World Symposium on Sustainable Development at Universities
Article Type: Feature From: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Volume 13, Issue 4
Over 120 participants representing universities from 26 countries from all geographical regions, have followed the invitation of the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, the Research and Transfer Centre “Applications of Life Sciences” of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences and London Metropolitan University, and attended the “World Symposium on Sustainable Development at Universities”, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 5-6 June 2012, as a parallel event to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, also known as Rio+20. A summary of the event and follow-up activities is as follows:
Commitment of universities towards sustainability: perhaps one of the key messages from WSSD-U-2012 is that universities should make firm commitments at the institutional level and that researchers ensure they document, record and disseminate their work nationally and internationally, networking themselves and supporting each other. In doing so, they can measure progress and assess the extent to which things are improving over time. Since the various international declarations on sustainable development at universities prepared in the past have largely failed to yield any concrete benefit, a focus at the institutional level is likely to help to make a difference and show, on the ground, what is possible and what can be done.
As an attempt to promote and disseminate the work performed by attendees to WSSD-U-2012, the book “Sustainable Development at Universities: New Horizons” will be launched in September 2012, as Vol. 34 of the series“Environmental Education, Communication and Sustainability” (started in 1998). This ground-breaking publication on the theory and practice of sustainable development will be one of the most comprehensive publications on sustainability at universities ever produced, focusing on both industrialised and developing nations.
The 2nd World Sustainable Development Teach-In Day will be held on Friday, 8 February 2013, with the presentations made by authors who attended WSSD-U-2012. The event, which follows on the success of the first Sustainable Development Teach-In Day in 2010, will engage thousands of students from across the world. Details can be seen at web site: www.worldsustainability-day.net/
The Second World Symposium at Sustainable Development at Universities will be held in June 2014 (WSSD-U-2014).
The WSSD-U Secretariat in Hamburg will be implementing the above and trying to achieve synergies with other on-going activities.
