The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) was established in 1947 and is one of five regional Commissions for Economic and Social Advice for the United Nations (ECOSOC), and has its seat in Geneva. The UNECE is responsible for joint forum on improvement of economic collaboration in the 55 member nations (as of April 2007), which is composed of European and Central Asian states, as well as the USA, and Canada.

At the conference in Kiew 2003, the UNECE-Environment Minister worked together with UNESCO and the Council of Europe to develop a strategy for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).

Objectives of the strategy are:

• Ensure that policy, regulatory and operational frameworks support ESD;
• Promote SD through formal, non-formal and informal learning;
• Equip educators with the competence to include SD in their teaching;
• Ensure that adequate tools and materials for ESD are accessible;
• Promote research on and development of ESD;
• Strengthen cooperation on ESD at all levels within the UNECE region.

In Vilnius (2005), at the High-Level Meeting, the Ministers for the environment and education, from the UNECE member states, accepted the "Vilnius Framework for the Implementation of the UNECE Strategy for Education for Sustainable Development," and formed a steering committee on ESD. Within this, UNECE member states are to make a regional contribution to the UN Decade by promoting ESD and gain support for the implementation of ESD in the respective education systems.

The Expert Group is composed of representatives from each of the member states, international organizations and non-governmental organizations and has developed a set of indicators for the evaluation and implementation of the strategy.

• UNECE Strategy for Education for Sustainable Development (PDF, 231 KB)
• Vilnius Framework for the Implementation of the UNECE Strategy for Education for Sustainable Development (PDF, 46 KB)