National Guidelines on Education for Sustainable Consumption for Tanzania

The world is facing numerous environmental problems and challenges, ranging from environmental degradation, climate change and trans-­boundary pollution many of which are driven by increasing population and consumption patterns, and poverty, particularly in developing countries. These problems and challenges are some of the main factors that contribute to the need for urgent application of sustainable consumption patterns. The National Environment Management Council (NEMC) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MoEVT), have developed national guidelines on education for sustainable consumption (ESC) as part of a pilot project on the Institutional Strengthening of ESC -­ Advancing ESC Policy and Implementation Strategies. This UNEP pilot project on ESC has been implemented globally as a pilot in Chile, Indonesia and Tanzania between 2011 and 2014. The objectives of these guidelines are to: -Enable Tanzania to better understand the principles of ESC;; -Assist in strengthening ESC techniques and teaching methods that incorporate sustainable consumption and lifestyle choices;; and -Promote and encourage ESC based on existing pedagogical techniques. These guidelines aim to contribute to shaping Tanzania's basic education system into one that promotes attitudes and behaviour that are geared towards a culture of sustainability. These ESC guidelines have been developed based on the importance, critical contexts and necessity of enhancing education system as a backbone of consumer education, civic training and responsibilities and environmental education for better resource use, management and conservation.