This issue of MIO-ECSDE’s “Sustainable Mediterranean” journal is devoted to the second Meeting of the Mediterranean Committee on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) & Regional Workshop on ESD that took place on 24-26 July 2019 in the city of Heraklion in Crete, Greece. Eighty (80) representatives participated from major organisations active in the region, namely, UNESCO, the Mediterranean Action Plan of UNEP (UNEP/MAP), the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), the UN Economic and Social Commission for Europe (UNECE), the League of Arab States (LAS), as well as from Ministries of Education, Ministries of Environment, NGOs and research institutes from 20 countries.

Each and all reported and discussed about how ESD is applied in their countries and institutions on aspects relating to the policy framework (plans, strategies, documents, tools) and the links to the Mediterranean Strategy on ESD and the SDGs. How mainstreaming of ESD curricula and educators’ training programmes are operationalized as well as challenges and emerging opportunities met along the way were also highlighted. To keep things as focused as possible, the case studies presented were structured around the following thematic priorities of the region, always through the lens of ESD: Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP); Combating Marine Litter and Plastics and promoting Ocean Literacy; Biodiversity, Protected Areas and Biosphere Reserves; and, ESD and Inclusive Societies, human rights and refugees issues.

The present Issue includes adaptations of the interventions and presentations made during the event, in order to promote these Mediterranean ESD initiatives and to highlight the Action Plan of the Mediterranean Strategy on ESD as the guiding regional tool available. It provides an ESD status update by means of highlights, key messages and case studies from most Mediterranean countries.

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