RCE Bulletin
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
Greetings from the Global RCE Service Centre! This month, we kicked off the year with the Europe Regional Meeting 2022, which was a wonderful opportunity for those in the region to discuss how to scale up action and cooperation as we look to align our efforts to the ESD agenda. We look forward to continuing these conversations across all regions, and remind all that our open call for RCE Event Hosts is still open, closing soon on 28 February. See details on how to apply below. And lastly, for any aspiring RCEs, a reminder that applications for 2022 are also open now!
If you would like to share any news, upcoming events, open calls, or publications for an upcoming bulletin, 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
- 14th Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting
- 12th African Regional Meeting
- 11th Americas Regional Meeting
- Europe Regional Meeting
Is your organisation interested in facilitating learning towards sustainable development in your local or regional community? The Global RCE Service Centre is currently accepting applications for 2022 - apply now to become an RCE!
Before applying, please take time to review the Guidelines for RCE Applications and key dates in the application process, announced in the open call here. Sample applications are also available from RCE Greater Portland and RCE Bordeaux Aquitaine.
To apply, please submit an application and an application summary to the Global RCE Service Centre (rceservicecentre@unu.edu) by 15 May, 2022 (11:59pm JST).
Upcoming Events
The North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) is organising its annual Research Symposium (11-12 October, 2022) and Conference (12-15 October, 2022) in Tucson, Arizona, USA. A virtual option will also be available. A call for presentations will be coming soon. Read more
2 March, 2022, 18:30-19:30 EAT, online
Organised by UNEP, with support from Times Higher Education, a virtual UNEA side event 'We are what we teach: 5 ways education can be re-wired for nature' will be held online on 2 March, 2022.
This event will present 5 innovative ideas around formal and non-formal education for nature and will bring together universities, sport, the gaming industry and youth, as well as offer a unique discussion among education and environment ministers to build out a broader plan around education for nature.
The event will tackle the most challenging yet urgent topics to help realise the climate and nature secure future we need. Ideas will be shared around:
- What do students want from their education? Youth to share their views around how curriculum in higher education needs to shift to adapt to the nature challenges we are facing;
- How can universities play their part? Launching a new Nature Positive University network alongside the University of Oxford which will work to ensure the positive impact of supply chains and land use on biodiversity and nature;
- How can sports deliver for nature? Presenting plans around how to scale up action for nature through sport;
- How can some of the biggest youth movements in the world take action on this? Sharing the Scouts' new Earth Tribe platform which seeks to advance education for nature through a platform which brings all environmental badges into one space;
- How can we make use of popular mediums such as video games to reach people where they are? The video gaming industry is scaling up action for nature through its games which reach approximately 2 billion players collectively.
This will then be followed by an exclusive discussion among government representatives to discuss what else can be done and how we can work better together on this agenda and bring it forward. The session will seek to inspire participants by presenting different routes through which they can join the movement and act for change. Register for the event here.
Open Calls
After a successful online teaser event in 2021, the Higher Education Summit 2022 will take place as a physical conference from 6-8 September, 2022 in Hasselt, Belgium, organised by the COPERNICUS Alliance (European Network on Higher Education for Sustainable Development) and Hasselt University (Belgium). Under the theme 'Daring to transform learning for a future-proof economy', the summit will bring together those who wish to transform higher education for the benefit of a 'safe and just space for humanity': people who study, teach, research, and contribute to governance at higher education institutions, and representatives of the business world, government, and civil society.
The 3-day programme of the conference will be composed of multiple creative formats. The Call for Contributions is currently open and submissions are welcome until 15 March, 2022. Read more
UNESCO is conducting a global survey to collect information that will help revise a landmark legal instrument on education for international understanding, cooperation, peace, human rights and environmental sustainability, known as the 1974 Recommendation.
Given the growing call for education to address sustainability challenges that have evolved dramatically over the past five decades, such as the climate crisis, you are invited to participate in the process of revising the 1974 Recommendation. Share your views on how to reflect and address these changes in the new instrument. Take the 10-minute survey, available in English, French or Spanish. The deadline for responses is 1 March, 2022.
Latest News
(Photo credit: Hannah Swart)
The Europe Regional Meeting 2022 was held online from 8-9 February, 2022, hosted by RCE Fryslan under the theme 'The Imaginative Power of the Region: Learning for the SDGs Together.'
Bringing together participants across Europe, the event focused on how education can support the transition to a sustainable society, and how regional ecologies, communities, resources, and cultures shape the context for sustainable development, and subsequently, ESD. Throughout the two days, the dynamic programme included lectures, presentations, breakout sessions, and artistic interventions (poetry, music, and film), all aimed at sparking the imagination of participants to consider a new reality. Read more
Hosted by RCE Greater Western Sydney, the RCE SDG Youth Challenge 'Youth for the Goals' is a global international youth-led project-based initiative that connects youth leaders working in their own communities, connected to a larger global platform to address ESD. Since 2018, the RCE SDG Youth Challenge has engaged directly with 22,396 youth and a further 5,433 non-youth (parents, teachers, community members) through 56 individual youth-led sustainability projects across 12 countries (Australia, Belarus, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, South Korea, United States, and Vietnam).
The 4th RCE SDG Youth Challenge 2021 focused on localised action taken by youth to address SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) and SDG 15 (Life on Land), and their associated targets. This theme carried over from 2020 due to the impacts of COVID-19 on many youth-led projects. This year's youth-led sustainability projects have been broad and included education awareness raising, youth empowerment and training, conservation projects and social enterprises. The youth written report highlights the youth-led projects' outcomes and achievements as written by them and endorsed by their parent RCEs or organisation.
"This year marks the final year of RCE Greater Western Sydney hosting the SDG Youth Challenge. I want to thank you all for your valuable contributions and making a difference in your local community. I am happy to see another RCE taking on this Challenge and moving it forward in a way they see best." (Brittany, Asia-Pacific RCE Youth Focal Point).
Read more about the RCE SDG Youth Challenge here, and view the final report here.
The 4th Japan RCE Youth Meeting was held online on 15 February, 2022, organised in conjunction with the Working Level Meeting of Japanese RCEs, and co-organised by the newly established Japan RCE Youth Executive Committee, RCE Omuta and UNU-IAS. Youth activities on ESD were discussed to enhance collaboration and networking amongst RCEs in Japan, under the topic 'My action, Our actions'. The event was divided into two sessions - during the first session, youth members from eight Japanese RCEs showcased their activities in their respective RCEs through an interactive presentation session. In the second session, participants were divided into groups, where they discussed common social issues tackled in their activities and the mutual challenges faced, which provided a space for learning opportunities and networking for possible future collaborations. Read more
ESD BOOKS, PUBLICATIONS AND OTHER
The University of Edinburgh, in partnership with 'Learning for Sustainability Scotland' (RCE Scotland) and the British Council, with input from Education Scotland, are delighted to be offering a free online course, 'Learning for a Sustainable Future', from 14 March, 2022.
This five-week course is designed for and open to anyone with an interest in, or remit for, sustainability, to learn more. The course is supported by skilled facilitators and has an additional strand for those working in formal or informal education, who want to bring some of the activities and issues covered in the course into their own practice. Engagement and time commitment are both flexible. Full details, including how to register, are available here.
The UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) and Life University (USA) are inviting the world's youth to enroll for Self-directed Emotional Learning for Empathy and Kindness (SEEK) - an online course that cultivates skills such as empathy, mindfulness, and compassion so youth are well-equipped to contribute towards the development of peaceful and sustainable societies. Learn more
This is a publication of the UNU-IAS Global RCE 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 email 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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