RCE Bulletin
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
Planning for 2019 RCE events is now well underway, including the RCE Regional Meetings. Please see below for the dates for a number of the meetings which have been confirmed.
We would also like to remind interested organisations that RCE applications are currently open for 2019! Details about the open call including key dates and application process can be viewed here.
If you have any news, upcoming events, or publications that you would like to share with the RCE community, 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
The Global RCE Service Centre would like to extend a warm welcome to five new RCEs who were acknowledged at the Thirteenth Meeting of the Ubuntu Committee of Peers for the RCEs, held on 6 December, 2018, in Cebu, the Philippines:
- RCE Sundarbans (Bangladesh)
- RCE Qingdao (China)
- RCE Sakon Nakhon (Thailand)
- RCE North Texas (USA)
- RCE Gran Caracas (Venezuela)
Please join us in welcoming these new RCEs to the RCE family!
(Photo credit: Yang Yi)
The Global RCE Service Centre is pleased to announce the host for the 12th Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting will be RCE Hangzhou in China. Registrations are now open for the meeting, to be held in Hangzhou, China, from 4-6 June, 2019.
Beginning from 4 June, 2019, the meeting will be held in conjunction with the Symposium on 'Enabling a Low-Carbon Society through Education for Sustainable Development' to be held on 5 June, 2019, followed by a thematic workshop and field trip on 6 June, 2019. This event will also celebrate World Environment Day 2019 on 5th June, 2019, which encourages awareness and action for the protection of our environment.
The meeting will provide a regional platform to discuss, debate and launch activities that reinforce the fundamental role that education plays in achieving a sustainable future in the region.
Further details and required forms for submission can be found here.
For those applying for funding support, please note the registration deadline of 11:59pm, Friday 22 March, 2019 (JST).
For those NOT applying for funding support, the deadline to register is 11:59pm, Friday 3 May, 2019 (JST).
The Global RCE Service Centre is pleased to announce that RCE Eswatini will host the 9th African Regional Meeting, from 5-7 August, 2019 in Kwaluseni, Eswatini. Mark your calendars - further details will follow soon.
The Global RCE Service Centre is pleased to announce that RCE Greater Burlington will host the 8th Americas Regional Meeting, from 23-25 September, 2019 in Burlington, USA. Please stay tuned for further details.
Upcoming Events
8 March, 2019, Portland Community College, USA
Highlighting cutting-edge academic and community research and sustainability projects, RCE Greater Portland will be hosting its annual Sustainability Symposium: 'Building Bridges to Sustainability' this March.
Focusing on collaboration, diversity, innovative problem-solving, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the event will feature presentations from keynote speakers, faculty, student, and community leaders. In addition, there will be workshops, a poster session, an art exhibit, table exhibits, and a networking reception celebrating regional innovation and International Women's Day. For more information, take a look at the 2019 Sustainability Symposium website here.
Open Calls
Following a successful pilot last year, the 2019 RCE Youth SDG Challenge 'Youth for the Goals: Social Inequalities' is back! Led by the Asia-Pacific Regional Youth Leaders (from RCE Greater Western Sydney and RCE Yogyakarta), this year's challenge will focus on SDG 1: No Poverty, SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation and SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities and is open to all youth globally. To date, 13 youth-led projects will partake, representing 11 RCEs and two external organisations.
For interested youth, the project submission deadline has been extended, with submissions now being accepted until 28 February, 2019. Read more
Nominations are now open for the fifth edition of the UNESCO-Japan Prize on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Funded by the Government of Japan, the Prize honours outstanding projects and programmes promoting ESD, with three annual awards of US $50,000 each awarded to recipients. Individuals, institutions, organisations or other entities engaged in ESD are eligible to be nominated, however nominations must be submitted by Governments of Member States via their Permanent Delegation to UNESCO, and by Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in official partnership with UNESCO. The deadline for nominations is midnight on 30 April, 2019 (UTC+1, Paris time). Further details including the selection criteria and nomination process can be found here.
(Photo credit: C. Christophersen/UNU)
Jointly organised by UNU-IAS and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), the JSPS-UNU Postdoctoral Fellowship programme provides promising, highly qualified, young researchers with the opportunity to conduct advanced research relevant to the main thematic focus areas of UNU-IAS in cooperation with host researchers at Japanese universities and research institutions. Applications must be submitted by 15 March, 2019, via the UNU-IAS online application form. Further details can be viewed here.
Latest News
On 10 February, 2019, UNU-IAS held a Japanese RCE Youth Meeting in Kitakyushu, Japan, with around 40 participants (including 20 youth members) from all seven Japanese RCEs in attendance. The meeting was held back-to-back with an RCE Working-level Meeting (hosted by RCE Kitakyushu) and the Kitakyushu ESD Forum (hosted by RCE Kitakyushu and the City of Kitakyushu).
With the aim of developing the Japanese RCE youth network and to foster their activities, the meeting provided an opportunity for youth members from RCEs across Japan to meet and discuss their activities. It was also a chance for them to offer their perspectives on how RCE activities could be further developed, in collaboration with other RCEs in Japan and abroad, taking into account the current movements on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Read more
(Photo credit: RCE Srinagar)
A 'National Seminar on Environmental Awareness for NGOs and Media' was recently held on 28-29 January, 2019 by the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development (IESD) at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), India, to create awareness on the latest developments in the areas of the environment and sustainability.
RCE Srinagar Coordinator Dr. Abdhesh Kumar Gangwar was invited as the lead speaker on the first day of the event (for media), and as Chief Guest on the second day of the event (for NGOs). Dr. Gangwar spoke about the concept and role of RCEs towards achieving the SDGs globally, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, and the need for ESD to be ingrained at the village and town level, both in governance and education. His presentation also covered how IESD and BHU can collaborate with RCEs in India and overseas and benefit from the vast knowledge, experience and good work being done throughout the RCE network. Read more
(Photo credit: RCE Hangzhou)
In January, RCE Hangzhou hosted a forum on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), with ten principals from primary, secondary, and high schools speaking at the event.
A number of new ESD activities planned for 2019 were announced, including a music festival and an SDGs soccer competition. Current activities were also presented, such as RCE Hangzhou's ESD program with Alibaba Foundation called 'River Angels', which provides a platform for educators, agencies, and NGOs to develop STEAM courses and activities about SDGs. RCE Hangzhou director Prof. Weidong Wu also announced the creation of an ESD promotion centre in Tonglu County, with plans to organise at least 1,000 youth to visit Tonglu for SDG study tours in the future. Read more
(Photo credit: RCE Ogun)
RCE Ogun, acknowledged as an RCE in July 2018, recently held a launch event in conjunction with a Climate Change Convention at Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria, on 4 February, 2019. Held under the theme 'Climate Change Action for the Africa we Want', the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), Professor Sani Mashi, spoke about the importance of teaching children the basics of a climate-smart lifestyle and environmental protection. Keynote speaker Professor Janet Ademola spoke about health risks related to climate change. Read more about the event here or watch a video of the official launch here.
Launched towards the end of last year, the European School of Sustainability, Science and Research (ESSSR) is an inter-university consortium composed by members which share an interest on sustainability science and on matters related to sustainable development.
ESSSR is based on the perceived need to explore new ideas, develop new approaches and new methods in the field of sustainability science, and to fill the gap in respect to the coordination and integration of sustainability science teaching and research at European universities seen today. Read more
ESD BOOKS, PUBLICATIONS AND OTHER
The first Asia-Pacific SDG Challenge held in 2018, 'Youth for the Goals: Climate Action and Life Below Water' aimed to inspire and mobilise on-ground projects led by youth, centred around SDGs 13 and 14. Collectively it achieved an engagement of nearly 40,000 youth participants across the Asia-Pacific region. The final report is now available and is a wonderful celebration of the achievements of all youth involved! Read the final report here.
This publication, previously released in English, is now available in Japanese. It aims to further develop Japanese RCE activities by presenting their good practices in ESD and how they contribute to global RCE activities. Access the publication (in Japanese) here.
This paper, 'Assessing research trends related to Sustainable Development Goals: local and global issues', published in the Journal of Cleaner Production in January 2019, aimed to identify the main Sustainable Development Goals approached by experts from different geographical regions, according to their experience and research area. It discusses the relation between these goals and the main local issues and challenges of each region, with emphasis on goals 4, 11, and 13. Access the article here.
Niels Larsen, RCE Denmark (supported by RCE Denmark and the Ministry of Education in Denmark), has worked on this documentary about the legacy of Wangari Maathai, Nobel laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement. This contribution from RCE Denmark included work on the research, synopsis, shooting, and final editing together with Hans Wessing, and focuses on the planting of trees and sustainable forest management in Kenya. Watch the documentary here.
This article from the place website, which features reportage produced by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, talks about the trend of participatory processes at city and national levels in relation to urban development, and how digital technology has aided these processes. Read more
(Photo credit: Imacocollabo)
Designed in Japan in 2016, the 2030 SDGs Game is a multiplayer, in-person, card-based game that simulates taking the 'real world' into the year 2030. Conducted by accredited facilitators, the game provides players with the experience of co-creating a sustainable world, whilst also inspiring and motivating them to take action in the real world.
Any venues or community leaders who are interested in hosting the game, are encouraged to contact Imacocollabo (creators of the game) here. Find out more about the game here.
(Photo: © UNESCO)
The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) has announced the winners of the 2019 UNESCO Learning City Award, recognising the exemplary progress these cities have shown by promoting inclusive education (from basic to higher education) and lifelong learning in local communities. The winners of the award are: Aswan (Egypt), Chengdu (China), Heraklion (Greece), Ibadan (Nigeria), Medellín (Colombia), Melitopol (Ukraine), Petaling Jaya (Malaysia), Santiago (Mexico), Seodaemun-gu (Republic of Korea), and Sønderborg (Denmark). Read more about the policies and programmes these cities have conducted here.
Action for Sustainable Development is a global civil society platform that provides organisations or individuals with an online space to share information, insights, and innovative approaches in regards to the sustainable development agenda. Find out more and how you can get involved 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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