Download Global Universities Partnership on Environment and Sustainability

Global Universities Partnership on Environment and Sustainability
(GUPES)
Newsletter, Issue No. 12
INTRODUCTION
The aim of the GUPES Quarterly Newsletter is to share information on the progress of work on
GUPES among the stakeholders. We also would like to use it as a communication instrument among
the partners on issues relating to environmental education, training and networking in higher
education institutions. It will be sent to individuals and institutions on our GUPES stakeholder
mailing list and also will be uploaded on the GUPES website.
Contents
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................................................... 1
1.0
WORLD EVENTS ........................................................................................................................................................ 2
1.1 The Kenya Green University Network (KGUN) Consultative Meeting .................................................. 2
1.2 Stakeholder Consultative Dialogue on the establishment of an Arab States Green Universities
Network (ASGUN)............................................................................................................................................................... 2
1.3 The 33rd Annual Environmental Education Association of Southern African (EEASA 2015)
Conference ............................................................................................................................................................................. 2
1.4 12th Asia Pacific Leadership Programme on Environment for Sustainable Development .......... 3
2.0 PRESENT REGIONAL GUPES STATISTICS (Pictorial) ....................................................................................... 3
3.0 UPCOMING EVENTS ........................................................................................................................................................ 4
3.2 Regional Events ............................................................................................................................................................ 4
3.2.1 Africa ............................................................................................................................................................................. 5
3.2.2 Asia Pacific .................................................................................................................................................................. 5
3.2.3 Europe .......................................................................................................................................................................... 6
3.2.4 Latin America and the Caribbean...................................................................................................................... 6
3.2.5 North America........................................................................................................................................................... 6
4.0 SELECTED UNEP PUBLICATIONS.............................................................................................................................. 7
5.0 E-COURSES.......................................................................................................................................................................... 7
6.0 CALLS .................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
7.0 SUSTAINABILITY LITERACY TEST ........................................................................................................................... 9
8.0 OTHER NEWS .................................................................................................................................................................... 9
9.0 CONTRACT INFORMATION.......................................................................................................................................... 9
GUPES Newsletter, Issue No. 12
1.0 WORLD EVENTS
1.1 The Kenya Green University Network (KGUN) Consultative Meeting, 3 September 2015,
Nairobi, Kenya. Within the framework of the Global Universities Partnership on Environment and
Sustainability (GUPES), UNEP-EETU in collaboration with the Commission of University Education
(CUE) and National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) assembled and briefed
consultants on the Kenya Green University
Network; modalities
for
university
performance contracting targets; and the
guidelines for preparation of four
background and one analysis papers, which
will be presented at the KGUN launch.
KGUN will draw together and guide over 60
Kenyan higher education institutions
(HEIs) on how to incorporate environment,
low carbon-climate resilience development
strategies and sustainability aspects in
their education, training, campus operations and enhance student engagement.
1.2 Stakeholder Consultative Dialogue on the establishment of an Arab States Green
Universities Network (ASGUN), 15 – 16 September
2015, Amman, Jordan. The objective of this meeting was
to initiate a dialogue amongst key academic institutions
in the West Asia region to prepare for the establishment
of an Arab States Green Universities Network (ASGUN).
The network featured the regional priorities on
environmental education and established links to
GUPES. The meeting, attended by the high-level
representatives from 15 universities and academic
institutions from 8 countries in West Asia, and one from
Europe (the Central European University), culminated with the call to: 1) Establish and launch
ASGUN by June 2016; promote green knowledge and practices in Arab Universities to achieve
sustainable development at all levels; the development and implementation of Green Curricula (3credit course Principles on Sustainability for the Arab region); promote the development of green
campuses; and promote community, government and students engagement.
1.3 The 33rd Annual Environmental Education Association of Southern African (EEASA
2015) Conference, 21 – 24 September 2015, Matsapha, Swaziland. Under the theme, Creating
Sustainable Societies: Scaling up
Education for Sustainable Development
(ESD) through the UNESCO GLOBAL
Action Plan (GAP), the EEASA
conference
focused on critical
environment
and
sustainable
development issues in southern
African and how environmental
education (EE) is the catalyst to
achievement of the future we want.
The conference culminated with the
adoption of the Matsapha Declaration.
The declaration calls for the for the advancement of EE policy through the development and
GUPES Newsletter, Issue No. 12
adoption of country specific approaches; realignment of national and SADC policies with the SDG
(especially SDG 4 on education and target 4.7); increment of educators and trainers integration of
sustainability practices; EE curriculum development and implementation; promotion of functional
networks through the EEASA country offices; youth and community empowerment; and promotion
of cultural sharing of EE knowledge and good sustainability practices among others. The meeting
graced by Dr. Barnabas Sibusiso Dlamini (Prime Minister of Swaziland), Prof. Hubert Gijzen
(UNESCO Regional Director for Southern Africa), Dr. Shepherd Urenje (Programme Specialist in
Education with the Swedish International Centre of Education for Sustainable Development); Brian
Waswala (UNEP-EETU), Dr. Jim Taylor (WESSA Portfolio Director of EE; and Prof. Godwell Nhamo
(Chair for the Exxaro Chair in Business and Climate Change at the University of South Africa) among
over 300 delegates from the southern African region. EEASA Conference 2015
1.4 12th Asia Pacific Leadership Programme on Environment for Sustainable Development,
21 – 25 September 2015, Shanghai, China. In partnership with Tongji University and the Hans
Siedel Foundation, and with technical backstopping
from the Asia Pacific Regional University Consortium
on Environment for Sustainable Development, 30
young policy and civil society representatives
participated in this annual training programme at
Tongji University. The theme of the Leadership
Programme was Urbanization in the context of
Sustainable Development. Over 300 participants have
benefitted from this annual training programme
initiated in 2004. In addition, the 15th Steering
Committee Meeting of the Asia Pacific Regional University Consortium agreed on a commemorative
book documenting a decade of experience in organizing and convening the annual Leadership
Programmes for finalization in early 2016.
2.0 PRESENT REGIONAL GUPES STATISTICS (Pictorial)
GUPES Newsletter, Issue No. 12
3.0 UPCOMING EVENTS
3.2 Regional Events
Eye on Earth Summit, 6 – 8 October, Abu Dhabi. Theme: Informed Decision-Making for Sustainable
Development. The Summit will promote dialogue and drive
international action that revolutionises the way we collect,
access, share and use data and information for real-world
change. The 2015 summit will seek to foster a culture of collaboration through a network
committed to achieving scalable impact for a sustainable future. Link: Eye on Earth
Summit
Eco-City World Summit, 11 – 13 October, Abu Dhabi. The Summit will tackle the issues
around building ecocities in challenging environments. Eco-City World Summit
Higher Education Sustainability Initiative, 14 October,
UNESCO Headquarters, Paris. Theme: Higher Education
for
Climate
Change
Action
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdinaction/hesi
The 9th UNESCO Youth Forum, 26 – 28 October 2015, Paris, France. Guided by the theme, “Young
Global Citizens for a Sustainable Planet”, the forum will bring together over 500
young women and men from all over the world to focus on issues related to Climate
Change and the post-2015 Sustainable Development agenda to ensure that the voices
of future generations remain front and centre of the new development agenda. 9th
UNESCO Youth Forum
UNEP-Joensuu Course on MEAs, 2 – 12 November, Fudan University, Shanghai, China Link:
www2.uef.fi/en/unep
RCE Youth Virtual Conference 2015. The UNU RCE of Grand Rapids, Michigan USA seeks to create
a virtual conference for the world’s next leaders to dialogue around the regional and universal
issues facing their communities as it relates to sustainability. Link: www.rcenetwork.org/portal/rce-youth-virtual-conference-2015
Swedish-African Conference, 9 - 10 November, University of Skövde, Skövde, Sweden. Theme:
Sustainable collaborations between Swedish and African Higher Education Institutions. The
conference will bring together Swedish and African universities and representatives from Swedish
authorities and other stakeholders. This is an excellent opportunity to listen to interesting
speakers, learn more about collaborations, projects and future research funding possibilities, and to
get to know colleagues from other universities. Link: Swedish-African Conference
Second MENA Higher Education Leadership Forum, 9 - 11 November, Abu Dhabi. Theme:
Towards Transformative Higher Education in the MENA Region: The Role of Innovation in the 21st
Century Digital and Knowledge-based Society. Link: http://menahelf.com/
International
Conference
on
Sustainable
Development, 12 - 15 November, www.icsd.eu
GUPES Newsletter, Issue No. 12
Education as a driver for SDGs, 11 – 13 January 2016,
Ahmedabad, India. The Conference aims to recognize education
as a key enabler to the broader realization of SDGs. Link:
http://ceeindia.org/esdg/
3.2.1 Africa
5th African RCE Conference, 14-16 October, 2015, Entebbe, Uganda. The theme of the conference
is “Building a stronger African RCE network for transforming lives and communities through
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)”. Link
Academic Freedom in Africa: 25 Years after the Kampala Declaration, 27 - 28 November,
Kampala, Uganda. The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA)
is pleased to announce the organization from 27 to 28 November 2015 in Kampala, Uganda of an
international conference themed: “Academic Freedom in Africa: 25 years after the Kampala
Declaration. Challenges, Issues and Prospects.” Link
Southern African-Nordic Centre (SANORD) Conference 2015, 1- 3 December, Windhoek,
Namibia. What is the role of Higher Education institutions and North - South collaboration in
shaping the UN Development Agenda Post-2015?Link
3.2.2 Asia Pacific
4th University-Community Engagement Conference 2015, 1 – 3 November, Gold Coast,
Australia. Theme: Enhancement and Innovations in
University-Community Engagement. This conference aims
to create an opportunity for interested participants to
share knowledge, experience and expertise whilst they
contemplate the central question of enhancement and
innovation for the future scenarios of community
engagement. Link
25th Annual Conference of the Philippine Association of Tertiary Level Educational
Institutions in Environmental Protection and Management (PATLEPAM), 3 – 4 November,
Manila, Philippines. It will review of the ASEAN Environmental Education and Training Action Plan,
2014-18.
UN Winter School on Sustainable Consumption and Production in Asia and
the Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand, 17 – 30 January, 2016. Winter School
Education as a driver for SDGs, 11 – 13 January 2016,
Ahmedabad, India. The Conference aims to recognize
education as a key enabler to the broader realization of SDGs.
Link: http://ceeindia.org/esdg/
29th Annual Conference of the Asian Association of Open Universities, 30 November – 2
December. Theme: Educating the World through Asia. Link: http://aaou2015.oum.edu.my/
GUPES Newsletter, Issue No. 12
3.2.3 Europe
RCE West Sweden Webinar Workshop: RCE Futures, 28 October, 2015. The webinar seeks to
develop and explore our individual and collective aspirations of the RCEs, whilst also deepening our
thinking and practice in linking these to the broader context of the ESD goals. Link: www.rcenetwork.org/portal/rce-west-sweden-webinar-workshop-rce-futures-28-october-2015-9-11-amcet
Higher Education Open Space, 3 – 5 November, Esch-Belval, Luxembourg. The HEOS 2015 will
provide academics, administrative staff, students and stakeholder representatives an open,
innovative and creative space for discussion on joint approaches to face challenges in higher
education. It also aims to contribute in a concrete way to the modernisation of higher education and
to build alliances to reinforce the competitiveness and governance of European universities. Link:
http://uni-foundation.eu/higher-education-open-space
Board Meeting and Annual Conference of Copernicus Alliance 23 – 24 November, Madrid,
Spain. The Alliance will discuss Evaluation and Assessment of Higher Education for Sustainable
Development.
COPERNICUS Alliance Conference, 24 November, Madrid, Spain. This year's COPERNICUS Alliance
Conference will focus on "Evaluation and assessment of higher education for sustainable
development". Link: www.international-sustainable-campus-network.org/news/355
3.2.4 Latin America and the Caribbean
Quinta Conferencia Latinoamericano sobre el abandono en la educación superior, 11 - 13
November, Universidad de Talca, Chile. Link: www.alfaguia.org/www-alfa/index.php/es
3.2.5 North America
44th Annual Conference on North American Association for Environmental Education's
(NAAEE), 15 – 18 October, San Diego, California. www.naaee.net/conference
7th Annual QM Conference on Quality Assurance in
Online Learning, 1 – 4 November. San Antonio, TX, United
States. Theme: Deep in the Heart of Quality. Link:
www.qualitymatters.org/events/7th-annual-conference
2015 Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) Annual Conference, 5 – 7
November, Hyatt Regency Denver, Denver, CO, United States. Theme: Inequality and Higher
Education. Link: http://www.ashe.ws/?page=799
The Fifth Access to HE Summit, 10 November, Woburn House Conference Centre, London. Theme:
Widening Participation to HE in a changing funding and policy landscape. The Summit will address
the challenge of widening participation to HE in a changing policy landscape. More:
http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/events/Pages/HEAccess2015.aspx
2015 Higher Education Summit, 15 - 16 November, Toronto, Canada. The Higher Education
Summit explores the major issues of the day and the challenges facing educators, governments,
business leaders and others. Link: http://highereducationsummit.ca/
GUPES Newsletter, Issue No. 12
4.0 SELECTED UNEP PUBLICATIONS
Uncovering Pathways towards an Inclusive Green Economy: a Summary for
Leaders. An Inclusive Green Economy (IGE) has evolved from earlier work on
Green Economy. In its simplest expression, such an economy is low carbon, efficient
and clean in production, but also inclusive in consumption and outcomes, based on
sharing, circularity, collaboration, solidarity, resilience, opportunity, and
interdependence. More info
Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Draft resolution
referred to the United Nations summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda by
the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session. More info
Our Planet: Making Our Future Chemical-Safe. Chemicals are used in almost every
area of the world economy. The future of sustainable development is therefore
inseparable from the way chemicals are managed from their design to production, use
and
The United Nations Environment Programme and the 2030 Agenda: Global Action for People
and the Planet. Unemployment, resource scarcity, climate change, food insecurity and inequity all
signal the need for radical change in our societies. To bring this change, the entire UN system must
meet the challenge of delivering sustainable development with shared prosperity for
all, within the ecological limits of our planet. The UN’s role in this transformation is to
assist countries to implement the economic, social and environmental dimensions of
the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in a balanced and integrated manner.
More info
5.0 E-COURSES
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Marine Litter, 26 October – 20 December. The United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in cooperation with the Open University of the
Netherlands will soon launch a Massive Open
Online Course (MOOC) on Marine Litter. The MOOC
has been created in order to stimulate leadership
and offers opportunities for actionable and change
oriented learning related to marine litter. Link:
www.unep.org/training/links/MOOC_MarineLitter.
asp
How to Change the World, 11 November - 30 December. How can we
use the things we share in common to address some of the most
challenging problems facing the world? This course examines issues
concerning poverty, the environment, technology, health care, gender,
education and activism to helps us understand better how to initiate
positive change. Provider: Wesleyan University. Link: www.coursera.org/course/changetheworld
Chemicals and Health, 12 October – 29 November. This course covers
chemicals in our environment and in our bodies and how they impact
our health. It addresses policies and practices related to chemicals,
particularly related to how they get into our bodies (exposures), what
they do when they get there (toxicology), how we measure them
GUPES Newsletter, Issue No. 12
(biomonitoring) and their impact on our health. Provider: Johns Hopkins University.
www.coursera.org/course/chemhealth
6.0 CALLS
Open Letter to COP21 Ministers and Governments. Join a global alliance of tertiary and higher
education associations and sustainability networks representing more than 3000 universities and
colleges worldwide, to urge COP21 Ministers and Governments to acknowledge and strengthen the
research and education role that universities and colleges play in addressing climate change. To
sign the call, visit: http://cop21.grli.org/
Sustainable Campus Excellence Awards. The International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN)
calls for nominations to the ISCN Sustainable Campus Excellence Award in four categories: Building,
Campus, Integration and Student Leadership. The ISCN Awards recognize sustainable campus
projects that demonstrate leadership, creativity, effectiveness and outstanding performance in the
areas of Building, Campus, Integration and Student Leadership. Link: www.internationalsustainable-campus-network.org/awards
The IAU 2015 International Conference, 28 - 30 October. Organized under the patronage of CRUI,
hosted by and co-organized with the University of
Siena in Italy, the Conference held from will focus
on “Internationalization of higher education:
moving
beyond
mobility”.
Link:
www.etouches.com/ehome/iau2015siena.
The Japan-Australia University Symposium 2015, 24 November. Guided by the theme, “Towards
Successful Partnerships: Learning from Experiences”, the symposium will take place in Sydney
Australia. It aims to promote and strengthen university partnerships between Japan and Australia
in the areas of education, research and governance. Link: www.share.kyushuu.ac.jp/english/event/symposium20151124-2
Launch of the 27th edition of International Handbook of Universities. The IAU is
pleased to announce that the 27th edition of the International Handbook of Universities
(2016) has just been released. This latest edition of the Handbook includes information
on some 18,000 university-level institutions as well as information on the education
systems of over 180 countries. Link: www.whed.net/home.php
Leading Globally Engaged Universities (LGEU) programme, 15 - 20 November, Kuala Lumpur.
One or two slots remain open for IAU’s new professional development
programme for higher education leaders. Entitled “Leading Globally Engaged
Universities“, the programme offers a unique peer-to-peer learning
opportunity to senior representatives of universities from around the world.
Link: www.iau-aiu.net/content/leading-globally-engaged-universities-lgeu
International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN) Conference 2016, 13 - 15 June 2016 ,
University of Siena. Theme: Leadership for a Sustainable Future. The 10th annual ISCN 2016
Conference will focus on leadership for a sustainable future and delve into discussions on:
Managing a changing planet; Managing societal change; University-Private sector collaborations for
a sustainable future; Food sustainability at the micro and macro level; and Higher education’s
GUPES Newsletter, Issue No. 12
contribution to actionable Sustainable Development Goals. Link: www.international-sustainablecampus-network.org/conferences/italy-2016
7.0 SUSTAINABILITY LITERACY TEST
 The “Sustainability Literacy Test” will be a tool for the assessment and verification of the
sustainability literacy of HEI students when they graduate. Click here
to find out whether your university/college is registered.
 Le “Sustainability Literacy Test” est un outil d’évaluation des
connaissances sur le développement durable des étudiants de
l’enseignement supérieur. Vérifier ici votre université/école est enregistrée.
 La “prueba de conocimientos en sustentabilidad” es una herramienta para la evaluación y
verificación de conocimientos básicos en sustentabilidad para los futuros graduados.
Compruebe aqui si su universidad está registrada.
 A “Pesquisa de Conhecimento em Sustentabilidade” será uma ferramenta para a avaliação e
verificação da aprendizagem em sustentabilidade dos alunos das Instituições de Ensino
Superior (IES) quando eles se formarem. Verifique aqui se sua instituição já está registrada.
8.0 OTHER NEWS
Health Care, Education Are Top Priorities in Sub-Saharan Africa. By Richard Wike and Katie
Simmons, c/o Pew Research Center. As the United Nations prepares to ratify new global
development goals, a new Pew Research Center survey finds that people in major sub-Saharan
African nations are feeling more optimistic about the future than many others around the world.
Link
9.0 CONTRACT INFORMATION
For more information, do not hesitate to contact us. We look forward to hearing and learning from
you, for the greater GUPES community. Our details are:
Environmental Education and Training Unit
DEPI / UNEP | Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: (+254 20) 762 3381/ 4101 | Fax: (+254 20) 762 3917
E-mail: [email protected] |Website: www.unep.org
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Thank you for taking your time to read the GUPES e-newsletter. If you wish to contribute to the
quarterly GUPES bulletin or have news, upcoming events, or publications, you would like to share,
please use this form. You can mail it to the GUPES on Centre: [email protected]. Submissions must be
made by the 15th of every month. In addition, we encourage you to continue using the GUPES portal to
exchange ideas, share expertise and resources and deliberate emerging sustainability issues towards
ESD implementation at a global level.
GUPES Newsletter, Issue No. 12