JULY 2022 NEWSLETTER
“Nature reminds us how to be in harmony with life itself.”
– Harold W. Becker
UNEP YEA! Updates
YEA! Global Summit 2022
The role of higher education in enabling the transformation of the planet we have, to the one we need, was spotlighted when UNEP hosted its first ever Youth and Education Alliance (YEA!) Summit on 5th July, as part of a partnership between UNEP, EAUC and Tongji University.
The Summit included keynotes from UNEP’s Acting Deputy Executive Director, Sonja Leighton-Kone and COP26 President Alok Sharma, as well as speakers from LinkedIn, the UK and Kenyan governments, and UNFCCC’s Climate Champions Team, to push the sector to re-think its role in accelerating the green transition.
Bringing together the member networks of YEA! the Summit’s objective was to look at how higher education, which includes over 200 million students worldwide, can seek to influence broader societal transformation through decarbonization, behaviour change, green jobs and skills for youth, climate education and nature positive universities.
In a compelling discussion focusing on how we can revolutionize higher education, the UK emphasized the importance of connecting students to nature and how universities can seek to facilitate this through their land use. Kenya highlighted the need for a new way of learning through an education system that focuses on behaviour change and green skill building, and the youth spotlight reiterated the need for greater youth involvement in decision-making processes at the national level.
This work will be taken forward and championed by the Youth and Education Alliance in 2022-23. For more info, check out the Summit website.
You can also watch the YEA! Summit Session Recordings on demand.
Spotlight
Nature Positive Universities
Start your nature positive journey today!
We, UNEP and our partners at the University of Oxford, are excited to have people from almost 400 different universities from every corner of the globe interested to start their Nature Positive journey!
Whether you are an academic, student, or member of university staff, we all have a part to play. For a university, being Nature Positive means restoring species and ecosystems that have been harmed by the impacts of a university and its activities and enhancing the university’s positive impacts on nature. This refers to everything a university does, from its teaching and research work and the campus grounds to the impacts of its operations and supply chains that keep it running.
We are seeking founding universities!
We would now like to call on you step up to make a Nature Positive Pledge to become one of the founding universities on a Nature Positive journey before our launch in October 2022. We ask that someone able to make commitments on behalf of your institution pledges to assessing your baseline, setting smart targets, carrying out actions for nature and reporting annually on your progress, starting in October 2023. We will provide guidance and resources to help you on this journey. Please see flyer below and contact us if you would like to talk it through or request further information.
Refrain, Reduce, Restore, Renew
We look forward to sharing resources and guidance documents with you. The University of Oxford is using the Mitigation and Conservation Hierarchy (also known as ‘4 Steps for the Earth’). This is a step by step framework to prioritise and guide actions that contribute to overarching biodiversity goals. The four steps (the 4Rs) sit within a hierarchy: Refrain, Reduce, Restore and Renew. Check out our Nature Positive Journey pa
Please submit a case study
We would love to share your activities, events and actions for nature taking place in your institutions and university communities, whether or not your institution is ready to take the pledge. Whether you are a student, a researcher, academic, member of staff or sustainability manager, we would love to hear from you to share your activities with the wider Nature Positive Universities network. Please click here to upload a Case Study, which involves writing a short piece of text, photo and URL that you are happy to share.
Watch our short film!
What else is new?
Tide Turners Update:
Meet six young plastic pollution change-makers from Africa and India
Coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and funded by the United Kingdom, Norway and the Global Environment Facility, the campaign seeks to educate young people about single-use plastics and the need for circular solutions. Participants engage with local communities and work through several activities, including an advocacy-oriented “hero-level impact campaign”, to achieve the Tide Turners Badge.
Check out the full story to read more about our 6 change-makers.
Forum THNS2022: Mobility Re-engineering under Technology and Societal Transformation
When: 14th – 18th November 2022
The THNS Forum is an annual International Symposium on the Sustainable Development of Urban Transport Systems, jointly initiated in 2008 by Tongji University, ParisTech and the French Ministry for the Environment.
The Forum especially fosters international exchange of knowledge advances, including research outcomes, innovative technologies, implementation reports and more. It brings together academics, policy makers and business representatives with expertise in urban planning and urban management, transport, public transport, rail transport, energy and the environment.
THNS2022 is co-orgnized by Tongji University and Ecole des Ponts Paristech. Prospective speakers are welcome to submit their research by 15th September 2022 and the audience is invited to register online by 5th November. Details will be updated on the website.