In the present, the growing threat on the sustainability of natural resources and ecosystems on earth makes it necessary to deal with the environmental education process with a new point of view. From this viewpoint, in this study, first of all, the predominant approaches in environmental education and the content of this subject area have been widely taken into consideration. Then, the essential principles and the strategies to be followed have been tried to put forward thoroughly. Finally, the objectives and functions of environmental education for sustainable development have been explained and for this reason, the required teaching methods and application processes have been highlighted. Under the light of these, suggestions about teaching principles have been made to make environmental education more effective both in formal and informal education.

Keywords: Environmental education, sustainable development, education for sustainable development.