Ever since its inception in 1961, OISCA's central emphasis has been the promotion of human welfare in harmony with the natural environment, especially through human resource development. During its initial decades, however, these notions were not necessarily popular, as much part of international society was influenced by a narrow definition of "development," which featured a heavy emphasis on material consumption and paid little attention to the vital necessity of a sound natural environment that could satisfy the needs of current and future generations.

Yet, this imbalance became widely recognized by the early 1990s, as the unprecedented "Earth Summit" (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, 1992) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, dramatically underlined the urgent need to reconcile human orientations with environmental integrity. It was for its history of addressing such issues that OISCA-International became the sole NGO in the world to receive the prestigious Earth Summit Award Toward Global Sustainability (1993).

Commemorating the ten-year anniversary of that historic gathering in Rio, the "Johannesburg Summit" (World Summit on Sustainable Development, or WSSD, August 26 - September 4, 2002) was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, and attended by more than twenty thousand people from throughout the world. The WSSD aimed to accelerate the type of development that coexists with environmental sustainability. As in the case of the Rio Summit, OISCA-International emerged as an important actor.

OISCA-International's contribution to WSSD started in November 2001, when Deputy Secretary General Fumio Kitsuki was selected to head the Japan Forum for Johannesburg (JFJ) ― a consortium of about 50 NGOs and 200 individuals who wished to form an organization through which they could publicize their views and thus make a difference in the world. Mr. Kitsuki immediately collected proposals from the JFJ members, and starting from the High-Level Regional Meeting for WSSD (November 27-29, 2001) held in Phnom Penh (Cambodia), advocated recommendations from JFJ.

Fortunately, one of the JFJ proposals - that United Nations should establish a period of 10 years in which human society could learn how to develop in harmony with nature - impressed the Government of Japan as a brilliant idea.

Encouraged by this progress at the inter-governmental level, the JFJ assigned its Environmental Education Committee to promote this movement, and the Committee selected OISCA-International's Dr. Yukio Kamino (Chief of International Coordination) as the Chief Facilitator of the Worldwide Networking Team, Movement to Promote 'UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.' Towards the WSSD, the Team reached several hundred NGOs in the world, pointing out

Both Mr. Kitsuki and Dr. Kamino played key roles at the WSSD in advocating the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development. Dr. Kamino delivered an introductory presentation on the Movement and 'Decade of Education' in five JFJ workshops, including one attended by Japan's Minister of Environment, Mr. Hiroshi Oki. Mr. Kitsuki guided Japan's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Yoriko Kawaguchi, as she visited the Nasrec center that hosted programs by civil society organizations. In addition, OISCA-International's Ms. Catherine C.

Kamino (Special Advisory Staff) made a presentation that pointed out the unique merits of experiential environmental education, especially the Children's Forest Program. Fortunately, OISCA South India members were also at that workshop and Mr. M. Aravind Babu (Director, OISCA South India Office) made a valuable contribution by answering questions from the audience. At the governmental level, Japan's Prime Minister Mr. Junichiro Koizumi made an appeal to world leaders that "the United Nations declare a 'Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.'"

On September 4th, the WSSD adopted the Plan of Implementation that sanctioned the idea, stating: "Recommend to the United Nations General Assembly that it consider adopting a decade of education for sustainable development, starting in 2005." Indeed, the "Key Outcomes of the Summit" issued by the UN made a special reference to that phrase, describing it as one of the three "Means of implementation." In November, the Japanese Government initiated a formal process for the adoption of the recommendation by the UN General Assembly. The recommendation proved to be highly popular among diverse member countries, was co-sponsored by as many as 46 countries, and unanimously adopted on December 20, 2002.

The adopted resolution