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Various approaches have been advocated and practiced to address sustainable development. Among these, education has been recognized as one of the key measures to achieving sustainability. In Nishinomiya, Japan, education for sustainable development (ESD) has been established through the Learning and Ecological Activities Foundation for Children (LEAF), a nonprofit organization whose activities have been adopted by the Ministry of the Environment as the model for Japanese ESD projects nation-wide. LEAF aims to establish mutual learning programs through various types of activities. Through an examination of LEAF initiatives, key elements for achieving sustainable development are explored and analyzed in relation to the UNESCO framework for implementing ESD (UNESCO, 2003). The paper suggests that a mutual learning environment is a key element in achieving sustainable development.

In Vietnam, government policies have led to improvements in the national forest cover and poverty situation. However, numerous recent case studies in the Vietnamese highland found that socio-ecological dynamics were highly complex on a local scale, resulting in unintended policy impacts and varying policy success among regions. While such complexity has become apparent, it has been difficult to understand and compare between regions, as assessment methods and targeted aspects of socio-ecological dynamics differed between case studies. In this review, complex socio-ecological dynamics in Hong Ha Commune in Thua Thien Hue Province were identified in published case studies and organized into complexity features based on the coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) framework, to make information more accessible and comparable under the widely applied framework. All complexity features of CHANS systems were identified in the reviewed literature, such as feedback loops (between illegal forest use and flood damage), heterogeneity (in incomes between Kinh people and ethnic minorities), and telecoupling (of the local livelihood through tourism). Based on its applicability to Hong Ha Commune, the CHANS framework is suggested to be applied in other forested areas of the Vietnamese highland to understand and compare complex socio-ecological dynamics and evaluate policy impacts.

After Doi Moi in 1986, cities in Vietnam have been urbanized rapidly. In Hue, there is an urban redevelopment plan to further develop and maintain the traditional loyal culture recorded world heritage by UNESCO. The purpose of this research is to consider the conservation of civil culture held in the small alley community, "Xom", focusing on the traditional Mid-autumn Festival. Through the field and questionnaire surveys, I classified the small alley community "Xom" and examined current situation of Mid-autumn Festival in Xom and variety of management group of that festival. Xom and Mid-autumn Festival mutually compliment each other forming on unified integrity: the small alley community plays an important rule for the conservation of civil culture.