ProSPER.Net E-bulletin Issue 120 (January 2023)

Message from the ProSPER.Net Secretariat

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Greetings from the ProSPER.Net Secretariat! We would like to wish everyone a happy new year and hope that you all had a nice break over the holiday period, and are ready for the year ahead!

At the end of last year, we ran our Leadership Programme, online for the second time, and were joined by 21 participants from across the Asia-Pacific region to learn about strategies towards achieving a decarbonised economy. We are pleased to bring you a report and outcomes from the programme below – thank you to all participants for their engagement and enthusiasm throughout – it was very inspiring to see your innovative net-zero transition strategies!

If you have any news, open calls, upcoming events, or publications you wish to share in a future bulletin, please complete this form and email your submission to the ProSPER.Net Secretariat at ProSPERNet@unu.edu (submissions close on the 15th of each month).

Sincerely,
ProSPER.Net Secretariat

Aspiring Climate Leaders Explore Net Zero Transition Strategies in 2022 ProSPER.Net Leadership Programme
The 2022 ProSPER.Net Leadership Programme (LP) was held from 5th – 8th and 16th December, 2022 online, hosted by UNU-IAS, supported by Ministry of the Environment, Japan and Korea Environment Corporation.Under the theme of ‘Shifting to Net Zero: Implementation strategies for net-zero transitions‘, 21 participants joined for the 5-day programme to learn about strategies towards achieving a decarbonised economy.

Participants came from a variety of sectors, and included young professionals and emerging leaders in academia, the public sector, the business community, and civil society, coming together to build climate leadership skills necessary for net zero implementation. Read the full report here.

Take a look at the programme page for presentations and projects from this year‘s LP, read what participants thought, watch video highlights, or browse through the photo album.

Upcoming Events

Webinar: Launch of the IAU Global Survey Report on Higher Education and Research for Sustainable Development: Accelerating Action for the SDGs in Higher Education
31 January, 2023, 14.00 – 15.30 (CET), online

The International Association of Universities (IAU) conducted its third survey on Higher Education and Research for Sustainable Development (HESD) in early 2022. In total, 464 responses from higher education institutions in 120 countries were collected. The findings show, that higher education and partnerships are essential to address the global challenges identified in the UN Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to build a more sustainable future together.

The virtual launch event will present the report and in the second part, experts from different countries will be invited to discuss the results and its implications for universities working with sustainable development, in particular the SDGs. Participants will be amongst the first to gain insights from the data and receive a direct access to the full report! Read more or register here.

Open Calls

Applications Open: 2023 UNU-IAS Master's and Doctoral Programmes
UNU-IAS invites applications for September 2023 admission to its postgraduate degree programmes: the Master of Science in Sustainability and the PhD in Sustainability Science. The programmes aim to produce the policymakers and researchers of tomorrow, who will be at the forefront of global efforts towards a more sustainable future. Starting this year, students enrolled in the Master’s programme will have the option of selecting the new specialisation on the Paris Agreement on climate change, the first of its kind to be offered by a UN organisation.

The application deadline is 17 February 2023 for both programmes. Read more

Latest News

ESD Okayama Award 2022 Ceremony and Winners’ Presentations Video Now Available
Okayama City and the Okayama ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) Promotion Commission held a ceremony to award the two winning projects of the ‘ESD Okayama Award 2022‘, which recognises outstanding ESD activities in the world. Held as part of the Okayama ESD Forum 2022, the award ceremony took place on 19 November 2022 at the Okayama International Center in Okayama City, inviting representatives from the organisations initiating the winning projects: the network ‘Hamburg Learns Sustainability‘ (Federal Republic of Germany) and the NGO ‘Green Growth Africa Sustainability Network' (Federal Republic of Nigeria). Read more about the event, and watch a video of the ceremony here.

Highlights from COP15
UNU-IAS experts were in Montreal for the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP15) on 7–19 December 2022, seen as the last chance to stop the destruction of Earth‘s ecosystems. It concluded with a historic agreement to protect 30% of the world‘s biodiversity by 2030, take urgent action on extinctions, and restore degraded ecosystems, while respecting the rights of indigenous peoples.

Through a series of side events and expert contributions, UNU-IAS advanced crucial discussions on the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and transforming humanity‘s relationship with the natural world. These contributions showcased the institute‘s latest research and policy recommendations as well as the activities of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI), a global effort to realise societies in harmony with nature through the revitalisation and sustainable management of socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS). Read more

ESD Publications & Other

A Review of ICT-enabled Learning for Schoolgirls in Asia and Its Impacts on Education Equity
Published in Educational Technology Research and Development, this review paper focuses on exploring and discussing how ICT-enabled learning may expand schoolgirls’ education pathways and opportunities in Asia for inclusive and equitable education. Read more

This is a publication of UNU-IAS ProSPER.Net Secretariat. The bulletin is a great way to share your activities, events and news as a ProSPER.Net member with the rest of the network. Feel free to send us any information you may deem relevant for the rest of the community by completing this form and emailing it to prospernet@unu.edu. We look forward to your inputs! Visit ProSPER.Net regularly for up-to-date news and event information.

ProSPER.Net Secretariat
United Nations University
Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability
5-53-70 Jingumae,
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8925
Japan