The UN definition of sustainable development has extended from environmental protection to various aspects of human life, and education should play a larger role in achieving sustainable development.

Experts made the remarks at the UN Symposium on Integrated Implementation of Sustainable Development Goals held in east China's Jiangxi Province. The three-day symposium ended Thursday.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), will put education at the top of the agenda in the coming decade after the United Nations launches a ten-year education development plan on March 1 this year, said Yasuyuki Aoshima, director and representative of the UNESCO Office in Beijing.

The plan will work to encourage the UN members to integrate sustainable development into education, so that people can improve some of their behavior to achieve sustainable development.

The plan also aims to help people better understand threats to humanity's future, such as poverty, extravagant consumption, HIV/AIDS, population expansion, conflicts and human rights violations, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2005)