The "World Sustainable Development Teach-In Day" will reach a broad audience, comprising:

The "World Sustainable Development Teach-In Day" is to be an inclusive event, and would like to welcome all those interested to participate.

The event will give university lecturers and their students the chance to examine some key sustainability-related issues. The teach-ins are meant not only to provide information for students, but also involve them in discussions on how to analyse and understand the sustainability problems seen in their regions and about the sorts of action needed to tackle the challenges raised by these problems. By encouraging university students to debate sustainability issues, we will at the same time be encouraging them to discuss ways to overcome the related problems.

Participating university staff/lecturers and teachers will be encouraged to get their students involved in working through a set of 5 guiding questions that are pertinent to their discipline. They will be supplied with a list of suggested questions in advance and encouraged to hand them out to their students in order to prepare for the discussions and provide them with guidance.

By participating in this teach-in, avenues of discussion will be opened up and students will be encouraged to discuss facts, problems and solutions to deal with the challenges of sustainable development. It is hoped that the "World Sustainable Development Teach-In Day" entitled "Sustainable Development: working towards local solutions to a global challenge" will inspire faculty, staff and students to work more closely and discuss ways to address the problems that are seen in their universities and communities.

This event is the first of its kind in the world and follows the success of the "European Climate Teach-in Day" held in June 2009 (http://www.climateday.eu/), attended by over 12,000 school and university students in 55 countries. Participating university staff/faculty members will be able to access the information, which can be used for lectures lasting an average of 45 minutes. Short videos to open the discussion as well as some questions which students may be asked to encourage discussion about ways in which the can behave in a more sustainable fashion, will be provided.

Thousands of students all around the world will discuss sustainable development issues. This offers a powerful framework to raise awareness and encourage action to be taken.