I hear via social media that the opening morning of the Aichi-Nagoya ESDFest was a gas, and rather surreal in places, with dancing girls, drums, violins, a crown prince, a real princess, and a video from Ban Ki Moon. It seems that there was even a plummy English compare, which makes it 5 from the UK by my count – clearly, our influence is growing.
As for the content, there was a self-congratulatory air, we're told, with much trumpeting of how great the Decade has been, with little sense of urgency, and hardly a mention of the challenges that form the basis of the Global Action Programme. Twas ever thus, of course – always pre-judge the evaluation by saying how great things are / have been / will be. It's what UNESCO does best – it is a political outfit, after all.
Meanwhile, for balance, here's the official line.
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