RCE Puerto Rico
Overview
RCE Puerto Rico is known locally as REDeS (Red de Educación para el Desarrollo Sostenible). It is a multi-sector network of collaborators dedicated to promoting education and training for advancing sustainability in Puerto Rico, an island archipelago in the Eastern Caribbean. We support and engage in projects and activities that develop sustainability awareness and lead to concrete actions. Our partners represent diverse organizations, institutions and agencies working on sustainability issues throughout Puerto Rico including in municipalities around El Yunque National Forest, the San Juan Metropolitan Area, and other regional cities. Our focal geography is an ecological tapestry of riparian and coastal wetlands and beaches, urban and exurban development, agricultural pastures and shrublands, and primary and secondary montane forests. The cultural character of the region is rooted in the rich amalgam of traditions mainly descended from pre-Columbian cultures, European colonists, enslaved people from Africa, and more recently, from various nations in the Americas. Puerto Rico faces both great challenges and opportunities related to its long-standing colonial status and the socio-economic and environmental impacts of climate change.
The vision of RCE Puerto Rico is to develop healthy, equitable and sustainable human communities in Puerto Rico that are resilient to socioeconomic and environmental changes.
Our mission is to construct a collaborative and inclusive network that promotes on-going education and strengthens the well-being of human communities and life-sustaining ecosystems.
RCE Puerto Rico and the work of many of our collaborating partner organisations is framed around SDGs 3, 4, 10, 13, 14, 15, and 17 representing good health and well-being, quality education, reduction of inequalities, climate action, life below water, life on land, and partnerships for the goals. Recognising the intertwined nature of the SDGs, we also welcome partners and projects that are working on education for sustainability as related to all 17 goals.
- Developing a network of cross-sector alliances that advances sustainability education in Puerto Rico.
- Improving access to transformative education that focuses on sustainability principles.
- Augmenting public awareness and education about sustainability and resiliency concepts as related to social, economic, and environmental well-being.
- Promoting sustainable management and conservation of natural and cultural resources and ecosystem services that benefit society.
- Strengthen food, energy and drinking water security via sustainable economic development.
Photo: Exposition of the SDGs in Puerto Rico (Photo credit: United Nations Association of the United States of America, Puerto Rico Chapter, and Escuela Inés María Mendoza).
Name of organisation: University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras (UPRRP), Dept. of Environmental Sciences
Type of organisation: Academic
Name of organisation: Institute for Innovation in Sustainability, Training, Applications and Research in Agri-Environmental Sciences (IINSTAR-AS)
Role: RCE Coordination, Executive Committee, Education Committee, Communications
Name of organisation: Friends of El Yunque Foundation
Role: Executive Committee, Former Hosting Secretariat
Name of organisation: USDA Forest Service - El Yunque National Forest & International Institute of Tropical Forestry
Role: Executive Committee, Education Committee, Communications
Name of organisation: Center for Landscape Conservation
Role: Former Hosting Secretariat
Name of organisation: Cooperativa Educativa para la Reinvención y la Acción
Role: Education Committee
Name of organisation: Corazón Latino
Role: Communications
Name of organisation: Fundación Génesis
Role: Education Committee
Name of organisation: Interamerican University of Puerto Rico-Metropolitan Campus
Role: Education Committee, Communications
Name of organisation: Learning 2B Global, LLC
Role: Education Committee
Name of organisation: Love in Motion
Role: Communications
Name of organisation: Proyecto Raíces
Role: Education Committee
Name of organisation: Puerto Rico Dept. of Education, Science Program
Role: Education Committee
Name of organisation: Puerto Rico Dept. of Natural and Environmental Resources-Northeast Natural Protected Areas
Role: Education Committee
Name of organisation: Puerto Rico Science, Technology & Research Trust-Stem Education Program
Role: Education Committee
Name of organisation: RCE Puerto Rico-REDeS – UPRRP Chapter
Role: Youth Committee
Name of organisation: San Juan Bay Estuary Program
Role: Education Committee
Name of organisation: SOSteniendo Puerto Rico
Role: Communications
Name of organisation: United Nations Association of the United States of America, Puerto Rico Chapter
Role: Partnership Development
Name of organisation: UPRRP -- Dept. of Geography
Role: Education Committee
Name of organisation: UPRRP -- Luquillo Long-Term Ecological Research Program
Role: Education Committee, Youth Coordination
Name of organisation: UPRRP -- Tropical Plant Ecology and Social-Ecological Systems Laboratory
Role: Education committee
Several individuals also participate in RCE Puerto Rico in a personal capacity.
Activities
- Compilation and dissemination of educational resources related with the SDGs developed by RCE Puerto Rico network partners.
- Participation in conference and webinar activities focused on sustainability topics, climate change, responsible consumption, cooperatives, solutions journalism.
- Workshops, field trips and educational activities related to environmental education and stewardship of natural resources, and sustainable watershed management.
- Professional development experiences for youth from local schools with RCE Puerto Rico partner organizations.
- University fellowships for Hispanic students studying Renewable Energy and Sustainability and the water-energy-food nexus.
- Internships/learning practicums with federal and state agencies, NGOs & academic partners in PR & US.
- K-12 engagement and knowledge transfer.
- Participation in RCE Americas.
Photo: Compilation of photos from farms in Puerto Rico and Vermont that participated in the cross-cultural research project focused on measuring and cultivating resilience on small farms (Photo credit: RCE Puerto Rico).
Undergraduate and graduate students participating in the Institute for Innovation in Sustainability, Training, Applications and Research in Agri-Environmental Sciences (IINSTAR-AS) at the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras provide educational engagement activities about environmental and agricultural sciences and sustainability to K-12 students from Puerto Rico. Photo Credit: Erika Concepción.
University students participate in a dialogue hosted by Learning 2B Global about the SDGs and their implications for their academic and professional development. Photo credit: Sandra Guzman.
- Increasing participation of youth representatives in network activities.
- Development of inter-institutional academic collaborations and internships.
- Development of relations with representatives from industry and the private sector, and local governments.
- Cross-site coursework development with RCE Greater Burlington.
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Collaboration with other RCEs.
Photo: RCE Puerto Rico working group meeting with representatives from several partner organisations (Photo credit: Noelia Báez Rodríguez).
- Awarded a grant from USDA-NIFA to establish the Institute for Innovation in Sustainability, Training, Applications and Research in Agri-Environmental Sciences (IINSTAR-AS), which includes resources for the RCE Puerto Rico Coordinator and program development.
- Inclusion in UNU-IAS publication on Sustainable Consumption and Production here.
- Awarded a grant from the University of Vermont Agricultural Research Service – implemented a cross-cultural, participatory research approach for measuring and cultivating resilience on small and medium farms in Puerto Rico and Vermont, a collaborative effort with the Greater Burlington Sustainability Education Network.
- Participation in the Virtual Congress: Participatory Territorial Governance Platforms in the Face of the Global Crisis.
- Development of Réplicas para la Vida & ¡PreSeրTes! -Pre-Service Teachers in sustainable development education -- in collaboration with the College of Education, University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras Campus; United Nations Association of the United States of America, Puerto Rico Chapter; and la Cooperativa Educativa para la Reinvención y la Acción
- News article in El Nuevo Día highlighting the establishment of RCE Puerto Rico
- Opinion piece in El Nuevo Día emphasising the importance of education for sustainable development
- Summary of SDG activities in Puerto Rico (hosted by UNA-USA PR)
Projects
Communication Channels
Contact Details
chris.nytch@ites.upr.edu
meiriem.roman1@upr.edu
