Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a relatively new, evolving concept. At its core, ESD promotes the idea of sustainable development by integrating environmental, social and economic imperatives into education for a better quality life in the present as well as the future.

Despite much progress, the world is faced with great challenges, including rapid population growth, poverty, urbanisation, natural resource depletion, unplanned development, violence and terrorism. This scenario, coupled with natural calamities such as earthquakes and tsunamis, is wreaking ecological havoc. The gravity of the situation becomes all the more alarming when we realize that our economic well-being is directly dependent on environmental goods and services.