MEdIES Secretariat facilitated the organisation of  MED9 High-Level Forum on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and Green Transition in the Mediterranean Region in Limassol, Cyprus on the 27th of June that brought together more than 30 delegates including Ministers of Education and high-level representatives from the nine EU Mediterranean countries, together with representatives of UNESCO (Mr Christofer Carlson), UfM (Mr Almotaz Abadi), UNEP MAP (Ms Tatjana Hema), and the civil society. The Forum, organised by the Ministry of Education, Sport and Youth of Cyprus, in parallel with the UNECE Forum, on ESD and Youth, aimed to facilitate the exchange on the status of integration of ESD  in the countres, best practices and ways the Mediterranean Strategy for ESD can contribute to addressing related challenges.

The Forum was opened and chaired by H.E. Athena Michailidou, Cyprus Minister of Education, Sport and Youth. while Ms Tatjana Hema, UNEP MAP Coordinator made an introductory note. After the presentation of the forum’s concept note and scope by Prof. Michael Scoullos, the participants had the opportunity to intervene and share on the following topics:

  • Session 1, on ESD mainstreaming, priorities & challenges;
  • Session 2, on the integration of green and digital/sustainable learning practices within their respective educational systems whole school approaches in practice;
  • Session 3, on the implementation of ESD through whole school/institution approach ; how WSA/WIA can transform schools and institutions towards sustainability;
  • Session 4, on boosting cooperation & how to better capitalize on the active networks and the existing long-lasting bridges (see: MCESD,  MEdIES / MIO – ECSDE, etc).

All sessions included panel presentations and an open discussion for the exhange of practices and lessons learnt, etc.

During the final session the Recommendations and Conclusions Paper, emerging from the Forum’s discussions was presented and agreed by the delegates, highlighting the will of the MED9 countries to to work more closely in the field of green transition and ESD, both within the EU and the Mediterranean region but also at the level of UNECE. This paper will be submitted and discussed
at the MED9 Head of the States Summit that will take place in Cyprus in October 2024. Furthermore, it will serve as a complementary supportive document to the initiatives launched by the DG for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture  (EU Commission 2022), which have placed ESD at the core of its education policies. 

Download the Agenda of the Forum and the Recommendations and Conculusions Paper.

Read more on the Forum, and all relevant Prestenatations, and the Policy Documents  here.