I received this today from EAUC:
EAUC, Australasia Campuses Towards Sustainability (ACTS) and the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE - North America) have been collaborating to develop a mechanism for the worldwide tertiary education community to collectively inform the delegates to the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development Rio+20 (UNCSD). Our vision and views will be collected into a compilation document to be presented to Earth Summit delegates at Rio next June. To this end, we offer two documents as a framework and stimulus to the discussion which will feed into the document.
The first document, Framework for Discussing the Role of Tertiary Education in Sustainable Development at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, is based on the UNCSD request for input to the Compilation document and uses that framework to solicit and collect input into a collection that will shape the input document to be provided on behalf of the represented tertiary education community.
The second document, Why the Critical Role of Tertiary Education Institutions to Global Sustainable Development Must Be Central to the Rio+20 Discussion, is intended to stimulate discussion and critique regarding the role of tertiary education in sustainable development with the intent of producing a set of arguments that support that role. A statement of this sort will be needed to convince delegates that tertiary education should be included in the Earth Summit Outcomes document.
We want to hear your voice [so] we're asking all EAUC members to submit their views based on a number of questions in the survey below. Broadly the same survey is being used for all UK, US and Australasian participants.
It was a quiet Thursday, so I tried to complete the survey, but gave up. I’d say that the standard of English in the instrument is so poor as to render most of the questions ambiguous. I am used to ESD surveys from UNESCO and UNECE being pretty ropey, but this seems particularly bad, and I wonder if it was ever checked or trialled.
The key questions are here, so see for your selves:
5. What are the expectations for the outcome of Rio+20, and what are the concrete proposals in this regard, including views on a possible structure of the Outcome document?
6. How can tertiary education (TE) help shape the Outcomes Document of Rio+20 so that the contributions of TE are recognised and used in conjunction with other sectors? (i.e. What does TE want from the Outcomes Document?)
7. What are the comments, if any, on existing proposals: e.g., a green economy roadmap, framework for action, sustainable development goals, a revitalised global partnership for sustainable development, or others?
8. Are we in agreement with the concept of moving towards a green economy? If not, what is the alternative? If yes, what does TE currently do or could do that contributes to a green economy through its operations, research and educational activities?
9. What are the views on implementation and on how to close the implementation gap, which relevant actors are envisaged as being involved (Governments, specific Major Groups, UN system, IFIs, etc.)
10. Where does TE fit into the implementation processes of sustainable development and how can we measure our progress and effectiveness in implementation?
11. What specific co-operation mechanisms, partnership arrangements or other implementation tools are envisaged and what is the relevant time frame for the proposed decisions to be reached and actions to be implemented?
12. What partnerships within and between TE institutions, among NGOs that support TE institutions in their sustainability efforts, and among TE institutions and their surrounding communities (including business and industry) will be most effective in creating models and principles for sustainable development and how can these models and principles be used elsewhere?
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Further comment seems unnecessary.
Responses
Dear Bill, we've not met but it strikes me that you seem to spend a significant amount of your time rubbishing the efforts of colleagues from across the sector. What perplexes me more than than the distinct pleasure you seem to get from this, is that nobody seems to want to challenge your rather negative bullying tactics. You are not stimulating debate but instead are single-handedly serving to undermine the significant outputs of our respective institutions and organisations. I've a novel idea - how about you engage on a positive and constuctive level and oh, perhaps give colleagues direct feedback rather than criticism through snipping blogs. Do please feel free to quote me in your blog. I'd be delighted for colleagues to read my contribution. And also feel free to contact me to discuss further.