Message from the Global RCE Service Centre:

Dear RCE-members, we are currently in the process of merging and integrating our new UNU-IAS IT-system. Some of the links given in this bulletin may hence temporarily not work and be disabled. We apologise in advance for this inconvenience. Please contact us at rceservicecentre@unu.edu if you are experiencing any trouble or wish to receive certain documents mentioned below.

Dear colleagues and friends,

With just over a month left before the 9th Global RCE Conference, the preparations here at the RCE Service Centre are at full speed. We are looking forward to seeing many of you in Okayama, Japan!

The registration deadline for the conference is now officially closed. Those of you, who will attend, please make sure to sign up for the excursion on 8 November 2014, which allows you to choose from a whole range of different courses. Please use your username and password to login and make sure you sign up before 3 October 2014. IAS-funded participants can participate in either Course I or II. Detailed information of the excursion can be found here.

If you wish to submit a poster, please do so by 10 October 2014. You can send the material either via mail to RCE Okayama, 1-1-1, Daiku, Kita-ku, 700-8544 Okayama City, Japan or alternatively bring them directly to the venue:

• 4 November 2014: 15:00–17:30 Registration desk during the Welcome Reception at the ANA Hotel, Okayama
• 5 November 2014: 7:30–9:00 Registration desk for the conference at Okayama Convention Center (2F)

For those who need visa support documents, please complete the Visa Support Request Form and send it to the Global RCE Service Centre (rceconference@unu.edu) with a scanned copy of your passport. This service is for RCE members only. Please check with your nearest embassy or consulate general, if there are any required documents. Please also note that it is the participants’ responsibility to obtain an appropriate visa to enter Japan.

The accommodation for UNU-IAS funded participants will be booked through the RCE Service Centre. For all other participants, please make sure to book your accommodation if you have not yet done so. You can book your hotel through the registration website by 21 October 2014.

This and more information can be found on the main conference website.

Submission of Annual Reports

Many of you have kindly submitted their Annual Report via our online system. If you have not submitted your report for 2014 as yet, please do so before the conference. You can upload it here. Please go to ‘Create Reports’ and fill in the necessary information. Using this format will enable us to harmonize the reporting within the RCE-network.

Please note, all reports and projects have to be submitted online via the RCE portal. We can no longer accept documents in a different format. The deadline to submit a project for an Award has now officially closed. We thank all of you who nominated a project!

Best wishes,

The Global RCE Service Centre

Upcoming Events

Events organized by UNU-IAS

9th Global RCE Conference

4–7 November 2014

Okayama, Japan

Marking the final year of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD: 2005–2014), the conference is regarded as one of the official stakeholder meetings to be held prior to the UNESCO World Conference on ESD (10–12 November). The Conference provides a great opportunity to reflect on the successes and challenges of the RCE movement with a view to charting a post-2014 agenda as proposed in the UNESCO’s Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD. The major objective of the conference is to identify a tangible commitment of the RCE community towards the effective implementation of ESD beyond 2014. For more information, please visit the conference website and join our conference preparatory discussions.

International Conference on Higher Education for Sustainable Development: Higher Education Beyond 2014

9 November 2014

Aichi, Nagoya

The United Nations University is organizing the International Conference on Higher Education for Sustainable Development: Higher Education Beyond 2014 in collaboration with UNESCO, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), UNEP, UN Global Compact’s Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative, and the International Association of Universities (IAU). The Conference will highlight the major challenges and pathways for transformation of higher education institutions (HEIs), with a focus on scaling up and mainstreaming innovative practices in learning and knowledge development and research. Online registrations for the conference are still open. You can find more information on this event here.

UN Winter School on Sustainable Consumption and Production in Asia and the Pacific

7–20 December 2014

Bangkok, Thailand

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and its partners, United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), and the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) will hold the forthcoming UN Winter School on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) in Asia and the Pacific. The strategic objective of the Winter School is to improve the knowledge of future decision makers in Asia and the Pacific in the area of SCP and thus contribute to the design and implementation of policies, business models and practices that can promote sustainable resource management.

The UN Winter School, held at the Asian Institute of Technology Campus, provides an exclusive learning opportunity for young professionals, including post-graduate students, to be equipped with skills that can support their professional and research activities. You can find more information on the event here.

Events organized by RCE members

COPERNICUS Alliance Conference on Education for Sustainability: Building Capacity in Higher Education

3 October 2014

Prague, Czech Republic

This international conference, organized by COPERNICUS Alliance in collaboration with Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, will review major trends and changes in higher education towards sustainability over the last ten years, with an emphasis on whole-of-institution approaches, curriculum change, university educators, ESD competences, and quality enhancement. A state of the art report which maps existing ESD professional development opportunities for university educators in Europe will be presented at the event.

For further information, abstract submissions and registration details please click website.

RCE Okayama: Kominkan-CLC International Conference on ESD: Community-based Human Development for sustainable Society

9–12 October 2014

Okayama, Japan

The City of Okayama, the Executive Committee for Kominkan-Community Learning Centre (CLC) Committee and Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and technology of Japan will be organizing the “Kominkan-CLC International Conference on ESD” from 9 to 12 October in Okayama, Japan. One of the main characteristics of ESD and RCE activities in Okayama is active engagement of community learning centres known as “Kominkan” in Japanese. This conference will feature the role of Kominkan and CLC and their good practices in implementing ESD at the local level. The expected outcome of the conference is to develop the visions and future strategies for Kominkan and CLC to contribute to realizing a sustainable society. You can find more details on the conference here.

RCE Curitiba-Paraná, Brazil: International Students Conference on Urban Sustainability (ISCUS)

10–12 February 2015

Curitiba, Brazil

RCE Curitiba-Paraná in cooperation with Unilivre and Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná (UTFPR) is organizing the second edition of the International Students Conference on Urban Sustainability (ISCUS). This event aims to provide an opportunity for students from different countries to exchange knowledge and to promote research. ISCUS will gather presentations from undergraduate and graduate students on case studies, research and practical experiences on subject matters. This event provides a great platform to encourage international networking between students and the institutions. ISCUS aims at making its themes even more interdisciplinary this time around. For more information please visit the conference website.

Other Events

SEAMEO Congress, Southeast Asia in Transition: Re-Thinking Education, Science and Culture for Regional Integration

21–22 October 2014

Bangkok, Thailand

This congress aims to explore new avenues for managing the diverse changes in education, science and culture and enhance regional understanding and cooperation among educators and different stakeholders in Southeast Asia and beyond. More information can be found in the conference announcement or on the congress website.

Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) Conference

26–29 October 2014

Portland, Oregon

Nearly 2,000 sustainability professionals and students will gather in Portland, Oregon for AASHE’s annual conference to network and share innovations, activities, frameworks, learning outcomes, tools, strategies, research, theory and leadership initiatives that are changing the face of sustainability on their campus and surrounding communities. RCE Greater Portland, being on the coordinating committee of the conference, will host an RCE Panel discussion on the benefits of the RCE model and cross-sector ESD networks. Representatives from RCE Grand Rapids, RCE Saskatchewan and the U.S. Partnership for ESD will attend the panel discussion. For more details please visit the AASHE Conference website.

The European Organisation for Sustainable Development: Greening Education Event

29–31 October, 2014

Karlsruhe, Germany

A three-day international Greening Education Event will be held from 29th to 31st of October 2014 in Karlsruhe, Germany. This will bring together the academic community, policy makers, representatives of multilateral agencies, senior members of academic institutions, teachers and administrators, sustainable development practitioners and other stakeholders from around the world.

The event provides an exclusive forum to examine how global issues such as climate change, loss of biodiversity and other major challenges are affecting the education sector; to deliberate on how to embed sustainability in curricula, courses and learning and teaching material; to debate on the ways to make educational institutions as one of the key leaders in finding long lasting solutions to environmental, social and economic challenges; to share best practices; and to get insights on how education is being reshaped to meet the requirements of the 21st century.

Further to knowledge-sharing, the upcoming event will also provide an excellent networking opportunity with the academic community, SD practitioners and other stakeholders in Europe and beyond. More information on the organisers and the event can be found here.

UNESCO World Conference on ESD

10–12 November 2014

Aichi-Nagoya, Japan

The 2014 ESD World Conference marks the end of the ESD Decade, and will be an important milestone for pointing the way ahead. The Conference has the four main objectives: (1) Celebrating a decade of action, (2) Reorienting education to build a better future for all, (3) Accelerating action for SD and (4) Setting the agenda for SD beyond 2014.

The Conference programme will include high-level roundtable, plenary sessions, workshops, side events and exhibitions. UNU-IAS will be co-organizing a workshop on “Development of local initiatives and multi-stakeholder networks for ESD” together with the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi. For more details, visit the conference website.

Latest News

Mobile Bus Exhibition on Biodiversity initiated by RCE Lucknow

RCE Lucknow has initiated a mobile exhibition on biodiversity of Uttar Pradesh a northern state of India. This innovative mobile exhibition titled 'Prakriti' (meaning Nature) has been developed by CEE North with the support from RCE partner Uttar Pradesh State Biodiversity Board (UPSBB) and University of Lucknow. Prakriti is a mobile resource bus on knowledge dissemination about the biodiversity of Uttar Pradesh. More details on this project can be found here.

Workshops for Capacity Building on ‘Combating Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought’

30 July and 12 August 2014

Punjab and Uttarakhand, India

RCE Chandigarh and its lead partner Punjab State Council for Science & Technology (PSCST) organized workshops for Capacity Building on ‘Combating Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought’ in Punjab and Uttarakhand in July and August. Please find their report here.

7th Asia-Pacific RCE Meeting

26–28 August 2014

Penang, Malaysia

The 7th Asia-Pacific RCE Meeting was organized from 26 to 28 August 2014 in Penang, Malaysia. Over 50 participants from 17 RCEs and two candidate RCEs gathered to deliberate various thematic and strategic issues relevant to the Asia-Pacific RCEs. The future direction and strategy of the Asia-Pacific RCEs were discussed, with the view to further advance and up-scale ESD actions beyond DESD. Please find the minutes of the meeting and the draft paper on the “Strategy of the Asia-Pacific RCEs” below.

Strategy of the Asia-Pacific RCEs, beyond 2014
Meeting Minutes 7th Asia-Pacific RCE Meeting

The meeting was followed by the International Symposium on “A Decade of Regional Centres of Expertise on ESD: Reflections and Advances in Asia-Pacific” where RCE members presented their flagship projects with reference to the five priority action areas of the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD. Interactive workshops were also organized by a number of local school teachers and students as part of the symposium.

2nd World Symposium on Sustainable Development at Universities

3–5 September 2014

Manchester, UK

RCE Hamburg and Region in collaboration with Manchester Metropolitan University and the Research and Transfer Centre “Applications of Life Sciences” of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences organized the 2nd Wold Symposium on Sustainable Development at Universities (WSSD-U-2014) in Manchester, UK. The Workshop was one of the last events to be held as part of the UN Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD) which concludes in 2014.

The Symposium’s focus on transformative approaches to sustainable development across disciplines contributed to the further development of this fast-growing field. You can find a summary of the event here.

International Seminar on Renewable Electricity and Socio-Economic Development: Challenges and Opportunities for Developed and Developing Countries

9 September 2014

Hamburg, Germany

On 9th September the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences gathered European and South American experts to discuss the challenges and opportunities of renewable electricity generation for the socio-economic development. It provided a forum for German key actors in the renewable energy technology transfer and development cooperation sectors, to exchange experiences between each other and to enter into a dialogue with representatives from South American universities. This seminar aimed to promote the exchange of experiences between universities, NGOs and enterprises working in international renewable energy technology transfer. The seminar was the final event of a four year project, Renewable Electricity Generation in South America (REGSA), funded by EuropeAid. Presentations of the seminar as well as all publications of the project can be downloaded here. For more information on the event itself please visit the seminar’s website.

4th African RCE Continental Meeting and 32nd Environmental Education Association of Southern Africa (EEASA) Annual Conference

9–12 September 2014

Windhoek, Namibia

The 4th African RCE Continental Meeting was held in conjunction with the 32nd Environmental Education Association of Southern Africa (EEASA) annual conference at the University of Namibia (Windhoek Campus) on 9–12 September 2014. RCE Khomas-Erongo of Namibia was the host for the African RCE delegates at the EEASA meeting. The 32nd EEASA conference brought together more than 200 delegates from southern and eastern Africa and beyond. The theme of the conference was on Reflections on the current and emerging ESD issues and practices informing the post DESD framework programme. RCEs delegates at the meeting contributed to this theme through plenary sessions, paper presentations, round table discussions and workshops. Please find the book of abstracts here.

The climax of the 4th African RCE continental meeting was a workshop session entitled Positioning African RCEs in the post-2014 ESD agenda. This workshop drew upon experiences from previous African RCE continental meetings to explore ways of strengthening capacities for multi-stakeholder engagement and networking in ESD. It was attended by 23 delegates from nine acknowledged RCEs. Through the workshop participants deliberated a joint strategy and concrete actions for positioning African RCEs to effectively deliver a post 2014 ESD agenda. RCE delegates also used the workshop to reflect upon the successes, challenges and opportunities of the African RCE network in implementing ESD. Policy recommendations and a plan of action to strengthen RCEs as platforms for multi-stakeholder dialogue and cooperation in sustainable development will be derived from the deliberations that took place at the RCE meeting. Click here for a preliminary report of the meeting.

Publications

8th Global RCE Conference: Regional Centres of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development

The United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) has published a conference booklet of the 8th Global RCE Conference that was held in Nairobi, Kenya on 26-29 November 2013. The conference booklet is an abridged version of the 8th Global RCE Conference minutes that were shared in February of this year.

Forests in a Changing Climate: A Sourcebook for Integrating REDD+ into Academic Programmes (UNEP, 2014)

This sourcebook that was recently launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) takes stock of the knowledge, approaches, tools and initiatives that have been developed for REDD+ by a range of actors and to facilitate their integration into multi-disciplinary higher education programmes, especially in countries actively engaged in REDD+ readiness efforts and preparations.

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.

To unsubscribe click here.

United Nations University
5-53-70 Jingumae
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8925
Japan

To opt-out of all United Nations University contact system messages click here.