Culture for sustainability

Today, the world is much more complex and deeply changed compared to the past. This makes it necessary to develop the capacities to see, understand and address the close interconnections between the economic, social, environmental, cultural and human dimensions and to develop a systemic vision of reality. In this regard, the role of “culture”, intended both as innovation of education and training systems and as widespread communication and awareness raising, is recognized as an urgent and necessary process to face the current and emerging challenges that undermine the achievement of a sustainable future.

The National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS) promotes culture as an enabling condition for human and sustainable development and includes it in the so-called "Sustainability Vectors", namely within Vector 2 – “Culture for sustainability”. The Sustainability Vectors are enabling conditions and fundamental levers to initiate, drive, manage and monitor the integration of sustainability in policies, plans and projects at national and territorial level. The National Action Plan for Policy Coherence for Sustainable Development (NAP PCSD), as annex of NSDS, enforces this mission and includes a number of training activities and transformative actions addressed to institutions and civil society.

The Vector “Culture for sustainability” highlights the links between global and local dimensions and supports an approach to sustainability based on the values of peace, equity, social inclusion, non-violence and global citizenship, rather than knowledge. Furthermore, it addresses complexity, critical and systemic thinking, creativity, transdisciplinary as fundamental tools to act for change. In this regard, it is in line with the competence framework defined by the European Green Comp and with the vision defined by the Transforming Education Summit 2022.

The Vector 2 includes two areas of action: a) Education and Training; b) Information and Communication. It is aimed at bridging the gap and answering to the educational and communicational needs that emerged in NSDS implementation and review process, carried out with the full participation of institutions, territories (Regions, Autonomous Provinces, Metropolitan Cities), central administrations, civil society and non-state actors gathered in the national Forum for Sustainable Development.

In particular, the Vector 2 recognizes the role of territories as main actors to build a culture of sustainability. The provisions of art. 34 of Legislative Decree 152/2006 and subsequent amendments, that sets the rules of NSDS localization, fully supports and inspires this mission, and includes the possibility to build a multilevel network of activators for the diffusion and the promotion of culture for sustainability. But the territorial dimension of education not only implies the role of local authorities in establishing and maintaining local and regional networks, but also calls for a role of central administrations in driving the process to connect local activities with global thematic priorities.

As emerged from the collaboration between the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security (MASE) and Regions, Autonomous Provinces and Metropolitan Cities for the implementation of NSDS and of the territorial strategies for sustainable development, Education for Sustainable Development (ESS) is one of the central themes in the planning of local projects and activities. The financial support offered by MASE to territories through the collaboration agreements has relaunched and strengthened many local initiatives (e.g. Network of centers for environmental education and sustainable development/CEAS), and has given new vitality to multilevel collaboration on educational policies, also through the creation of participatory mechanisms such as Territorial Fora for sustainable development.