world travel guide: June 2010

In 1995 individuals in the academic, environmental, NGO, student and religious sectors started to work with the Earth Charter initiative. In 1997 The Earth Council joined Costa Rica's Ministry of Public Education in organizing a two-day workshop which gave secondary school students the opportunity to talk about sustainable development and contribute to the Earth Charter consultation process. In 1998 the University of Costa Rica strongly supported the Earth Charter process, particularly through the effort of a core group of students that developed a survey about the values and principles of the Earth Charter and which involved approximately 3,500 university students. A significant effort was undertaken to put together the Costa Rican contribution to the Earth Charter drafting process.

In November 2000 the Earth Charter Secretariat organized, in conjunction with several partner organizations and the Ministry of Environment an official launch of the Earth Charter. The event had the participation and expression of support from the President of Costa Rica, the Minister of Education and the Minister of Environment.

The National Earth Charter Group carried out several meetings between the year 2000 and 2002. This group was created through the effort of the Children’s Museum, the Costa Rican University, the National University, UNED, the Long Distance University, the Municipality of San Jose, the Christian Youth Association and the Earth Charter International Secretariat.

The Municipality of San Jose endorsed the Earth Charter and undertook a training project entitled “The Municipality of San Jose towards Sustainability”. The project included the training of more than 1.800 members of the municipal personnel in sustainability and the incorporation of the Earth Charter values into their daily work.

In 2001 the Minister of Education and the Minister of Environment of Costa Rica signed a declaration (Declaración de Interés Público) expressing their agreement to work with the Earth Charter using it as educational tool within the national territory, and declaring the Charter of public interest.

Since then the Costa Rican Ministry of Education has incorporated the Earth Charter into the curriculum of all primary and secondary schools in the country. The Earth Charter Secretariat, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the National University (UNA), the Children’s Museum and the Distance Learning University (UNED), led a project that developed a teacher guidebook and student publications (workbook and agenda) to facilitate the implementation of the Earth Charter Principles. For this project, funding was secured from the Japanese Embassy in Costa Rica. Over 35,000 books for teachers and 100,000 for students were distributed in Costa Rica (many through training workshops) between early 2005 and 2007.

In 2003, through a youth led-project, four Earth Charter concerts took place over a period of four months. The events featured various well known Costa Rican musicians and were held in the Children’s Museum and brought together approximately 2000 people overall. The main purpose was to sensitize young people with the vision for a better future as expressed in the Earth Charter.

In 2006 the Earth Charter Center of Education for Sustainable Development and UNESCO organized the Latin American Meeting: “Building Education for Sustainable Development” in San Jose, Costa Rica. The meeting had the purpose of promoting regional actions within the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development – DESD (2005-2014). The main outcomes of this meeting was the “Regional Strategy: Building Education for Sustainable Development in Latin America an the Caribbean" (See Regional Strategy in English here) and the "National Costa Rican Commitment for the Decade".