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RCE Bulletin

Issue 110: October 2020
MESSAGE FROM THE GLOBAL RCE SERVICE CENTRE:

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Greetings from the Global RCE Service Centre! We hope you and your communities are staying well. As we reach the end of October, we also are nearing the completion of this year's RCE Regional Meetings, with one region (Europe) still to go next month. Over the past few months, it has been very encouraging to see and hear from a large number of RCEs at these meetings, and to be able to continue to share and collaborate in an online format. Again, thank you to all for your active participation. Content and outcomes from these meetings are progressively being made available - please check the meeting page for your region for the latest updates.

A reminder that registrations for the 9th Annual RCE Awards, which celebrate outstanding ESD projects and programmes conducted by the global RCE network, are open until 31 October, 2020. Please see below for further details. This is also a great opportunity to ensure your RCE's reporting is up-to-date, by uploading any projects your RCE has conducted over this past year.

Finally, if your RCE would like to share any news, upcoming events, open calls, or publications for an upcoming bulletin, we would love to hear from you! Please complete this form and email your submission to the Global RCE Service Centre at rceservicecentre@unu.edu (submissions close on the 15th of each month).

Sincerely,
The Global RCE Service Centre 

Applications Closing Soon: 9th Annual RCE Awards

Nominations are still open for the 9th Annual RCE Awards. RCEs are encouraged to nominate one or more of their ESD projects for the award; ESD projects should illustrate how RCEs address local sustainable development challenges, and therefore provide an example of how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be implemented at the local level through quality education. They should also demonstrate how an RCE is promoting multi-stakeholder learning processes through policy dialogue, research and collaborative partnerships. Note that activities that respond to the issues associated with COVID-19 are also welcome. Award recipients will be announced and featured on the RCE Portal this December.

To apply:

  • Submit an RCE Project (video tutorial available here), and at the bottom of the form, please tick the box underneath the heading 'RCE Award 2020' before saving (Please note: projects submitted since November 2019 are also eligible to be nominated for the award. Please go into your existing project, go into 'edit' mode and tick the same box at the bottom of the form).
  • You will then be redirected to the RCE Award form on a new page. Complete the form and click submit.

Details on categories for the awards, eligibility, criteria, and the format for submission can be found here. Submission must be done online via the RCE Portal by 11:59pm, 31 October, 2020 (JST).

Registrations Open: Europe Regional Meeting 2020

(Photo credit: De Montfort University)

Registrations are still open for the Europe Regional Meeting 2020, taking place from 24-25 November, 2020, hosted by RCE East Midlands under the theme 'Climate Emergency: Joined-up Action'. Day one is open to all, and day two open to current and prospective RCE members.

The programme includes a wide range of short talks and interactive workshops, addressing local climate action, nature education in schools, climate justice education and much more, along with evening social activities. RCE members are encouraged to provide a short update of their activities at the event through a short document or video clip between registration and the event itself. There will also be many opportunities to discuss shared challenges and opportunities for collaboration for European RCEs.

Please take a look at the draft programme and register now to help organisers plan around expected numbers of attendees. Further information can be found on the event page here.

Upcoming Events

Regional Online Launches of ESD for 2030 Roadmap

UNESCO is organising a series of regional online launch events of the ESD for 2030 Roadmap which provides guidance for Member States and other stakeholders for the implementation of the new global framework 'Education for Sustainable Development: Towards achieving the SDGs' (ESD for 2030). See the links below for details on how to register for each event:

Virtual Environmental Forums on Environmental Education, Hosted by RCE Bogota

RCE Bogota has organised a series of virtual environmental forums, with the remaining forums this calendar year as follows:

  • National Pedagogical University "Environmental Crisis: Possibilities of Sustainable University Curricula", 30 October, 2020 - register here
  • Universidad Santo Tomas "Sustainable Lifestyles", 19 November, 2020 - register here
  • Universidad Distrital Francisco Jose de Caldas "Education and Regulations on Climate Change", 20 November, 2020 - register here

With this program, RCE Bogota aims to contribute to the construction of an environmental citizen culture, through the dissemination of issues that affect the daily lives of people and that can contribute to achieving changes for a sustainable city, such as recycling, responsible consumption, water care, knowledge and protection of the moors, the importance of natural and cultural diversity, and environmental ethics, all of which contribute to creating public environmental awareness.

Participation is free for all participants, and has allowed the universities, institutions and NGOs that are part of the Thematic Network of Environmental Education-RCE Bogota, who implement the program, to unite dispersed efforts around common objectives. In turn, it is achieving a valuable dialogue of knowledge between the Academy and the communities, so that the research of the universities is shared with the people and improves their quality of life, and in turn the Academy is enriched with knowledge and popular experiences.

Sustainability and Youth Leadership Conference
1-2 November, 2020, online via Zoom

RCE Kano, the Centre for Gender Studies Bayero University Kano, and the Centre for Renewable Energy and Action on Climate Change are organising this two-day conference, whereby the focus of this second Digital Youth Forum will be on leadership, and is designed to complement the first Conference held in October 2020. The aims of the conference include developing personal leadership skills among youth to improve prospects and build confidence, improving capacity, competence and efficiency among youth in promoting the SDGs, and increasing youth understanding, awareness and engagement on sustainability and sustainability issues. Find out more, including how to register here.

Open Calls

Virtual Roundtables on Education

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the onset of an education crisis leaving 1.5 billion+ learners the world over out of school, the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) has recently launched a new initiative to solicit voices of key stakeholders in education who have been impacted most by this crisis - i.e. the students, parents and teachers. The initiative, titled 'Virtual round tables on education' aims to gather opinions by these key focus groups on the future of education. Key findings from these discussions will contribute towards MGIEP's International Science and Evidence-based Education (ISEE) Assessment as well as UNESCO's Futures of Education initiatives.

From September - November, 2020, a series of online discussions will be organised with students, parents and teachers from the five UNESCO regions (i.e. Africa, the Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and North America, Latin America and the Caribbean). MGIEP is currently looking for active participation from students between the ages of 12-18 from Africa, the Arab States, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. In order to be a part of the discussions, interested stakeholders can submit their applications here.

Further details can be found on the webpage here.

Challenge Campus 2030 - Edition 2

Calling students and university professors and researchers - the 2nd edition of the Challenge Campus 2030 is calling for projects to submit their vision for a campus of 2030; one that has achieved all 17 SDGs. Organised by Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), the United Nations Regional Information Centre (UNRIC), and Agorize, projects can fall under one of three themes: Student Life, The Campus in the City, or New Educational Issues. Find out more about the challenge and how to participate here.

Latest News

UNESCO Online Workshop #1: The Transformative Power of Education for Sustainable Development for the World beyond COVID-19

On 9 September, 2020, the first of seven online pre-conference workshops for the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development was held. The event was a joint thinking process, whereby participants shared their visions and perspectives on what Education should look like, beyond the pandemic. Read the summary from UNESCO here.

UNESCO Launches Trash Hack Campaign

On 19 September, 2020 for World Cleanup Day, UNESCO launched the Trash Hack campaign to encourage young people to learn about sustainability through tackling waste. Find out more and how to get involved here.

RCE Kano Digital Youth Forum for Sustainability Ambassadors

Organised by RCE Kano, Centre for Gender Studies Bayero University Kano, and the Centre for Renewable Energy and Action on Climate Change, the RCE Kano Digital Youth Forum for Sustainability Ambassadors was held on 5 October, 2020, with more than 140 people registered for the full day event, attracting participants from all over the world. The digital forum was organised to further empower and re-train the first set of participants from the First National Youth Conference on Education for Sustainable Development that was held on the 3 October, 2017 at Bayero University Kano, as well as other selected stakeholders.

The event was designed to complement ESD's four thrusts, especially by increasing public understanding and awareness on sustainability among Sustainability Ambassadors. The Forum looked at how COVID-19 has impacted various youth efforts aimed at mitigating anthropogenic pressure and to reverse the effect of climate change that directly affects the livelihoods of people living in the country. Recordings for the Morning Session can be found here, the Afternoon Session here, and slide presentations here.

Webinars to Mark the Celebration of 'Green Consumer Day' 2020 and 'International Day for Disaster Reduction' (IDDR) 2020

RCE East Kalimantan, RCE East Java (candidate) and RCE Srinagar recently co-hosted a series of webinars, with the first, 'Making Right Choices, Becoming A Responsible Consumer' to mark 'Green Consumer Day' 2020, held over two days, on 28 and 29 September, 2020. RCEs within the Asia-Pacific region participated in the webinar, which addressed SDG 12, and included discussions on the increasing trends of consumerism, making the right choices for reducing consumption, reducing footprints, steps to become a responsible consumer, and promoting sustainability. A report has been prepared by RCE Srinagar including the highlights over the two days here.

The second of these webinars was titled 'Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Preparedness, COVID-19 and Sustainability', marking the celebration of 'International Day for Disaster Reduction' (IDDR) 2020, on 13 October, 2020. The IDDR celebrates how people and communities worldwide are reducing their exposure to disasters and raising awareness about the importance of reining in the risks that they face. The webinar addressed SDGs 9, 11 & 13 directly, and all other SDGs indirectly and consisted of a panel discussion followed by a Q&A session. A report has been prepared by RCE Srinagar, including a brief summary of the presentations here.

ESD BOOKS, PUBLICATIONS AND OTHER

RELX – Elsevier SDG Resource Centre

The RELX SDG Resource Centre is a free online interactive platform housing content curated from across the RELX organisation, and features a news tracker (containing global coverage of the SDGs), published research, and events. Access it here.

Sustainability Science Hub: Using Data to Drive Action on the UN SDGs

Elsevier recently launched a Sustainability Science Hub, offering free access to analytical reports, data sets, tools and other resources for sustainable development. Access it here.

Report: Mapping Research to Advance the SDGs

A new report from Elsevier, 'The Power of Data to Advance the SDGs', offers unique insights and initiatives, many developed together with partners, to map the state of research within each SDG area, revealing gaps and strengths to support the UN's 2030 SDGs. Read more