Ms. Bory-Adams oversees the functioning of the DESD Secretariat; the main role of which is to promote the vision of the DESD in facilitating discussion among stakeholders and within UNESCO. Her core areas of work include international coordination of the DESD; cooperation and mobilization of ESD networks; supporting the development of teaching and learning resources for ESD; supporting inter-sectoral collaboration in UNESCO�s response to the �SD; supporting the publication and dissemination of ESD good practices and guidelines; monitoring and evaluation. Her work interests lie in promoting and identifying strategies for education that develops all the qualities advocated by ESD.

Prior to being in UNESCO, she was at UNICEF in the capacity of Regional Education Advisor for West and Central Africa then subsequently, Chief, Education for UNICEF Ethiopia. She has co-authored The Human Capability Approach and Education for Sustainable Development: Making the Abstract Real (unpublished, 2005) along with Maria Hoffmann of UNICEF.

Cheryl Charles is currently Senior Director of BITS, The Financial Services Roundtable. BITS is a non-profit consortium of 100 of the largest financial institutions in the United States, fostering collaboration to address critical issues affecting the safety and soundness of the financial services infrastructure in the US. As an IUCN-CEC member, she is co-chair of the ESD working group.

Ms. Charles is recognized for her work in Environmental Education, having directed Project Learning Tree from 1976 to 1984 and founded Project WILD for K-12 educators in 1981. She also founded the Centre for the Study of Community, a think tank and educational organization focused on fostering research, thought and action in support of healthy communities.

Jaimie P. Cloud is the founder and president of The Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education in New York City. The mission of The Cloud Institute is to ensure the viability of sustainable communities by leveraging changes in K-12 School Systems to prepare young people for the shift towards a sustainable future. Ms. Cloud teaches extensively, and writes and facilitates the collaborative development of numerous instructional units and programmes that are designed to teach topics across the disciplines through the lens of sustainability.

Ms. Cloud serves as Chair of the Center for the Study of Expertise in Teaching and Learning, and as a board member of Green Map, Inc.

Richard Clugston is the Executive Director of Centre for Respect of Life and Environment (CRLE) and University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (ULSF), and publisher and editor of Earth Ethics. CRLE focuses on the following programme areas: the Greening of Academia, Religion and Ecology, the Earth Charter Initiative, and Sustainable Livelihoods and Sustainable Communities.

Prior to coming to Washington, D. C., Dr. Clugston worked for the University of Minnesota for 11 years, first as a faculty member in the College of Human Ecology, and later as a strategic planner in Academic Affairs, Continuing Education and the Office of the President. He was a consultant to the State Department of Education, the Minnesota Business Partnership, and various colleges and school systems on educational improvement. Dr. Clugston has taught and published on human development, strategic planning, educational reform, and most recently on environmental ethics, spirituality and sustainability.

Peter Blaze Corcoran is a Professor of Environmental Studies and Environmental Education at Florida Gulf Coast University. Prof Corcoran is past President of the North American Association for Environmental Education. He has served as Coordinator of "University Colloquium: A Sustainable Future," an ecological literacy course required of all students. He is also the Senior Fellow in Education for Sustainability at ULSF. He currently serves on the President's Council of the National Wildlife Federation and, locally, serves as an Advisory Board Member of the Yat Kitischee Native American Center in Naples.

Currently the Executive Director of NAAEE, Mr. Day has worked in over 30 countries and led the $50 million global project in environmental education and communication for the US Agency for International Development. He is the founder and editor of the peer-reviewed journal Applied Environmental Education and Communication: An International Journal. He is a frequent author, educator, and trainer.

Professor Rietje van Dam-Mieras holds a chair in the natural sciences at the Open Universiteit Nederland (Open University of the Netherlands). She has held and still holds many positions in the top of the Dutch entrepreneurial community, the Dutch research community and the global community of learning for sustainable development. Professor van Dam also holds a UNU Chair in Regional Centres of Expertise. Rietje van Dam is the chair of the Policy Advisory Board of the RCE Rhine Meuse

Derek Elias is Programme Specialist for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) at UNESCO, Bangkok. The basic mission of UNESCO is to contribute to sustainable human development in a culture of peace, underpinned by tolerance, democracy and human rights, through programmes and projects in UNESCO's fields of competence - education, the natural and social sciences, culture and communication and information.
 
Prior to joining UNESCO, Bangkok, Dr. Elias, who received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the Australian National University in Canberra, worked in Central Australia with Aboriginal people for ten years. His work focused on the preparation of aboriginal land claims, sacred site protection and the negotiation of mining agreements with Aboriginal landowners throughout the Northern Territory as well as the rest of Australia. He has published extensively on issues related to sustainable development and has edited numerous articles and publications on the promotion of education for sustainable development. He has consulted for a wide range of stakeholders including aboriginal organizations, universities and the private sector.

A prolific writer, Dr. Fien is the creator of the interdisciplinary CD-ROM Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future and a co-editor with D. Yencken and H. Sykes of the forthcoming book Young People and the Environment: An Asia-Pacific Perspective. He is past president of the Australian Association for Environmental Education and is a well-known international speaker and consultant on environmental education. He was formerly the director of the EcoCentre at Griffith University (Australia).

Moacir Gadotti is Professor at the University of São Paulo, the Director of the Paulo Freire Institute, and author of many widely-read and translated books, among others: Education Against Education (1979), Invitation to Read Paulo Freire (1988), History of Pedagogical Ideas (1993), Pedagogy of Praxis (1994), Pedagogy of the Earth (2001), The Masters of Rousseau (2004), and To Educate for Another Possible World (2007), where he develops an educational proposal, oriented by the paradigm of the sustainability. At the Rio Global Forum in 1992 (ECO-92), Dr. Gadotti, with others, took part in the elaboration of the Treaty on Environmental Education for Sustainable Societies and Global Responsibilities. He also helped develop the first draft of the Earth Charter. Dr. Gadotti is a member of UNESCO’s Reference Group for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

Dr. Gonzalez-Gaudiano is a professor at the Institute of Social Research of the Autonomous University in Nuevo Leon, located in the city of Monterrey in northern Mexico. He is also the chief editor of the journal ‘Topicos en Educación Ambiental’ (Topics of Environmental Education).

Dr. Gonzalez-Gaudiano is an influential promoter of environmental education, having served as an advisor to numerous governments, institutes of higher education and international organizations. Till December 2006, he was the Advisor to the Secretariat of Public Education (Asesor del Secretario de Educación Pública), Mexico, in matters of environmental education and sustainable development.

Dr. Gough is Deputy Director of the Centre for Research in Education and the Environment at the University of Bath.  His special area of interest is the role of learning in the management of the relationship between society and nature.  He has conducted research funded by a wide variety of organisations including the UK Economic and Social Research Council, the MacArthur Foundation, the World Wildlife Fund, The UK Department for International Development (DFiD) and the UK National Health Service.   He is a member of the Communication and Education Advisory Group of the International Conservation Union (IUCN) and serves on the international editorial boards of Environmental Education Research and the Journal of Education for Sustainable Development. He is currently working on two books which will appear in 2007 – on sustainable development in higher education, and on learning, sustainability and security in liberal societies.  He has led geographical expeditions in Borneo and Papua New Guinea and is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Nalaka Gunawardene started his career as a science writer and journalist with Sri Lanka’s print and broadcast media. He has written and broadcasted extensively on science and technology issues. He has also served as a UN consultant, media researcher, television commentator and columnist. He now heads TVE Asia Pacific, a regionally operating non-profit media organisation. He has twice won the prestigious Science Writer of the Year award presented by the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science.

Presently, Dr. Hindson is the head of FSC Environmental Education (FSCEE) within the Field Studies Council, with varied responsibilities including the development and delivery of education for sustainability, community participation and public awareness projects in UK and globally. He has a number of publications to his credit on different aspects of education for sustainable development.

He holds a doctorate degree in geography from the University of Wales and started his career as a geography teacher before joining the field Studies Council - an environmental education NGO in the UK.

Karen Hollweg completed studies of exemplary EE for Sustainability programs as an Indo-American Fulbright Fellow in 2007.  She is now consulting on a variety of science and environmental education projects and is leading professional development workshops on the use of ongoing classroom assessment to promote learning.  She was responsible for the dissemination of the National Science Education Standards at the National Research Council from 1999 to 2002. As Principal Investigator for federally-funded Elementary, Secondary and Informal Education projects, she led nationwide teacher enhancement, curriculum development, and community-based projects. Throughout her career, Ms. Hollweg’s work has focused on bringing together the resources and expertise of schools, community-based organizations, and higher education institutions to support teachers, students, scientists, and citizens of all ages in pursuing inquiry-based learning and addressing real-world issues.

John Holmberg heads the Division of Physical Resource Theory at Chalmers and is also the Programme director for the international masters’ programme in Industrial Ecology. His main research interests are sustainable consumption, energy efficiency, industrial ecology, decoupling, back-casting, principles and indicators for sustainability and education for sustainable development (ESD). He is currently project leader for the three following research projects: Energy efficiency in buildings transportation and industry; the adaptation of the Swedish building sector to decreased CO2 emissions; back casting for strategic planning in ABB, IKEA and SCA. In 2001 he was awarded "the best university teacher in environmental science in Sweden" by the National Agency for Higher Education.

Dr Pascal Valentin HOUENOU is a Professor of Environmental Chemistry at the Université d’Abobo-Adjamé, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. He has more than 36 years of teaching experience. Since 1999 he is the acting Director of the Institute of Renewable Energy of the Université d’Abobo-Adjamé. He is the  Coordinator of the Network for Environment and Sustainable Development in Africa hosted by African Development Bank and a Member of the International Reference Group to UNESCO for ESD. Professor Houenou is the Former Dean of the Environmental Sciences  and Management Unit at Université d’Abobo-Adjamé.

Carl Lindberg is a special representative on ESD in The Swedish National Commission for UNESCO and also a member of UNESCO´s High-Level Panel on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. He has been actively involved in the ESD processes in the Scandinavian countries. He was formerly the Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Science, Sweden.

Professor Heila Lotz-Sisitka is the Murray and Roberts Chair of Environmental Education at Rhodes University. She is actively involved in national policy-development and recently co-ordinated the research component of the South African Department of Education's National Environmental Education Programme. She is also actively involved in development of regional strategies and policy for the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development in southern Africa. She is the editor of the Southern African Journal of Environmental Education and serves on the council of the Environmental Education Association of southern Africa. She currently co-ordinates the Masters and PhD programmes in Environmental Education at Rhodes University.

Ms. Matali’s core areas of interests are Communication for Development, Sustainable Community Development and Knowledge Management. From 1994 to 2004, she was the Conference Manager at Sarawak Development Institute (SDI). Her responsibilities included conceptualising, organising and coordinating seminars, conferences, workshops on Development Issues in Sarawak especially in the focus areas of SDI which are Social Development & Urbanisation, Economics & Industrial Development, Human Resource Planning & Development, Rural & Land Development, ICT Development, Resource & Agro-based Industries, Environmental Management, Tourism & Cultural Development, and Financial Management.  She also organised Executive Talks and Corporate Economic Briefings, which are targeted at the general public. 

Dr. McKeown’s interests focus on the role of education in a more sustainable future and assessing the environmental literacy of undergraduate students. As part of her assessment efforts, Dr. McKeown has developed and validated frameworks for teaching environmental issues and the socio-political-cultural foundation of environmental education. She has also directed curriculum development efforts in water and solid waste management education. Dr. McKeown is Secretariat for the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chair on Reorienting Teacher Education to Address Sustainability and the United Nations University Chair on Education for Sustainable Development and Co-Director for the Tennessee Solid Waste Education Project. She is author of the popular Education for Sustainable Development Toolkit Web site.

As Team Leader, Education Sector, Prof. Menon coordinates all initiatives under the Education Sector at Commonwealth of Learning (COL). He, as an Education Specialist in School Development, is specifically responsible for facilitating the use of open and distance education for professional development of teachers and other education personnel in the Commonwealth nations aiming at increased access and enhanced quality in the school sector. He was the Director of the School of Education at the Indira Gandhi National Open University, the largest Open University in India. He was also the Chairman of India's National Open School from 96-1999.
Prof. Menon has over 30 years of research, teaching and administrative experience and has taught courses on Instructional Designing, Science Education and Research Methodology at M. S. University, India. Professor Menon has consulted in the areas of primary education, open schooling and open/distance teacher education for international agencies including UNDP, UNICEF, UNESCO, �NIDA and COL. He has a number of publications in the area of distance education and teacher education. He was also a visiting scholar to the University of Leeds in 1992 and was attached to COL as a visiting fellow in 1994.

Prof. Michelsen is a faculty at the Institute for Environmental and Sustainability Communication, Luneberg University. He also holds the UNESCO Chair in Higher Education for Sustainability.

Prof Goolam Mohamedbhai is currently the President of the International Association of Universities. He has also been Chairman of several university associations, including the Association of Commonwealth Universities (2003-2004), the University Mobility in the Indian Ocean Rim (2001-2004), and the University of the Indian Ocean (1998-2005). He is currently Chairman of the Regional Scientific Committee for Africa of the UNESCO Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge.

Prof. Goolam Mohamedbhai was formerly the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mauritius, a position he held from 1995 to 2005. He obtained his Bachelor’s and Doctorate degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Manchester, UK, and did his postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, under a Fulbright-Hays award.

As the head of Environmental Education and Training, Ms. Ogbuigwe oversees the role of environmental education in promoting sustainable development. Her research interests include the Mainstreaming of Environment and Sustainability, Research and Learning in Educational Institutions and Africa’s Emancipation.

She is a mentor of youths, and passionate and committed to education for a sustainable future of peace and equity. She has several publications to her credit such as Environmental Imperatives for the African Region in the Next Decade, ACFED Port Harcourt (1998), Empowerment through Legal Education: Human Rights, Democracy and Development in Nigeria.

Prior to joining UNEP, Ms. Ogbuigwe was a Professor of Environmental Law at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Rivers State, Nigeria, and had been involved in the promotion of both formal and informal environmental education programmes in Nigeria.

Mr. Pradhan is the Regional Environmental Affairs Officer for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, and is based at Bangkok,Thailand. With over 10 years of experience with UNEP at the regional level, Mr. Pradhan assists with the development and implementation of regional and sub-regional environmental action plans and policies, and liaison with political sub-regional entities such as ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) SACEP (South Asia Co operative Environment Programme) SPREP (South Pacific Regional Environment Programme) and TEMM (Tripartite Environmental Education Network).

Mr Pradhan coordinates UNEP's overall capacity building programmes in the region, related to environmental awareness, education and training. More specifically, he is involved in an eco-housing initiative, as part of UNEP's overall urban environmental management strategy for the Asia-Pacific. He also contributes to regional initiatives on e-Wastes and environment-health linkages.

Dr. Puntenney is founder and Executive Director of Environmental & Human Systems Management, a private sector consulting firm that seeks to facilitate and support the further implementation of sustainability strategies through: learning processes; multi-stakeholder dialogue; research and influencing policy; provision and distribution of key information; training and capacity building. Delegate, United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development; She currently serves as Co-Chair of the UN CSD Education Caucus. As a member of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication she has contributed her expertise on policy and advocacy as well as management and evaluation of education for sustainable development strategies. Pam's work focuses on cross-cultural solutions, the impact of world systems on local communities, public choice and public responsibility, learning systems and sustainable solutions.  She has served as a lecturer and research scientist with the University of Michigan; She has been a senior foreign policy advisor to various countries advising senior management on creating linkages, and presented keynote addresses to ministries, business, scientific, technologic and education conferences throughout the world on a variety of environmental and educational policy issues. Her publications include: Global Ecosystems: Creating Options Through Anthropological Perspectives

A theoretical physicist, he resigned his job from Delhi University in 1982 to work full time at grassroots in the areas of education and rural development. With like minded people, he helped evolve the People's Science Movement that attempts to empower people to plan and implement their own developmental ideas and needs, so as to reverse the trickle-down paradigm of development.

Vinod Raina has worked in developing alternative school curriculum for rural areas, edited a children's magazine and a developmental news feature service. He has edited a book titled 'The Dispossessed Victims of Development in Asia', published by the Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives (ARENA), Hong Kong, of which he is a board member. He has worked closely with the Bhopal Gas Tragedy victims and with the Narmada Dams movement in India.

Professor of Environmental and Marine Chemistry at the University of Athens, Michael Scoullos is also the founder and Chairman of the Mediterranean Information Office for the Environment, Culture & Sustainable Development (MIO - ECSDE) since 1992. MIO-ECSDE is the largest Federation of Mediterranean Environmental Organisations. He is also the Chairman of the Global Water Partnership-Mediterranean (GWP-MED), which is one of the regional GWP platforms for promotion of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). Since 1992, the European Parliament has designated him as a Member of the Management Board and the Executive Bureau of the European Environment Agency (EEA), the major intergovernmental organisation for the protection of the environment in the European Union.

Dr Stephen Sterling is a Schumacher Reader in Education for Sustainability, Centre for Sustainable Futures, at the University of Plymouth, and Senior Advisor for Education for Sustainable Development to the UK Higher Education Academy.  He is also a visiting Research Fellow at the London South Bank University (LSBU)�s Education for Sustainability Programme and at the Centre for Research in Education and the Environment (CREE) at the University of Bath. His research interest is in the interrelationship between transformative learning, ecological thinking and systemic change towards sustainability in both institutional and social spheres. His publications include the Schumacher Briefing Sustainable Education � Re-visioning Learning and Change, (Green Books/Schumacher Society, 2001).

Jim Taylor is a director of the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) with the portfolio of environmental education.  He is also the Director of the Southern African Development Community�s Regional Environmental Education Programme (SADC-REEP).  This programme includes all fifteen southern African member countries and promotes networking, capacity building, policy development and implementation and resource material development and research.

Jim has been a member of the Environmental Education Association of Southern Africa (EEASA) for many years and is a past President.  In 1997 he was awarded a human rights award.  Dr. Taylor has a particular interest in research including evaluation processes and has published a number of papers and chapters in books and addressed numerous major conferences in various parts of the world.

Ms. Vilela joined in the establishment of the Earth Council, an NGO established to follow up the Earth Summit agreements and promote the establishments of National Councils for Sustainable Development in 1993. Over the past ten years, she has played a leading role in the international campaign to draft, ratify and endorse the Earth Charter in countries all over the world.

As the Director of the Earth Charter Center for Education for Sustainable Development at UPEACE, she has lead and facilitated numerous international workshops and seminars on values and principles for sustainability. She has also participated in several annual meetings of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, as well as Preparatory Conferences to the World Summit on Sustainable Development and the Johannesburg Summit itself.

As UNU/IAS Director, Prof. Zakri oversees an academic community of core faculty and administrative personnel, adjunct professors, and postgraduate students. UNU/IAS, based in Tokyo, is UNU's newest research and training centre. Since 1996, UNU/IAS has been developing original, forward-looking solutions to problems at the interface of societal and natural systems. Its research programme investigates interlinked themes related to environmentally sustainable development.

Prof. Zakri was formerly the Deputy Vice Chancellor at the National University of Malaysia (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia), a post he had held since 1992. He previously served the University as Head of the Department of Genetics and Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences, and has been a full professor at the university since 1982.

Kartikeya V. Sarabhai is the founder director of the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), a national institution engaged in promoting environmental awareness and conservation as well as education for sustainable development.  Starting small in Ahmedabad, India, in 1984, CEE today works at the national and international level with a staff of over 200 professionals and 40 offices across India as well as in Australia and Sri Lanka. In 2005, CEE received the Global award for 'Outstanding Service to Environmental Education' from the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE).  Mr. Sarabhai also set up “VIKSAT” an NGO working towards people participation in natural resource management as well as “Sunder van” a nature discovery centre. Under his leadership CEE organized the first International Conference of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development in January 2005.  Mr. Sarabhai received the 'Tree of Learning Award’ from The World Conservation Union in 1998 in appreciation of his contributions to the field of environmental education and communication. In 2005, the Indian Institute of Human Rights presented Mr. Sarabhai with the “World Human Rights Promotion Award”.