Summary of International Student Conference on Environment and Sustainability (ISCES) (2011 2014) I. Background The launch of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005 2014) marks the beginning of a worldwide movement which seeks to improve opportunities and quality in ESD. The international community requires education sectors to reorient their activities towards sustainable development and to play a leading role in championing change. Under this background, Mr. Wang Guangtao, Chairman of the Advisory Board of UNEP Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development (hereinafter referred to as ), former Minister of Housing and Urban Rural Development of PRC and Director of the Resources Conservation Committee of the 11th NPC, proposed to provide the platform for discussion and exchange upon major environmental problems for youth talents from different countries, enhance youth s ability to deal with practical problems, and finally contribute to sustainable development of human society. Supported by the United Nations Environment Programme, Tongji University and Beijing Environment Foundation for Young Talents, ISCES started in 2011. By the end of 2014, has successfully held ISCES for four years, where nearly a thousand international students gathered on world environment day in Tongji, focusing on different themes including "Constructing Ecological Civilization, Sharing Green Future" (2011), "Green Economy" (2012), "Food, Health and Sustainable Development" (2013), and "Ecological Civilization and Green Development" (2014). Discussions upon those themes greatly promoted information sharing of environmental and sustainable development, improved students' ability to analyze and solve problems, and aimed to nurture future global leaders. II. Objectives 1. To provide a platform and opportunity for information sharing and exchange on the environment and sustainable development for the youth; 2. To foster increased understanding of the environment and sustainable development in study and research, and build the capacity of young students and researchers to identify and seek for solutions for environment and sustainable development related issues; http://unep iesd.tongji.edu.cn/ Page 1 of 8
3. To provide access of the youth to international stage to raise their voice on environmental and sustainable development issues; 4. To facilitate links and networking, exchange, interaction among stakeholders in ESD; III. Highlights of the ISCES from 2011 2014 1. 2011 International Student Conference on Environment and Sustainability :Jun.5th 8th, 2011, Tongji University The conference was hosted by Tongji University and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and undertaken by UNEP Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development (). More than 160 young students from 30 countries attended to discuss the latest topics, innovative technologies and creative ideas on environment and sustainable development, focusing on four panels: Living with Forest and Water, Green Economy, Clean Energy & Green Mobility, Eco Urbanism & Cultural Heritage. During the conference, posters submitted by the participants have also been exhibited, upon which TOP9 posters was awarded Best Posters. Meanwhile, Global Youth Declaration was announced and received universal approval among students on ISCES 2011, which was advocated to be global youth s guidelines for action. 2. 2012 International Student Conference on Environment and Sustainability :Jun.5th 8th, 2012, Tongji University Nearly 400 young students from 42 countries gathered together in this conference. During the conference, participants discussed the latest topics including Water and Ecosystems, Future Cities Green Multi Model Mobility, Urban and Rural Integrated Development, Green Economy and Youth Employment Opportunity, and Green Economy and Design Driven Innovation. They engaged in activities such as keynote speeches, field visits, parallel group workshops and poster voting so as to better understand and exchange views on the challenges and opportunities as well as practices and theories of sustainable development. TOP9 best poster winners was awarded in the conference. In addition, the conference approved 2012 Tongji Global Youth Declaration, and decided to send outcomes and consensus reached on the conference to Rio +20 to provide suggestions for major international groups and national decision making agencies. Meanwhile, the United Nations Environment Programme and Tongji University officially launched a new Global Universities Partnership on Environment and Sustainability (GUPES) during the conference in Tongji. Mr. WU Jiang, Vice President of Tongji University and Dean of, was elected Chairman of GUPES. As the Secretariat of GUPES, was responsible for the coordination and cooperation of GUPES members to enhance dissemination of environment and sustainable development idea in Higher Education. As a brand event of, ISCES was significant for dissemination of such ideas among youth students and had wide influence on domestic and international universities and students. http://unep iesd.tongji.edu.cn/ Page 2 of 8
3. 2013 International Student Conference on Environment and Sustainability :Jun.5th, 2013, Tongji University The theme of this conference was designated as Food, Health and Sustainable Development as it s the first conference after Rio +20 summit as well as to response to the call of Constructing a beautiful China. The Conference brought together around 400 students from 45 countries. Students were divided into five subgroups, namely, food, health, ecosystem, green city and green consumption, to discuss affairs concerning environment and sustainable development. Following the successful mode of former conferences, participates also engaged in activities such as academic reports, group discussions, field trips and posters display to share ideas in those important fields and advocate exchange and collision among thoughts, thus enhance students understanding towards challenges and opportunities that our human society were facing with. 4. 2014 International Student Conference on Environment and Sustainability :Jun.5th, 2014, Tongji University The opening ceremony of 2014 International Student Conference on Environment and Sustainability (ISCES 2014) was opened on 5th June, 2014, the World Environment Day at Tongji University, attended by around 400 students from 45 countries. ISCES 2014 was convened by the UNEP and Tongji University, sponsored by Beijing Environment Foundation for Young Talents, Agricultural Bank of China, State Key Lab of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, and organized by UNEP Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development (). The topic of this year s conference is Ecological Civilization and Green Development. Highlights of the conference includes: Case Exhibition on Youth Projects of Sustainable Development It showcased sustainable development projects on sustainable development education, Green Economy and green enterprises. Tongji, Beijing Environment Foundation for Young Talents, Xinhua News Agency, UNEP, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNAIDS, FAO, Bayer Group, Economy Magazine, Organic and Beyond, contributed to the exhibition. UNEP Celebrity Partner Deng Chao Calls for Reducing Carbon Footprint on World Environment Day The forum was hosted by UNEP and Tongji University. The UNEP Celebrity Partner, famous director and actor Mr. Deng Chao, together with Mr. Kaveh Zahedi, the Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific and Prof. Jiang Bo, Vice President of Tongji University explained their ideas towards low carbon, climate change, small islands, sustainable development and other important issues with the audience. The Symposium on Energy Transition and Climate Change The Symposium on Energy Transition and Climate Change co hosted by Tongji University, German Consulate General in Shanghai and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung opens at Tongji University. http://unep iesd.tongji.edu.cn/ Page 3 of 8
The Symposium provided an international platform to connect the global network of experts, created a policy research industry dialogue, discussed the challenges and opportunities during the progress of energy transition in response to the climate change and explore a transition strategy and provide innovative solutions of energy technology and policy to achieve global sustainability and alleviate the climate change and poverty. Dr. Wolfgang Rohr, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Shanghai, and Prof. JIANG Bo, the Vice President of Tongji University delivered speeches. Mr. Sheng Fulai, the Head of Research and Partnerships Unit of UNEP, shared the global overview on International Trends in Energy Transition and UNEP s response. Global Youth Tongji Declaration The Conference was closed by Global Youth Tongji Declaration. They declared that participants would promote advocacy on different environmental, social and climate change issues at local, regional, national and international level; practice low carbon activities at the individual level to reduce our carbon footprint; and to be involved actively in raising awareness and education on sustainable development in local community by propagating the concept of ESD. Due to the involvement of Xinhua News Agency in this year s conference, media coverage has greatly improved this year, which promoted ISCES s influence and spread of ESD idea and practice significantly. IV. Influence analysis of ISCES 1. Media coverage Since the first conference held in 2011, a total of nearly 30 domestic media and 10 foreign media reported activities and outcomes of ISCES, producing nearly 500 pieces of news in paper publications, Internet and new media. Domestic media includes people.cn, Xinhua News Agency, cnr.cn, cri.cn, ifeng.com, qq.com, China News Service (CNS), China Environment News, eastday.com, Wenhui Daily, NetEase News, Sohu.com, Chongqing Daily, Shanghai Education News, Science and Technology Daily, Economic Daily, China Meteorological News, Newscnr.com, China Construction News, gx211.com, eduego.com, Tongji News, HIT News, etc. And international media includes official website of UNEP, Microblog and Wechat Official Accounts (which was one of TOP10 Environmental Wechat Official Accounts) of UNEP, Interdisciplinary Center for Social Sciences, International Association for Sports Surface Sciences, etc. http://unep iesd.tongji.edu.cn/ Page 4 of 8
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2. Partners ISCES receives strong support from UN agencies, consulate general of many countries in Shanghai, universities and institutions, influential domestic and international media and enterprises focusing on idea and practice in environmental protection, including UNEP, UNDP, UNESCO, Consulate General of the Germany and UK, Xinhua News Agency and Agricultural Bank of China etc. 3. Participating students sources 1% 9% 4% Participants distribution in continents 1% 76% 9% Africa Asia Europe Latin America and Carribean North America Area Participant Number Africa 80 Asia 662 Europe 73 Latin America and 31 the Caribbean North America 11 Oceania 11 Total 868 Oceania http://unep iesd.tongji.edu.cn/ Page 8 of 8