Issue 38: January 2016

Message from the ProSPER.Net Secretariat:

Dear colleagues and friends,

Happy New Year! We hope you had a wonderful holiday season.

As we enter 2016, ProSPER.Net with its 34 members is growing strong. The ProSPER.Net Secretariat would like to thank you all for your support and encourage you to help promote ProSPER.Net even further to your networks and to other potential members.

This past year has been an eventful one for the ESD community. 2015 was the inaugural year of the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD and we also welcomed the launch of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the UN General Assembly. ESD will play a crucial role in the implementation of all of these goals, and higher education institutions are expected to contribute to advancing innovative research, learning methodologies, and pedagogies that strengthen the science-society-policy interface in line with international SD and ESD processes.

As presented at the Joint Meeting of the ProSPER.Net 9th General Assembly and at the 15th Board Meeting held in Shanghai, China in June 2015, the UNU-IAS’ ESD Programme has developed a new strategic framework which aims at making tangible contributions to the implementation of the SDGs though education and learning. Thanks to all your valuable inputs, it is now finalized and I am pleased to share the new ESD Programme’s strategic direction with you.

I would also like to draw your kind attention to the ProSPER.Net Strategies and Roadmap which was first developed at the 10th ProSPER.Net Board Meeting held in Delhi, India in 2013. This document highlights three strategic focus areas: Governance and Accountability; Network Activities; and Promotion and Resource Generation. The UNU-IAS, through the ProSPER.Net Secretariat will continue our support for further strengthening the network in every possible way, and also encourage all ProSPER.Net members to assure the implementation of the Roadmap.

For this year, we are planning to organize the Joint Meeting of the ProSPER.Net 10th General Assembly and 16th Board Meeting as well as the ProSPER.Net Forum on Sustainability in Higher Education in mid-July in Tokyo, Japan. More details will be shared with you in due course and your participation is very much encouraged. This will be an important gathering for us, where we can take stock and reflect on our achievements, challenges, and opportunities. With these strategic areas, and bearing in mind the ProSPER.Net Strategy, we can now look ahead to another exciting year of fruitful research and collaboration.

In conclusion, I wish you all the best and thank you for all your wonderful work and continuous support.

Sincerely,

Kazu Takemoto

Director, ESD Programme

Upcoming Events

Symposium on Sustainable Development Research in Australia and New Zealand

1-2 August, 2016
Melbourne, Australia

The event, hosted by RMIT University, is co-organised by the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme, and run by Manchester Metropolitan University and Hamburg University of Applied Sciences. The aim is to provide researchers in Australia and New Zealand with an opportunity to present their work and exchange ideas. Read more

‘Ethical Cities: Locking in Liveability’ Urban Thinkers Campus

16 February 2016
Melbourne, Australia

The UN Global Compact – Cities Programme and World Vision International, with the support of RMIT University, are organising the first Urban Thinkers Campus. The event is part of a UN-Habitat global campaign to inform the New Urban Agenda, to be launched at the UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) in Ecuador in October 2016. Read more

5th International Conference on Language and Education

19-21 October, 2016
Bangkok, Thailand

The Asia Pacific Multilingual Education Working Group (MLE WG) will be organizing the 5th International Conference on Language and Education in October. During the event participants will take stock of recent developments in MLE policies and practices in the Asia-Pacific region. The deadline for submission of papers is 30 March 2016.Read more

Open Calls

Online course: Engaging citizens – a game changer for development?

This MOOC has been developed to explore what is meant by citizen engagement and how it can be used to enhance development impact. Sessions start beginning of February. Read more

Apply Now for the UNU-IAS 2016 Master’s and Doctoral Programmes

UNU-IAS is now accepting applications for the September 2016 admission to its Master of Science in Sustainability programme, and it’s PhD in Sustainability Science programme. The application deadlines are 18 March 2016 and 28 April 2016 respectively. Read more

Apply Now for the UNU-IAS 2016 Postdoctoral Fellowship Programmes

UNU is now accepting applications for the JSPS–UNU Postdoctoral Fellowship programme and the UNU-IAS Postdoctoral Fellowship programme. Jointly organized by UNU and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). The application deadline is 29 February 2016. Read more

PhD Programme in Integrated Management of Water, Soil and Waste

Applications from graduates in engineering, social sciences and natural sciences are invited for the PhD Programme in Integrated Management of Water, Soil and Waste. This is a joint degree programme of UNU and the Technische Universität Dresden. Read more

“GEF-Satoyama Project” announces the Second Call for Proposals

UNU-IAS’ GEF-Satoyama Project announces the second Call for Proposals for site-based projects in two biodiversity hot spots: “Madagascar and Indian Ocean Islands Biodiversity Hot spot” and “Tropical Andes Biodiversity Hot spot”. Proposals can be submitted until 23 February 2016. Read more

Nominations are open for the World of Children Award

The World of Children Award is currently inviting applications for its 2016 Grants Program. They provide funding and recognition to support life-changing work for children by discovering and elevating only the most effective change makers for children worldwide. Read more

10 YFP on SCP calls for proposals on sustainable buildings and construction

The 10 Year Framework on Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production launched the 5th call for proposals on Sustainable Buildings and Construction. Governments and NGOs in developing countries and countries with economies in transition can apply. Up to USD 500,000 are available to support up to three project proposals. Deadline for application is 4 February. Read more

Call for papers on Sustainable Cities

To promote understanding and global awareness of critical urban issues, and to contribute to the intergovernmental debate on cities and sustainable urban development, Natural Resources Forum, a United Nations Sustainable Development Journal, calls for papers for a special Issue on “Sustainable Cities.” The deadline for submission is 15 February 2016.&nbsnbsp;Read more

Master of Education in Sustainability, Creativity and Innovation

The Master of Education (M.Ed.) in Sustainability, Creativity and Innovation (SCI) at Cape Breton University (CBU) offers a flexible online programme for part time study. The programme is designed for formal and non-formal educators, administrators, teachers, and environmental and sustainability leaders. Read more

Asian Development Bank – Japan Scholarship Programme (ADB-JSP)

1-2 year scholarships are awarded at designated institutions in the Asia and Pacific region. Studies in economics, business and management, science and technology and other development-related fields are eligible. Deadline is 31 March 2016. Read more

Latest News

2016 Young Researchers’ School

The 2016 Young Researchers’ School (YRS) has just started and we are delighted to share that this year’s participation includes 17 students from ten ProSPER.Net member universities. Taking place at TERI University, New Delhi, India from 1-12 February, we received much interest from students of different backgrounds and nationalities. The theme of the 2016 ProSPER.Net Young Researchers’ School is ‘Sustainable Energy for Transforming Lives: Availability, Accessibility, Affordability’. During this week students will get the chance to learn on specific sustainability issues, while developing research skills. They are encouraged to form networks with other students/future professionals and academics working on sustainable development topics.

The following ProSPER.Net members are participating in this year’s YRS:

• Keio University (Japan)

• University of Tokyo (Japan)

• RMIT (Australia)

• Queensland University of Technology (Australia)

• Tongji University (China)

• Chinese Academy of Sciences -Institute of Applied Ecology (China)

• Asian Insitute Technology (Thailand)

• King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (Thailand)

• Prince of Songkla Univ. (Thailand)

• TERI University (India)

We will soon post a report on this year’s YRS on ProSPER.Net.More information and a detailed programme of the School can be found here.

First Capacity Building Forum of IPBES – “Opportunities for aligned investments in ecological knowledge for sustainable development”

The first IPBES Capacity Building Forum “Opportunities for aligned investments in ecological knowledge for sustainable development” was held from 19-22 October 2015 at the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun. It deliberated on issues such as the overall capacity building strategy and experiences of institutions and networks involved in capacity building, and the IPBES assessment fellowship programme. An important issue was the development of a web-based matchmaking facility to support the alignment of financial and technical resources. Read more

MCII helps “G7 InsuResilience” implement climate insurance for the vulnerable

At COP21 in Paris, the Munich Climate Insurance Initiative (MCII) presented key findings on how the G7 InsuReslience initiative can meet the needs of poor and vulnerable people facing climate risks. The aim is to give up to 400 million people access to direct or indirect climate risk insurance, by 2020. Read the article here. A summarised info graphic can be downloaded here.

miniSASS is a simple tool which can be used by anyone to monitor the health of a river

miniSASS is a simple tool which can be used by anyone to monitor the health of a river. The results can be placed on Google Earth and a mobile phone App is in the development Stage. Jim Taylor, Director of WESSA (the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa), and coordinator of RCE KwaZulu Natal explained “through miniSASS you can learn about rivers,… monitor them and take action to improve our precious water resources.” Read more

Launch of a “Smart Sustainable Cities” online community

Early this year an online platform was launched by the United Nations to assist cities to become more sustainable. It aims to identify challenges that are having an impact on urban development across the world. The launch of the Smart Sustainable Cities online community comes ahead of the first World Smart City Forum to be held in Singapore in July. Read more

ESD Okayama Award ceremony celebrates inspirational ESD initiatives worldwide and at home

The ESD Okayama Award was established in 2015 to showcase and promote ESD worldwide. 50 applicants applied for the Award with 29 applicants from 27 countries and 21 national applications from Japan. 30 applications were received for the ‘Okayama Regional Awards’. Videos of the finalists and an overview of the Award winners are now on the RCE Portal. Read more

Climate Change Challenge Badge

The Youth and United Nations Global Alliance (YUNGA) supports the achievement of the SDGs through activities such as the UN Challenge Badges and by encouraging young people to be active citizens in their communities. The climate change challenge badge is now available! Read more

UNU celebrates 40th Anniversary with symposium on 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

On 6 November 2015 the United Nations University organized the symposium Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as part of a series of events celebrating 40 years of UNU’s academic work. The symposium considered the adoption of the 2030 Agenda by UN Member States and the challenges faced by this ambitious global plan and the 17 SDGs. Read more

ESD Books, Publications and Other

Research and Innovation in Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

Wim Lambrechts and James Hindson (editors), 2016 – with contributions by RCE Penang and UNU-IAS on Chapter 4 “Schooling for Education for Sustainable Development: The contributions of Asia-Pacific” based on a survey made by RCE Penang across the Asia-Pacific RCEs (p. 44).

This book is the outcome of the work of Environment and School Initiatives (ENSI) and the European project CoDeS, Collaboration of Schools and Communities for Sustainable Development (2011-2014). The book can be downloaded here.

Development Co-operation Report 2015: Making Partnerships Effective Coalitions for Action

The report is based on analysis and experience, and draws out ten success factors that show how partnerships function to their maximum potential to be fit-for-purpose in addressing the imposing challenges of the post-2015 world. The report can be downloaded here and a summarized info graphic here.

Satoyama Initiative Thematic Review Vol. 1

The “Satoyama Initiative Thematic Review” is a publication series, comprising a compilation of case studies related to “socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS)”. The publication can be downloaded here.

Japan’s Development Assistance ? Foreign Aid and the Post-2015 Agenda

edited by Hiroshi Kato, John Page and Yasutami Shimomura (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)

This book is the result of research in “Japan and the Developing World: 60 Years of Japan’s ODA and the Post-2015 Development Agenda.” It shows that Japan has ample lessons to offer to the international community. In one chapter, the book discusses how Japan linked to the UN to achieve its strategic goals. Read more.

UN-ESCAP report: Integrating the three dimensions of sustainable development

The UN-ESCAP report introduces useful concepts and practical tools to assist policymakers in promoting integration of the three dimensions of sustainable development across the policy cycle. It explores the use of qualitative and quantitative analyses. The report can be downloaded here.

MDG Gap Task Force Reports on Millennium Development Goal 8

The MDG Gap Task Force Report 2014 “The State of the Global Partnership for Development Report” identifies implementation gaps to achieve the MDGs and provides recommendations. The report can be downloaded here.

National Plan of New Urbanization (2014-2020) for China released

In China urbanization has increased from 18% to 54% since 1978. These urbanization processes are the main driving force for social and economic development, but the old way of urbanization is no longer considered as desirable. New strategies and goals are needed. Download the report here.

Critical milestones towards a coherent, efficient, and inclusive follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda at the global level

A report by the Secretary General on the critical milestones towards coherent, efficient and inclusive follow-up and review of the 2030 sustainable development agenda is available here.

This is a publication of UNU-IAS ProSPER.Net Secretariat.

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

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