Buddhist Leader Highlights Need for Education, Empowerment in Advance of Rio+20 Meeting

Buddhist Leader Highlights Need for Education, Empowerment in Advance of Rio+20 Meeting PR Newswire TOKYO, June 7, 2012 TOKYO, June 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Daisaku Ikeda, president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Buddhist association, issued a proposal on June 6 stressing that empowerment of individuals and communities is vital to achieving a sustainable global society. The proposal puts forward ideas related to the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development opening in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 20. Ikeda states: "It is unacceptable to consider the pursuit of sustainability as simply a matter of adjusting policies in order to find a better balance between economic and ecological imperatives. Rather, sustainability must be understood as a challenge and undertaking requiring the commitment of all individuals ... constructing a society that accords highest priority to the dignity of life." The proposal, entitled "For a Sustainable Global Society: Learning for Empowerment and Leadership," emphasizes that education is key. Ikeda was a strong advocate of establishing the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) which ends in 2014, and he now calls for a successor framework, an educational program for a sustainable global society to start in 2015, focused on fostering agents of positive change. Such a program should give rise to empowerment, and beyond that, to leadership, if it is to generate real transformation.