RCE Bulletin 36: June 2014

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Issue 36: June 2014

Message from the Global RCE Service Centre:

 

Dear colleagues and friends,

The United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) is committed to promoting ESD through the RCE initiative beyond 2014 with reference to UNESCO’s Global Action Programme. RCEs are encouraged to respond to UNESCO’s call for GAP launch commitments to advance the ESD agenda after 2014.

The 2014 RCE Award nomination is now open. Projects nominated for the Award are to demonstrate how an RCE is promoting multi-stakeholder learning processes through policy dialogue, research and collaborative partnerships. Click here for more information on the nomination process and eligibility criteria. As in 2013, we are combining the annual reporting process with the RCE Award nomination process. This will make it easier on all RCEs to submit annual report information and nominate projects for an RCE Award, without filling information in twice. Please note that annual reporting is mandatory for all RCEs. This year, we are asking that you submit your reports by 1 September 2014. This is the same deadline for nominating a project for an RCE award.

To fill out your annual report, please visit the RCE Portal by clicking here. You must be given special access to create online reports. If you have logged into the RCE Portal and find you do not have access to the forms, please contact the Global RCE Service Centre (rceservicecentre@unu.edu) requesting access and you will be granted that status. If you do not have a login for the portal or you have forgotten your username and password, please email rceservicecentre@unu.edu and your information will be reset.

Once you have filled out your annual report, you may automatically submit any of your projects for the RCE Award. To do so, please go to the Awards section of the portal. Click on the button that says “Click here to nominate a project that you have already reported on in your Annual Report”; you will be given a drop down menu of all of your 2014 projects. Click on the project you would like to nominate, verify that all the information on the project is correct and fill out the extra RCE Award-related questions before submitting your project for consideration.

For those RCEs who would prefer to nominate a project for an RCE Award before filling out their annual report, please go to the Awards section of the portal. Click on the button that says “Click here to submit a new project for the RCE Award” and fill out the nomination form. If you do not have a login for the portal or you do not have access to the forms, please email rceservicecentre@unu.edu and your information will be reset.

Meanwhile, we would like to notify you that our physical address has changed following our relocation from the Yokohama office to the UNU Headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo. Our new physical address and telephone can be accessed here.

With much appreciation,

The Global RCE Service Centre

Upcoming Events

Events organized by UNU-IAS

The 6th International Forum for Sustainable Asia and the Pacific: IASP 2014

23–24 July 2014

The 6th International Forum for Sustainable Asia and the Pacific (ISAP) will be held in Yokohama on 23–24 July 2014. ISAP is a forum that promotes information sharing and facilitates diverse discussions on sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific. IASP 2014 whose theme is Bringing Regional Voices to the Post-2015 Development Agenda: Solutions for a Low-carbon, Resilient and Inclusive Asia-Pacific will bring together experts and diverse stakeholders from international organisations, governments, business and NGOs.

At the forum, UNU-IAS in collaboration with the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) will present a session on advancing education as a goal for sustainable development. This session will bring together ESD experts to deliberate how transformative learning, social change and transitions to sustainability can be supported through improved educational approaches. Click here or visit the ISAP website for more information.

3rd Americans RCE Meeting

28 July–1 August 2014

The 3rd Americans RCE Meeting will be held in Aurlan de La Grana, Jalisco, Mexico from 28 July to 1 August. The overall objective of the meeting is to share experiences and best practices and strengthen collaboration among Americans RCE members for the promotion of ESD in the region. For more information, please contact Salvador Garcia (sgarcia_60@yahoo.com.mx) at RCE Western Jalisco.

7th Asia-Pacific RCE Meeting and International Symposium on “A Decade of Regional Centres of Expertise on ESD: Reflections and Advances in Asia-Pacific”

26–28 August 2014

The 7th RCE Asia-Pacific Meeting will be hosted by RCE Penang in Malaysia from 26–28 August in conjunction with the International Symposium on ‘A Decade of Regional Centres of Expertise on ESD: Reflections and Advances in Asia-Pacific’. Registration is now open and you can find more information here. If you wish to attend the meeting, please download a registration form found on the website and send it to RCE Penang and the Global RCE Service Centre by 18 July 2014. For those who are applying for financial support, please read the instructions included in the registration form.

If you are interested in making a case presentation at the International Symposium, please submit your abstract by sending the form to RCE Penang and the Global RCE Service Centre by 14 July 2014.

4th African RCE Continental Meeting and 32nd Environmental Education Association of Southern Africa (EEASA) Annual Conference

9–12 September 2014

The 4th African RCE Continental Meeting will be held in conjunction with the 32nd Environmental Education Association of Southern Africa (EEASA) annual conference at the University of Namibia (Windhoek Campus) on 9–12 September 2014. The theme of the EEASA conference is: Reflections on the current and emerging ESD issues and practices informing the post DESD framework programme. RCE Khoma-Erongo of Namibia will host the African RCE meeting. Activities of the meeting will be integrated into the EEASA programme to address the afore-mentioned theme through plenary sessions, paper presentations, round table discussions and workshops. For information on how to register and thus participate in both the African RCE Meeting and EEASA conference click here. Details on content and expected outcomes of the 4th African RCE Meeting will be shared in early July.

9th Global RCE Conference

4–7 November 2014

The 9th Global RCE Conference will be held in Okayama, Japan from 4 to 7 November. Marking the final year of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD: 2005–2014), the Conference is regarded as one of the official stakeholder meetings to be held prior to the UNESCO World Conference on ESD (10–12 November). The Conference provides a great opportunity to reflect on the successes and challenges of the RCE movement with a view to charting a post-2014 agenda as proposed in UNESCO’s Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD. The major objective of the Conference is to identify a tangible commitment of the RCE community towards the effective implementation of ESD beyond 2014.

Please visit the RCE Portal for more information. Registration for the conference will open soon.

International Conference on Higher Education for Sustainable Development: Higher Education Beyond 2014

9 November 2014

The United Nations University through its Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) is organizing the International Conference on Higher Education for Sustainable Development: Higher Education Beyond 2014 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan on 9 November, in collaboration with UNESCO, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), UNEP, UN Global Compact’s Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) initiative, and the International Association of Universities (IAU). The Conference will highlight the major challenges and pathways for transformation of higher education institutions (HEIs), with a focus on scaling up and mainstreaming innovative practices in learning and knowledge development and research.

Registration for the conference will open in late July. For more information, please visit the UNU website.

Events organized by RCE members

SEAMEO Congress on Southeast Asia in Transition

21–22 October 2014

The Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Secretariat (SEAMEO Secretariat), the British Council and the Institute for the Promotion of Teaching Science and Technology (IPST) Thailand will jointly organize the SEAMEO Congress with the theme “Southeast Asia in Transition: Re-Thinking Education, Science and Culture for Regional Integration” on 21–22 October 2014, at the Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand.

SEAMEO Congress aims to explore new avenues for managing the diverse changes in education, science and culture and enhance regional understanding and cooperation among educators and different stakeholders in Southeast Asia and beyond.

For more information on how to participate in the Congress visit their website.

COPERNICUS Alliance Conference on Education for Sustainability: Building Capacity in Higher Education

3 October 2014

We are pleased to share programme information and to invite participation in an international conference organized by COPERNICUS Alliance (CA) in collaboration with Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. The Conference will review major trends and changes in higher education towards sustainability over the last ten years, with an emphasis on whole-of-institution approaches, curriculum change, university educators, ESD competences and quality enhancement.

For further information, abstract submissions and registration details please click here or visit the conference website.

RCE Greater Western Sydney: 2014 Youth Eco Summit (YES)

22–23 October 2014

RCE Greater Western Sydney will hold its 2014 Youth Eco Summit (YES) in Sydney, Australia on 22–23 October. YES is an annual award-winning global education event that seeks to build the capacity of students and schools to take action and have a voice on sustainability, through targeted workshop training and project development. For more information click here.

Call for Papers and Applications

Call for UNESCO’s Global Action Programme (GAP) Launch Commitments

Deadline: 15 August 2014

UNESCO is calling for GAP Launch Commitments, inviting ESD stakeholders around the world to make their specific commitments to support the GAP. GAP Launch Commitments are plans for concrete activities that support one or more of the five Priority Action Areas on policy, whole-institution approaches, youth, educators and local communities. Stakeholders making GAP Launch Commitments can be organizations or institutions from countries or of regional or global communities, including public and private, formal and non-formal, and education and non-education sectors. Click here for more information on GAP.

For UNESCO, GAP Launch Commitments will help identify partners with whom it will form partner networks. GAP Launch Commitments will also provide an important basis for the periodic reporting on GAP implementation planned by UNESCO. Interested RCE stakeholders are highly encouraged to fill in the GAP Launch Commitment Registration Form found here and submit it to esddecade@unesco.org (indicating ‘GAP Commitment’ in the email subject line) by 15 August 2014.

Call for papers for the 17th UNESCO-APEID International Conference

Deadline: 31 July 2014

UNESCO’s Asia-Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for Development (APEID) is organizing the 17th International Conference on the theme of ‘The Powerhouses of Education: Teachers for the Future We Want’ from 29–31 October in Bangkok, Thailand. This conference will provide a forum for discussions on leading edge thinking about teachers and teaching practices. It will underscore the key role played by teachers in determining the quality of education.

The organizers invite papers on the Conference sub-themes. For those who are interested to present papers, submit English abstracts (200 words) through the online form available at the Conference website by 31 July. For registration or further information, please visit the Conference website or contact UNESCO Bangkok at apeidconf@unesco.org.

Call for entries for the 2014 SEAMEO-Japan ESD Award

Deadline: 15 September 2014

The Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT) in cooperation with UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education are pleased to announce the 2014 SEAMEO-Japan Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Award, with the theme of "Fostering Global Citizenship for Sustainable Future".

Public and private schools in the 11 Southeast Asian countries are invited to submit programmes, projects, or activities relevant to the theme. The 11 countries include: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.

For more information, please visit the website or contact seameojapan.award@seameo.org.

Latest News

RCE Goa commemorates World Earth Day

A programme on source segregation of household domestic waste was organized to commemorate World Earth Day on 22 April 2014 by RCE Goa. The programme began with the screening of an 18 minute documentary titled 'Half a View', set in Mumbai, India. The film illustrated how the city has changed through the decades from a city of dreams and aspirations to a metropolis struggling to deal with the woes of thrash and garbage. The event was used to discuss the importance and benefits of segregation of waste at source as an aspect of sustainable waste management.

RCEs celebrate the 2014 World Environment Day

RCE Goa, RCE Greater Pwani, RCE Srinagar and RCE Dhaka celebrated this year’s World Environment Day through a number of activities. The theme for the 2014 World Environment Day that was celebrated on 5 June was 'Small Islands and Climate Change' and the official slogan was ‘Raise your voice not the sea Level’.

RCE Goa organized a film-screening cum student panel discussion as part of celebrations for the World Environment Day. Five schools and over 60 students, teachers and parents attended the session.

RCE Greater Pwani marked the World Environment Day through tree planting, exhibitions, entertainment, and public awareness activities. For more details, please visit the portal.

RCE Srinagar in collaboration with CEE Himalaya, JSW Foundation and Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation dedicated the World Environment Day to the mule owners and operators of Uttarkashi who had played a commendable role in the 16–17 June 2013 Uttarakhand disaster. For more details click here.

RCE Dhaka through International University of Business Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT) has been awarded second prize in the World Environmental Day-2014 Fair that was organized by the Department of Environment, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Bangladesh. During the week-long Fair the RCE made a presentation on the theme "Science behind Tradition". It also presented videos, posters and a model of home gardening with grey water. For more details click here.

Science in Central and Eastern Europe: Summary Statement from the Bratislava workshop

More than 40 representatives from ministries, politics, academies of sciences, universities and National Commissions for UNESCO from Central and Eastern Europe (the 8 countries having accessed the EU in 2004 plus Austria and Germany) discussed the status quo and the potential of Sustainability Science for this region from 15 to 17 June 2014 in Bratislava, Slovakia. To access the summary statement from the Bratislava workshop click here.

Publications

The United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development: Lessons Learnt and Needs to Be Met

The latest editorial of International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education (Vol 15, issue 2) describes some of the lessons learnt from the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, and some of the needs to be met. The full text is available here.

Article citation: Leal Filho, W. (2014) "The United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development: lessons learnt and needs to be met", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 15 Issue: 2, pp.

Higher education practitioners will find the article on "Campus sustainability plans in the United States: where, what, and how to evaluate?" by Stacey White (pp. 228–241) interesting. The article can be found here.

This is a publication of UNU-IAS RCE Global Service Centre.

Please send your comments, suggestions and materials to rceservicecentre@unu.edu.

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