Editorial
Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Volume 16, Issue 3
Sustainability from universities to the real world: the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil
Welcome to a further issue of IJSHE. As usual, readers will find here a wide set of papers related to sustainability at higher education institutions, from across the world. In this editorial, I would like to refer to the current emphasis being given to the 2016 Olympics Games, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016.
During the four weeks of the competition, athletes will compete for Olympic and Paralympic medals in more than 300 events, which will be watched around the world. The infrastructure required for the Games is impressive in every way. There will be over 100,000 people directly involved in delivering the Games, including 70,000 volunteers, and millions will be directly or indirectly involved in the city, around the country and across the continent. More than 15,000 athletes from some 205 nations are expected to participate, plus thousands of support personnel, media professionals, sports fans and tourists from the four corners of the globe.
The Games will be held in four competition zones across the city – Barra da Tijuca, Copacabana, Maracanã and Deodoro – a strategy that is aligned with the city’s wider development plan. Indeed, the Games have been a catalyst for the realisation of numerous urban improvements in Rio de Janeiro. The goal of the Rio 2016™ Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Rio 2016™) is to deliver technically excellent Games. The project is considered to be a driving force for sustainable social and urban transformations and promises to contribute to the growth of the Olympic and Paralympic Movements.
To achieve these sustainable transformations, the organisers of the Games are committed to making sustainability criteria an integral part of the management cycle of the Games, from design and planning through to implementation, review and post-event activities. The principles that guide this integration are responsibility, inclusion, integrity and transparency.
The goal of the organisers is not only to reach levels of excellence in the delivery of the event but also to show leadership by setting new standards for sustainable management at events throughout the country and the region.
Universities from Brazil and other parts of the world have been offering advice to the authorities in Rio, so as to help to design an event which can be more sustainable than its predecessors. This needs to include not only elements of waste treatment, but especially on waste prevention. Moreover, sustainable transportation should be more encouraged, meaning more public transport and less private cars, which will no doubt clog the already crowded streets even more. Many universities are doing a lot for sustainability, and their experiences may help Rio and the 2016 Olympics to a great extent. Details on what is being done in Rio can be seen at: http://www.rio2016.com/sustentabilidade/en/
Enjoy your reading!
Walter Leal Filho, Editor
