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To present a national profile of developments in higher education for sustainable development in the Philippines and to analyse a new initiative to accelerate environmental education for sustainable development (EESD) within academic institutions.

This is an evaluative review that examines the design and piloting of an innovative scheme within the Philippine education system. The analysis is situated in relation to the approaches taken by prior initiatives and framed in order to draw out significant challenges, developments, and prospects for EESD at the organizational level.

The paper finds that EESD in the Philippines has an official base in the National Environmental Education Action Plan, which provides a framework to guide higher education. Two national networks promote environmental education, while environmental training and curriculum projects have been supported by government agencies and academic institutions, but without explicit policy support for more widespread changes. In contrast, the Dark Green Schools (DGS) program offers a distinctive “whole institution” approach and accreditation system devised in line with the principles of EESD for coherent systemic change. The design and pilot year of the DGS program shows positive potential for “greening” academic institutions and the issues that arise in seeking curriculum change, future funding, and formal support at sector level.

The DGS is an innovative program to promote “whole institution” change for EESD in the Philippines. Whilst similar approaches have been developed in some countries at the level of school education, such initiatives are rare at the level of higher education. This paper therefore includes lessons and findings that help to inform global debate in this important area of EESD in higher education.

The Philippines is one of the signatories to the historic Agenda 21 and was noted to be among the first countries to establish a National Council for Sustainable Development. Ten years after Rio, global society is again confronted with the question of whether sustainable development as a concept, philosophy and practice has improved the lives of peoples in different countries and cultures. This article attempts to discuss initiatives through which tertiary education has helped bring about sustainable development in the Philippines. It posits that for sustainable development to happen it must take root in the consciousness and cultures of society, a task in which education plays a very important part. The article discusses the efforts of two national networks for environmental education, the Environmental Education Network of the Philippines, Inc. (EENP) and the Philippine Association of Tertiary Level Educational Institutions in Environmental Protection and Management (PATLEPAM), which advocate for the integration of sustainable development in school curricula as well as in campus administration and organizational culture. It also includes the pioneering efforts of one institution, Miriam College, to integrate environmental education in its programs as part of its mission and commitment to become a genuine “steward of creation”.