In 2002, after extensive consultation with the public, the Canadian government introduced a Framework for Environmental Learning and Sustainability in Canada. Advocating for national ecological literacy, the framework provides recommendations for environmental and sustainability education at the K-12 and post-secondary levels across Canada. Internationally, the United Nations has designated 2005-2014 as the Decade of Education for Sustainability Development, offering strategic opportunities for continuing to integrate the Framework into practice in Canadian educational institutions.
Surrounded by ecological diversity, the University of British Columbia includes a relatively strong focus on environmental learning, and significantly, developed a policy in 1997 which mandates an emphasis on education concerned with sustainability: 
UBC seeks to become a centre for teaching and learning about the skills and actions needed to manage ourselves in a sustainable way…It works to enhance its capacity to teach, research and practice sustainable development principles, and to increase ecological/social/economic literacy and practices among faculty, staff, students, and the public at large. (Policy #5, UBC, 1997)
A focus on sustainability is currently exemplified in UBC-Vancouver activities such as the on-campus Sustainable Development Research Institute, the UBC Campus Sustainability Office, and in various programs and courses across the university. However, the Faculty of Education has, to date, been relatively uninvolved in these efforts. As an example, UBC’s Student Electronic Network for Sustainability Education, includes no references to courses or activities in the Faculty of Education, while linking to more than 35 other Departments and Faculties across the university. This background highlights the importance of environmental education as a future direction for research and teaching in the Faculty of Education at UBC.