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Efforts to define environmental education as a specific endeavour began in the 1960s. They were given international support at the United Nations conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972, where participating governments recommended that it be recognised and promoted on an international scale through the United Nations. One of the initial tasks was to develop some consensus on what environmental education could and should become, and to assist governments in implementing relevant programs as soon as practicable. Two major conferences, supported by regional meetings of experts, were hosted by the newly formed UNESCO-UNEP International Environmental Education Programme. The purpose of the first (Belgrade, 1975) was to draft concepts and a vision for environmental education. The second, an Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education (Tbilisi, 1977), formally approved the scope and action plans put forward from the previous conference. The provisions of the 'Tbilisi Declaration on the role, objectives and characteristics of environmental education', appended to this document, remain in wide international use and have sustained their role as a guiding influence over the past two decades. Other major milestones include:

The IUCN World Conservation Strategy (1980) suggested requirements for human survival and prosperity, putting forward the conservationist concept of sustainable development.

Our Common Future (1988) was the name of the report published by the World Commission on Environment and Development, chaired by the Prime Minister of Norway, Mrs Brundtland. It emphasised the relationship between the under-developed nature of parts of the world, and existing social and environmental problems. The report is a survey of the planet's health, presenting the problems of atmospheric pollution, desertification, over-population, over-consumption, water shortages, poverty and under-development.

Agenda 21 (1992) The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro established further strategies for a sustainable future. Chapter 36 of the action plan adopted by the Conference, Agenda 21, focused on public education, awareness and training, which confirms the role of education and the importance of positioning environmental education in the perspective of sustainable development.

UNESCO Thessaloniki Declaration (1997), Educating for a Viable Future: a multidisciplinary vision for concerted action sought to further clarify the concept of education for sustainable development. It presented sustainability as an ethical and moral imperative and the objective to which education should devote itself as an instrument of choice. Education is described as an ongoing process aimed at developing the capability of adapting to rapid changes in the world, but first and foremost as a process of transmitting knowledge and information to make the public understand the problems and to stimulate awareness.

During the same period, individuals and groups, both within and outside formal education systems and agencies, began to generate new emphases in their educational work, finding and expressing different focal points and relationships as well as a new urgency in their treatment.

Recent Developments: The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio De Janeiro in 1992, and the World Summit on Sustainable Development at Johannesburg in 2002 have drawn the attention of the global community to discuss problems concerning environment and development. In order to achieve the goals of sustainable development, people need to become aware of the environmental issues and acquire background knowledge to enable them to make and influence decisions. Environmental education is thus concerned with attitude towards, and decisions about environment quality, with informed management of resources, and with the ethical considerations that relates to these. Recognizing the importance of environmental education at all levels, the Hon'ble Supreme Court ruled that a course on Environment be made mandatory at the undergraduate level to sensitise the youth to environmental issues and concerns. As per the Supreme Court direction, the University Grants Commission introduced six months compulsory environmental course in all the Universities and Colleges during the academic year 2004-05.

The declaration of the decade for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) beginning in 2005, by the United Nations has provided further impetus. The goal is to create a sustainable world through active participation of citizens. Thus, ESD is seen as a process that develops vision, builds capacity, and empowers to make changes in human societies. Education has a pivotal role to play in achieving a sustainable economy and society. The dilemma that an educator faces today is that, by and large academic institutions try to teach everyone to accept the economic system and to succeed within it. Unfortunately, that success pretty much guarantees the accelerated blighting of the planet and all living organisms, without exception. The cognitive and cultural separation of “ecology and environment" from the human enterprise, has led to a large scale degradation and depletion of natural resources. The guiding ideology needed to learn and teach sustainability is an ideological orientation that emphasises conserving cultural values, beliefs, and practices that contribute to sustainable relationship with the environment. All the citizens must be environmentally literate. Perhaps the best way to visualise is by incorporating environmental education in the structure, pedagogy and curriculum of academic institutions.