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RCE Bulletin

Issue 129: May 2022
MESSAGE FROM THE GLOBAL RCE SERVICE CENTRE:

Dear Colleagues and Friends, 

Greetings from the Global RCE Service Centre! Preparations are underway for the Regional RCE Meetings for this year, with the first one to take place - the 14th Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting - now open for registrations, along with the call for case study presentations. See below for further details!

As announced last month, UNU-IAS recently launched a publication and video on RCE Biodiversity projects, and next month a session will be held at the Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress 2022 (details below) delving further into some of these projects. We hope to see many of you there!

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

Registrations Open & Call for Case Study Presentations: 14th Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting

Under the theme 'Empowering Local Wisdom for Education for Sustainable Development', the 14th Asia-Pacific RCE Regional Meeting will be hosted by RCE Greater Gombak, to be held in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) in hybrid mode, from 19-21 July, 2022. The call for case study presentations has been extended until 3 June, 2022, while registrations are now open for both in-person (by 17 June, 2022) and online participation (by 30 June, 2022). See the event page for further details.

(Photo credit: Abe Nubhan)

Upcoming Events

Education in Climate Emergency: Ensuring Learning Continuity in Planned, Sudden and Massive Displacements
5 June, 2022, 18:00-19:00 (GMT+7)

UNU-IAS will co-organise a side event at the 2nd Asia-Pacific Regional Education Minister's Conference (APREMC II) in Bangkok, Thailand. The hybrid session will introduce key findings on climate change displacement and the right to education in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Tuvalu, and Viet Nam, based on joint research conducted by UNU-IAS and UNESCO. It will also provide data-driven actionable policy recommendations for minimising learning disruption of climate displaced persons, and feature a panel discussion with officials from the countries participating in the study. Read more

RCE Session at Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress 2022
21 June, 2022, 11:00-12:30 (GMT+2)

This session, at the Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress 2022, will delve into innovative solutions developed by RCEs, and how their model of multi-stakeholder networks, has been utilised to work with communities on biodiversity education and conservation initiatives successfully within an ESD framework. The session will be a dialogue offering both insights on individual conservation projects and overarching analysis of the projects conducted on biodiversity within the entire RCE network. RCE members will reflect on working on RCE projects on biodiversity conservation in the field, providing insights into responses taken in the face of local biodiversity issues, and reflecting on how projects can be modified and/or improved upon. At the end of this presentation, both RCE members and UNU-IAS staff will make recommendations of actions that can be shared and upscaled across other regions and communities, and reflections on how similar projects can be replicated, improved, and scaled up.

Open Calls

Call for Applications: ESD Okayama Award 2022

RCE Okayama (Japan) and the ESD Okayama Award Steering Committee are pleased to announce that the ESD Okayama Award 2022 is now open for entries.
 
The Award rewards outstanding ESD practices in local communities around the world to support organisations carrying out ESD activities and to promote ESD to local communities globally through showcasing their initiatives.

Eligibility: Organisations based in any country implementing ESD activities in local communities are eligible.
Number of Award-Winning Projects: Up to two projects
Prize: US $3,000 per project
Deadline for Application: 15 July 2022, 17:00 (Japanese Standard Time)
Award Ceremony: The scheduled date is 19 November, 2022. One representative of the winning project(s) will be invited to the Ceremony in Okayama, Japan to give a presentation. It has not been decided whether this will be held in-person or online.

View the Application Guide and Application Form, and for more details, please visit the official website.

Past information about the ESD Okayama Award can be viewed here.

World Symposium on Green Offices (WSGO 2022)

The Research and Transfer Centre 'Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management' in Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, (host organisation of RCE Hamburg) has recently established the 'Green Office for Sustainability Services' of HAW Hamburg. The aim is to contribute to the overall sustainability of the University and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. RCE Hamburg invites RCEs that are involved in similar initiatives to collaborate and exchange their experience, within the World Symposium on Green Offices (WSGO 2022) to be held online on 7 December, 2022. Expressions of interest are now open, with the deadline for abstract submissions on 12 June, 2022. Learn more

Latest News

UNESCO Launches Brochure and Explanatory Note for 1-Year Anniversary of the Berlin Declaration on ESD

Nearly one year after the Berlin Declaration on Education for Sustainable Development was adopted by 2,800 education and environment stakeholders from 161 countries at the 2021 UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, UNESCO has published an Explanatory Note on the Berlin Declaration which can be used as a pedagogical tool in educational settings for teachers, educators, learners and all other interested parties.

A Brochure on the Berlin Declaration has also been published, with the aim of being disseminated to policy-makers in order to spread the message of the Declaration.

Panel Session Examines Climate Displacement & Access to Education in Asia-Pacific

On 21 April, 2022, UNU-IAS co-organised a panel session at the 66th Annual Conference of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES 2022) discussing access to education and lifelong learning for climate displaced persons in Asia-Pacific. The session explored the results of a regional study that examined the impact of climate displacement on the right to education, as part of a global UNESCO initiative. Read more

WHEC 2022: Experts Discuss Reimagining the Futures of Higher Education

On 18 May, 2022, Shinobu Yume Yamaguchi (Director, UNU-IAS) spoke on the role of higher education in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and beyond, as part of a roundtable session at the UNESCO World Higher Education Conference 2022 in Barcelona. The session, on the topic 'Reimagining the Futures of Higher Education', explored the role of higher education within a new social contract for education. The roundtable focused on implications of the UNESCO report Reimagining Our Futures Together: A New Social Contract for Education for higher education. Read more

IAU Event Explores How COVID-19 Has Shaped the Future of Higher Education

A virtual side event as part of the UNESCO WHEC2022 Conference was held by the International Association of Universities (IAU) on 12 May, 2022. Following on from the Second IAU Global Survey Report on the Impact of COVID-19 on higher education conducted during 2021, the event brought together leaders from regional and national organisations and associations of universities to reflect on the results from the perspectives of their regions, as well as how the pandemic will shape the future of higher education. Read more

WHEC Session Explores How Higher Education Can Build Capacity for the Paris Agreement

On 20 May, 2022, a UNU-IAS roundtable discussion at the UNESCO World Higher Education Conference 2022 (WHEC 2022) explored how to empower young leaders and build capacity for climate action. Held in Barcelona and online, it discussed the knowledge and skills needed to implement the Paris Agreement on climate change - the international commitment to limit global warming to well below 2°C and strive for 1.5°C. The session presented progress in developing a new UNU-IAS postgraduate degree specialisation on the Paris Agreement, gathering feedback and inputs. Read more

RCE Suzhou Events Held to Commemorate Stockholm+50

On the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, RCE Suzhou recently organised a series of events providing young students with opportunities to dialogue with various representative stakeholders to deepen their understanding of the journey and challenges of human environment and sustainable development in the past 50 years. This series of events received support from the Consulate General of Sweden in Shanghai, CSR Centre of the Embassy of Sweden in Beijing, Hanns Seidel Foundation, China Academic Committee for Responsible Management Education, and Oikos Suzhou, demonstrating the active engagement of RCE Suzhou in the local community. Overall, more than 500 students and other participants from different parts of China and throughout the world participated in these online series events. Read the full report here.

Covenant University (RCE Ogun) Awarded Climate Champions at 16th Conference of Youth (COY 16)

Covenant University (RCE Ogun) has been awarded as a climate champion at the 16th Conference of Youth (COY 16), the official United Nations Youth precursor event to the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP 26). The aim of the project was to make bold climate demands that will influence the COP 26 Negotiations, thereby setting the global climate agenda for the coming years. The climate demands were based on the stories and experiences of youths on the reality, effects and strategies for mitigating climate change.

Over 700 youths comprising of secondary school students, undergraduate and post graduate students, employed and unemployed youths, youths with disabilities and youths in the agriculture value chain participated in the study.  The project involved surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, awareness campaigns (webinars), online promotions, and the collection of 5000+ signatures to support climate action, with the findings showing that food insecurity is one of the greatest effects of climate change in Nigeria. Read more

Project Neuru Season 2 Orientation Event Held

On 14 May, 2022, RCE Dobong-gu held a Zoom orientation for the 'Global ESD Youth Project Neuru Season 2', a project to improve ecological literacy and glocal leadership of domestic and foreign youths. 'Neuru' is a Korean word meaning 'for a long time, not all at once', which could be translated to aiming for sustainable development for youth for a long time. This year, a total of 108 elementary, middle, high school and college students from 48 schools participated in the orientation from RCE Hangzhou, RCE Kitakyushu, RCE Srinagar and Mason city (USA). The theme this year is 'Sustainable Fashion' - by linking SDG 9 and SDG 12, various issues related to fashion to help save the earth will be focused on using the photo-voice research method. Read more

(Photo credit: RCE Dobong-gu)

ESD BOOKS, PUBLICATIONS AND OTHER