XVIII World Congress of Comparative Education Societies

Fostering Inclusive Ecologies of Knowledge: Education for Equitable and Sustainable Futures

Global development at a crossroads

Global development is at a crossroads. Unsustainable ways of inhabiting the Earth are pushing the future of humanity and the planet to the brink. Dominant development models, based on the quest for control and exploitation of natural resources, have led to irreversible environmental destruction and biodiversity loss, threatening the very existence of humanity. Global economic growth over the past several decades has seen a greater concentration of wealth, widening inequalities and further undermining social cohesion and stability within and across societies. And while digital technologies have connected us more closely than ever, they are also contributing to social fragmentation. The fault lines that characterize current global development patterns threaten our collective futures. In 2021, the United Nations Secretary-General affirmed that “humanity faces a stark and urgent choice: a breakdown or a breakthrough.”  The same…