Well done to the NUS sustainability team for scooping a whopping global ESD Prize. They'll be off to Paris in October, to UNESCO Central Command, and three days of launching and lunching in that special French way.
There are three winners of the UNESCO-Japan Prize on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) this year:
- The Centre for Community Regeneration and Development (CCREAD-Cameroon)
- Okayama ESD Promotion Commission
- NUS
The Prize was established in 2014 to "honour and showcase outstanding ESD projects and programmes of individuals, institutions and organizations within the framework of the Global Action Programme on ESD (GAP)". The Prize is funded by the Government of Japan and endowed with USD 50,000 for each laureate.
NUS, ably led by Jamie Agombar, won the global ESD prize for its Green Impact programme and was nominated by the UK Government c/o the United Kingdom National Commission for UNESCO. UNESCO says:
"NUS-UK, a confederation of 600 students’ unions across the United Kingdom, was selected for its “Green Impact” programme, which accredits and awards university departments for sustainability efforts. Training students as mentors, the programme encourages university staff to make their workplace “greener” while generating economic savings. The Green Impact framework ranges from simple actions such as advice on double sided printing to setting up an ethical credit union. Through peer to peer engagement, the programme creates collaboration across departments and institutions."
Although NUS has been widely congratulated for its achievements from within the UK, surely there are more than a few ladies and gentlemen now abed in England who'll be thinking themselves acursed they'll not be going to Paris in NUS's stead.
I'm not one of them. Although I rather deplore the size of the prize, I can think of no worthier UK winner.
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