China's portion of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development plan was launched in the city at the 2005 China Sustainable Development Forum held over the weekend.
Initiated by the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization, the worldwide plan calls for participating countries to carry out a series of educational events related to global sustainable development from 2005 to 2014.

Key topics for China, as well as other countries in the Asia Pacific Region, include environment and natural resource protection, diversity of species, urbanization, and public health problems such as AIDS.

Participating counties are required to implement the plan by establishing an information platform or Website, launching academic research on environment problems and holding public educational activities in schools, companies and communities.

UNESCO will work out a monitoring and evaluation system to check each country's implementation of the plan on a regular basis over the next decade.

"It is a long-term strategy that requires the joint efforts of all parts of society," Surendra Shrestha, Asia Pacific office director of the UN environment program, said at the forum, which was held at Tongji University.

Tongji University said that it would launch the country's first master's program on sustainable development this year.

Twenty students, in which half are foreigners from the Asia Pacific Region, will be recruited to carry out research and studies on environmental protection before being sent to work at regional UN offices.