Issue 72: August 2017

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Issue 72: August 2017

 

Message from the Global RCE Service Centre:

 

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Welcome RCE Stettiner Haff, Germany

We would like to welcome a new member to the network. RCE Stettiner Haff, Germany, joined our ranks this month. Please extend a warm welcome to this new RCE. The transnational Szczecin Lagoon (Stettiner Haff) lies in the border region between Poland and Germany and shows great importance with large natural heritage areas as part of the RCE region. The diverse landscape with its partly unique flora and fauna reflects the most important corner stone for the sustainable development of the area. Members of the RCE will join the European RCE meeting in September. More information on RCE Stettiner Haff will soon be uploaded on the RCE Portal.

2017 RCE Award for Innovative Projects on ESD Opens 1st September

Award applications together with the Annual Report can be submitted between 1st of September 2017 and 31st of October 2017. Projects receiving the Outstanding Flagship Award Category will receive a travel grant per project to join an RCE event in 2018. Read more

RCE Europe Meeting 2017

8-9 September 2017, Dortmund, Germany

Held back to back with the Conference FAIR FRIENDS, the European RCE Meeting will focus on Joint Ventures of European RCEs, Refugees and Migration, and Sustainable Consumption and Production. Read more

6th Americas RCE Meeting

13-15 September 2017, Vancouver, Canada

RCE British Columbia (Northern Cascades) is hosting the meeting back to back with the World Environment Education Congress (WEEC2017)Read more

10th Asia Pacific RCE Meeting

2-4 November 2017, Delhi, India

RCE Delhi is hosting the 10th Asia Pacific RCE Meeting in Delhi, India, in conjunction with the Symposium on ‘Sustainable Development Goals: from Goals to Action’ organized by the TERI Institute. Registrations are taken until 30 September, but financial support requests (by RCE members only) and abstracts must be submitted before 27 August. For more information about deadlines and the meeting click here.

Education for the Implementation of the SDGs: Thematic RCE Conference on Biodiversity, Climate Change and SCP

5-7 December 2017, Japan (exact location TBC)

The first thematic RCE Conference on Biodiversity, Climate Change, and Sustainable Consumption and Production – focused on food systems - will be held in Japan. RCEs are encouraged to submit summaries of their best practices in these areas. More information will soon be released here.

Sincerely,

The Global RCE Service Centre

 

Upcoming Events

 

Let’s Empower Sustainability- Driven, Erasmus Project RCE Vienna

9 November 2017, Vienna, Austria

The CASE Knowledge Alliance tackles the new ways of learning and teaching and the strong co-operation between universities and businesses. In this event they will share their experience on how to enhance sustainable socio-economic development and new forms of sustainability-driven enterprises. Read more

IOA-EA3G Conference – Ozone and Advanced Oxidation for the Water - Food - Health Nexus

5-7 December 2017, Shanghai, China

This event is an international forum for scientists, engineers and others interested in oxidation technologies involving ozone and related oxidants. Host is ProSPER.Net member Tongji University. Abstracts deadline is 15 September. Read more

UNESCO MGIEP Ed-Tech Conference (TECH 2017)

16-18 December 2017 in Visakhapatnam, India

The UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) is calling for proposals for its international ed-tech conference ‘Transforming Education Conference for Humanity (TECH)’.Read more

Greening Agri-food Systems, Ensuring Rural Sustainability and Promoting Healthy Socioeconomic Transformation in Southeast Asia through Social and Sustainability Sciences and Education for Sustainable Agriculture (ESA)

23-25 January 2018, Bangkok, Thailand

This regional conference will contribute to the ASEAN Work Plan on Education (AWPE), 2016-2020 and the SDGs. It is organized by ProSPER.Net member Chulalongkorn University and UNESCO. Abstract deadline is 8 September 2017. Read more

9th International Conference on Environmental and Rural Development (9th ICERD)

24-25 February 2018, Yezin, Myanmar

The International Society of Environmental and Rural Development (ISERD) is organizing the 9th ICERD. Deadline for abstract submission is 31 October 2017. More information will soon be posted on the ISERDwebsite.

For more events visit our ESD calendar.

 

Open Calls

 

Encyclopaedia of Sustainability in Higher Education

The Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme (IUSDRP) is leading the production of the ‘Encyclopaedia of Sustainability in Higher Education’. This peer-reviewed publication is part of the World Sustainability Series. Further details on the project, and on how to contribute to it can be found here.

 

Latest News

 

RCEs Acknowledged in Latest UN General Assembly Report on ESD

The role of RCEs is finally recognized and its importance in implementing the SDGs! Read the latest UN report on Sustainable Development where RCEs are specifically mentioned under point 33. “The United Nations University promotes multi-stakeholder cooperation at the local level and a global community of practice through the network of regional centres of expertise for education for sustainable development.“ Read more

RCE Candidate Ilorin Brings Child Labour in Nigeria into the Spotlight

Child labour is one of the major challenges in Nigeria. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), child labour deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. To draw attention to this problem, RCE Candidate Ilorin recently organized a round table panel discussion on the issue of street hawking of children of school age. One of the major outcomes of the event was the urgency with which a Federal Child Labour law enforced by the State Government needs to be put in place. Read more

RCE Thiruvananthapuram Organizes Talk on KNOW AFRICA – History, Development and Science

RCE Thiruvananthapuram along with the Centre for Innovation in Science and Social Action (CISSA) organized a talk on ‘KNOW AFRICA- History, Development and Science’ by Mammo Muchie (Research Chair and Professor of Economics Research on Innovation at the Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa). The emphasis was on collaboration between Africa and India and the challenges Youth face from technological advancements.Read more

2017 ProSPER.Net Leadership Concludes: Incorporating the 5Ps in Sustainability

The 5th ProSPER.Net Leadership Programme 'Building Transformational Leadership Towards the Sustainable Development Goals' was held on 29 June - 5 July 2017, at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. 21 participants from nine countries gathered for the six-day programme, and learned how to incorporate the five Ps of sustainability -People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, and Partnership into leadership challenges. They went through a unique experience during the Programme, focussing on collaborative efforts, leveraging networks and involving multiple stakeholders. Read more

Gwang-Jo Kim, Director, UNESCO Bangkok (1955-2017)

With sadness, we received the message that Dr Gwang-Jo Kim recently passed away. Dr Kim worked in various capacities for the Government of the Republic of Korea. As Deputy Minister of Education and Human Resources, he initiated the “Global Human Resources Forum”. He also worked in the Office of the President of the Republic of Korea, assisting former President Young Sam Kim in the fields of education and social policy. Since 2009, Dr Kim represented the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in Asia- Pacific, as its Director, and was the UNESCO Representative to Thailand, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Singapore.

Are universities ‘failing’?

Do we need to redefine the role of universities in society and what they stand for? Dzulkifli Abdul Razak writes about the definition of ‘universities’ and their role in today’s world. Read more

The SDG Accord: The University and College Sector’s Collective Response to the SDGs

Inspire, celebrate and advance the critical role that education has in delivering the SDGs by signing the SDG Accord. Make a commitment as a university, institution, organisation, or as an individual. The progress will be presented at the UN High Level Political Forum. Read more

Finalists of the AASHE Sustainability Awards

The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) recently announced the finalists for the 2017 AASHE Sustainability Awards. Read more

 

ESD Books, Publications and Other

 

Developing Leaders for Sustainable Development: Networking in Higher Education

This Policy Brief, the first in the ProSPER.Net Policy Brief Series, sets recommendations for policy makers why university networks such as ProSPER.Net should be nurtured. UNU-IAS researchers Mario Tabucanon and Aurea Tanaka summarise the benefits of these networks, and how universities can benefit of being a part of them. “Creating sustainable societies requires leadership, familiar with sustainable development topics. Current education systems lack the structure to bring up leaders with the necessary competencies to tackle sustainability challenges. Higher education needs reforming to integrate the vision of sustainability in curricula. Networking is a strategic tool to generate that transformation.” Read more

UNESCO America and Europe Report on the GAP and Cities 2016

The report of Europe and North America Regional Workshop on the GAP and Cities 2016 is now available here.

 

This is a publication of UNU-IAS RCE Global Service Centre.

If you wish to contribute to the monthly bulletin or have news, upcoming events, or publications, you would like to share, please use this form. You can mail it to the Global RCE Service Centre: rceservicecentre@unu.edu. Submissions must be made by the 15th of every month. In addition, we encourage you to continue using the RCE Portal to exchange ideas, share expertise and resources and deliberate emerging sustainability issues towards ESD implementation at a global level.

Please send your comments, suggestions and materials to rceservicecentre@unu.edu.

 

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