RCE Belarus - 2019

Location

Minsk
Sovetskaya 18-233
Belarus
See map: Google Maps
BY
TeRRIFICA (Territorial Responsible Research and Innovation Fostering Innovative Climate Action
CSV
Basic Information
Title of project : 
TeRRIFICA (Territorial Responsible Research and Innovation Fostering Innovative Climate Action
Submitting RCE: 
RCE Belarus
Contributing organization(s) : 
Education for Sustainable Development Association
Center for Environmental Solutions
NGO EcoPartnership
NGO Belarusian Geographical Society
Gymnasium #19, Minsk
Minsk Committee for Natural Resources and Environment Protection
National Research Instirute for Urban Planning

International TeRRIFICA project consortium:
Wissenschaftsladen Bonn e.V.
Sciences Citoyennes, Paris, France
Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
University of Vechta, Vechta, Germany
Center for the Promotion of Science, Belgrade, Serbia
Association of Catalan Public Universities, Barcelona, Spain
Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences, Cleve, Germany

Focal point(s) and affiliation(s)
Name: 
Kate Sposab
Organizational Affiliation: 
Project manager, Education for Sustainable Development Association
E-mail: 
k.sposob@gmail.com
Format of project: 
manuscript, Power Point
Language of project: 
English
Date of submission:
Friday, May 31, 2019
Web link: 
www.terrifica.eu
Additional resources: 
Facebook: @TerrificaProject, @TerrificaBelarus
Does this project link to any education and/or sustainable development policy or policies?: 
Yes
National Strategy for Sustainable Socio-Economic Development of the Republic of Belarus until 2030
At what level is the policy operating?: 
National
Governmental Program on Mitigation Measures for Climate Change 2013-2020
At what level is the policy operating?: 
National
Geographical & Education Information
Region: 
Europe
Country: 
Belarus
Location(s): 
Minsk
Address of focal point institution for project: 
Sovetskaya 18-233, 220030 Minsk, Belarus
Ecosystem(s):
Urban/Peri-urban
Target Audience:
Community, Higher, Secondary, Teacher Ed., Youth (Informal)
Socioeconomic and environmental characteristics of the area : 
Minsk is one of the pilot regions of TeRRIFICA project. It is the tenth most populated city in Europe. Minsk is the largest economic and industrial city of Belarus and the largest transport hub of Belarus. The area is 348.84 km², the population around 2 Mio. In 2017 according to statistics, the unemployment rate was 3.8%, the average life expectancy was 76.8 years.
The most polluted areas of Minsk are primarily Zavodskoy and Partizansky districts, Shabany microdistrict and the city center. More than 35% of the territory of Minsk are in the “grey” zones. Minsk is among the cities with a high density of emissions of harmful substances per unit area.
Description of sustainable development challenge(s) in the area the project addresses: 
The most relevant SDGs for Minsk are SDGS 11, 10, 3, 9 and 13. At the moment a Green City Action Plan (GCAP) is being developed by Minsk City Executive Committee and number of environmental NGOs and international experts, which will be focused on public engagement in urban planning and building inclusive infrastructure for different population groups.
According to town planning norms, 40–60% of the urban area should be occupied by green spaces, which create a favorable microclimate and help reduce air pollution. However at the moment, in Minsk urban greening is far behind the pace of modern residential and industrial construction.
The city is equipped with a water-green diameter, which is a system of parks, reservoirs, boulevards and squares on both sides of the Svisloch River, which crosses the whole city like a wide "green ribbon" from the north-west to the southeast. This urbanist solution provides the circulation of fresh air in the city, but now is being occupied with buildings and polluted by transport highways.
Contents
Status: 
Ongoing
Period: 
January, 2019 to June, 2022
Rationale: 
TeRRIFICA project aims to foster the public engagement and multi-stakeholder activities in regional climate change adaptation and mitigation practices. The Climate Action (SDG13) has to be addressed not just top-down, on policy level, but also bottom-up, whereas different population groups are informed, build and share their opinions with experts and decision-makers and develop together solutions on local levels. The chosen key approach: RRI (Responsible Research and Innovation) re-shapes the relationships between science and society in a more transparent, inclusive and ethical way, while ESD is there for transforming skills, attitudes and behavioral patterns of local communities in a more sustainable way. The synergies of both approaches are applied to create new participatory practices, tools and methods on adaptation to climate change tailored for 6 European pilot regions, incl. Minsk, Belarus.
Objectives: 
The aim of RCE Belarus participation in TeRRIFICA project is to develop methodologies and educational practices to engage diverse stakeholders and local communities in the climate change adaptation processes. These activities will be based on their wider participation in a crowdmapping – online mapping of climate positive or negative effects on the territory of pilot region. The results of the crowdmapping – “climate hotspots” and accumulated experience best practices and case-studies on climate issues from different Belarusian stakeholders will provide the local Living Lab (project active group with a helpdesk of stakeholders) with materials for developing solutions and adaptation practices for local climate change issues. These practices could be later multiplied and disseminated for other urban regions of Belarus.
Activities and/or practices employed: 
The broader stakeholder and communities engagement will be ensured through implementation of three project phases:
1) Knowledge Phase: designed to provide the RRI-ESD information basics and to encourage potential stakeholders to learn and participate (reflexive workshops, online-conferences, stakeholder mapping).
2) Capacity Building Phase: co-design and co-creation of future visions for a climate friendly city or region based within regional Living Labs activities (stakeholder meetings, science cafes, customised ESD workshops, field trips, summer schools).
3) Action Phase: crowdmapping of climate "hot spots", trainings for trainers Climate Workshops, development and implementation of Living Labs project ideas

Size of academic audience: 
280-300
Results: 
The project activities will lead to recommendations, procedures, tools and methodologies that are appropriate to the roles and objectives of different stakeholder groups involved and which will consider the key principles of RRI and Education for Sustainable Development Goals. On the policy level TeRRIFICA will set up tailored roadmaps and key performance indicators for the implementation of developed methodologies and climate change adaptation activities in regional practice. On community level upon Living Labs pilots there will be developed, adapted for local needs and disseminated educational tools and resources for changing behaviour patterns and attitudes in Climate Action and Adaptation to Climate Change. RCE Belarus will be responsible for disseminating project outcomes in the Russian-speaking area and developing educational tools for Climate Action in Russian.
Lessons learned: 
Through the co-creative multi-stakeholder approaches the project will identify opportunities, drivers and barriers of implementation. It takes into account challenges for the acceptance and feasibility, technological and regulatory constraints in six pilot regions in Spain, Germany, France, Serbia, Poland and Belarus. The selected pilot regions cover the diversity of climate change mitigation approaches in Central– South, East – West, urban – rural, EU – non-EU settings.
ESD-TeRRIFICA aims to empower local people (with a particular focus on regional authorities and policy makers) and
develop together with them adequate solutions and educational practices on Climate Action and Adaptation to Climate Change in the pilot regions.
Key words: Public Engagement, Climat Action, Citizen Science
Key messages: 
 Territorial action is at the core of mitigation and adaptation to climate change
 Knowledge empowers stakeholders for climate change actions
 Citizens should be involved in the agenda-setting process corresponding to climate change challenges
 New educational tools for citizen engagement are needed for the decision-making process for climate change

Relationship to other RCE activities: 
Through one of the TeRRIFICA consortium members Vechta University RCE Oldenburger Münsterland e.V. is involved in the project and participates in close collaboration with other project memebers in online-conferences, outreach events, gathering and analysing information on Climate Action in Lower Saxony (Germany).
Funding: 
TeRRIFICA project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 824489.

Pictures:

File Name Caption for picture Photo Credit
Image icon 73a5aa44-8e41-4a54-bab9-d4fe6e8bfc99.jpg (201.93 KB) TeRRIFICA international team. Kick off meeting, Feb.2019 N.Steinhaus
Image icon 60978920_364796724142327_7428075419363966976_n.jpg (147.28 KB) First TeRRIFICA Online-Conference "Connecting Co Creation and Climate Action", Minsk, Belarus Irina Ponedelnik
References and reference materials: 
File ESD-TeRRIFICA_22.05-Rus.pptx
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
(https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs) and other themes of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)
SDG 3 - Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages 
Indirect
SDG 4 - Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all 
Direct
SDG 5 - Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls 
Indirect
SDG 6 - Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all 
Indirect
SDG 7 - Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all 
Indirect
SDG 8 - Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all 
Indirect
SDG 9 - Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation, and foster innovation 
Indirect
SDG 10 - Reduce inequality within and among countries 
Indirect
SDG 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable 
Direct
SDG 12 - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns 
Indirect
SDG 13 - Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts 
Direct
SDG 16 - Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels 
Indirect
SDG 17 - Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development 
Indirect
Theme
Disaster Risk Reduction 
Indirect
Traditional Knowledge  
Direct
Agriculture 
Indirect
Curriculum Development 
Indirect
Ecotourism 
Indirect
Forests/Trees 
Direct
Plants & Animals 
Indirect
Waste 
Indirect
Global Action Programme (GAP) on Education for Sustainable Development – Priority Action Areas
Priority Action Area 1 - Advancing policy 
Indirect
Priority Action Area 2 - Transforming learning and training environments 
Indirect
Priority Action Area 3 - Building capacities of educators and trainers 
Direct
Priority Action Area 4 - Empowering and mobilizing youth 
Direct
Priority Action Area 5 - Accelerating sustainable solutions at local level 
Direct
Update: 
No