for the network. One-two organizations in each of the SAARC countries have been identified as the National Focal Point (NFP) for the network. Number of SAYEN members in each country ranges from 20 to 100 with over 200 organizations in the region as SAYEN members. NFPs facilitate SAYEN activities in their respective countries. At present, over 1500 youth organizations, network, individuals, educational institutions, government and NGOs are associated with SAYEN.
SAYEN holds the vision of Sustainable Development in South Asia. With its mission to ensure effective youth participation, reflecting perception in decision making process to promote Sustainable Development in South Asia, SAYEN has the following Goals and Objectives:

Goals:
Mobilize Youth for Sustainable Development in the South Asian region.
Youth participation for advocacy on Sustainable Development in South Asia.
Youth participation to influence decision-making processes at National and Regional levels.

Objectives:
Establishing Network with active participation of Youth from all South Asian countries.
Enhance Youth Capacity to deal with issues hampering Sustainable Development.
Increase the public awareness and understanding on Sustainable Development issues.
Have Youth representation in various policy fora such as National Council for Sustainable Development, Environment Impact Assessment Committee, etc
Sharing of Knowledge and Expertise within South Asia
Promote Environmental Ethics amongst Youth
Work in close Partnership with Stakeholders
Help Regional Integration towards Sustainable Development.

Learning's from Tsunami
The project, “Learning's from Tsunami” is an attempt to understand and analyze efforts undertaken by several stakeholders including governments, international aid agencies, donor agencies, individuals and communities in response to tsunami, a disaster, which affected eight countries, thousands of people and animals, destroying entire villages, and wreaking havoc in an already depleting and degrading environment. A disaster that made past natural disasters seems almost pale in comparison. The responses were tremendous, swift and overwhelming. Many organizations which came in to help with relief and rehabilitation have left/ about to leave and there are some whose work would continue at least for few more months or even years. Those who worked, their experiences have been life-changing, the learning has increased, and many a mistakes made again. It is here that stories of success and failure both exist side by side. For further details click here.

South Asian Regional Initiative (SARI)/ Energy
A USAID supported initiative, SARI/ Energy, a small grants project helped SAYEN to involve youth in water conservation for energy conservation. The initiative was undertaken by SAYEN members in India and Sri Lanka. Case examples from the two countries were documented and published as a Best Practices Document.

Sub Regional Sustainable Strategy for South Asia
The Sub Regional Sustainable Strategy for South Asia (SSDS) is being developed by UNEP in collaboration with CEE and SAYEN. The strategy has been drafted, considering the following goals:
Goal 1: Sustainable Lifestyle among youth.
Goal 2: Effective Waste Management.
Goal 3: Universal accessibility to clean and safe Water.
Goal 4: Conservation of Resources.
Goal 5: Respect Culture and Values
Goal6: Quality Education and building infrastructures for schools, colleges and universities.
Goal 7: HIV/AIDS
Goal 8: Effective Urban Governance

Global Communities for Sustainability (GCS)
The Global Communities for Sustainability (GCS) project is a joint initiative of the Centre for Environment Education Australia (CEEA), the Australian Association for Environmental Education (AAEE) and the Centre for Environment Education India (CEE India ). This project aims to develop integrated sustainability initiatives that have local and international dimensions. At the core of the GCS are school-driven, sustainability collaborations with local councils and key community organizations that are simultaneously established in Australia and India .
The project is being undertaken in partnership with the Commonwealth Department of Environment and Water Resources (DEW), Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), Government of Australia, the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD), Government of India, AAEE, Australia-India Council (AIC) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW).
The Local Government and Shires Association (LGSA),the Department of Education and Training (DET) New South Wales and the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) New South Wales are also actively assisting the project in areas that meet their mandated objectives.