Editorial Special issue: Education for sustainable development

Education is a fundamental right and the basis for progress in every country. The challenges of conquering poverty, combat-ting climate change and achieving truly sustainable development in the coming decades compel us to work together. With partnership, leadership and wise investments in education, we can trans-form individual lives, national economies and our world. (Ban Ki-Moon, United Nations Secretary-General, quoted in UNESCO, 2014) Why this special issue? The world is facing some very serious social and environmental challenges over the next 50 years. These include climate change, global poverty and inequality, war and con-flict, economic uncertainty with a growing world population which is likely to reach nine billion by mid-century. Local and national solutions alone are no longer viable as these issues transcend political and geographical boundaries, they are what are termed ‘wicked ’ problems because of their complexity and interdependence. More of the same sort of education which has led us to current unsustainable forms of living is clearly not appropriate if we want to develop sustainable communities, locally and globally. New forms of learning are needed which break through current hegem-ony and navigate the barriers between dis-ciplines, between sectors and between cultures. In recognition of this, over 80 educators from the HE and FE sectors came together for a conference at London South Bank University (LSBU) on 10 June 2014 to share ideas and present the work they have been doing in addressing issues of sus-tainability through the curriculum. The conference ‘Supporting employability, soci-ety and the environment: a curriculum for sustainability ’ was organised by London ESD, the UNU accredited regional centre of expertise in education (RCE) for sustain-able development (ESD), based at LSBU. The articles in this special issue have been Corresponding author