The following text is doing the rounds of those interested in ESD, etc, etc, to ask them to get on board to put pressure on governments attending the COP21. Basically, it's saying, in a very long-winded way, that higher education is important and needs more money.
There are far too many verbs for me: "Invite, challenge, support and showcase ..." – "Respect, acknowledge and support ...", etc, (and similar sets of multiple nouns / adjectives) which suggests that the authors have swallowed EU-style communication guidelines without too much thought. Given that ministers are said never to read more than half a side of double-spaced A4 text written in simple language, this fails a key test.
See what you think ...
Dear COP21 Ministers and Governments,
In the coming weeks’ negotiations to achieve universal agreement on climate, we urge you to acknowledge and support the research and education role that universities and colleges play in addressing climate change. We represent a global alliance of Higher and Further Education Sustainability networks with a combined membership of more than 3,000 universities, colleges and student organisations worldwide.
In this Open Letter to you, we affirm our commitment to the critical role that universities, colleges and students play in finding and implementing solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation. We see this taking place in the context of also addressing wider issues of sustainability, including social and economic policies and practices. The commitments and actions outlined below require the urgent support of COP21 Ministers and Governments.
We commit to supporting our members in creating more innovative academic pathways for our students ‐ the leaders and policy makers of the future ‐ and to support our staff to envision and spur creative strategies, practices and attitudes for climate change solutions. We call on national Governments to support us to embed climate and sustainable development education into teaching, operations, and quality standards.
We celebrate the unique role of our university and college members in leading the research and understanding of the origins and trajectory of climate change, in gauging its consequences, and designing reduction mitigation and adaptation solutions. We invite COP21 to acknowledge and strengthen the key research and development role that our university and college members contribute towards climate change solutions.
We believe that our university and college members are pioneers and demonstrators in modelling and piloting effective climate and sustainable development practices. We call on COP21 Ministers to strengthen, showcase and embed our responsibility to assess and report on our climate and wider sustainability organisational and teaching performance.
More specifically we urge COP21 Ministers and Governments to consider taking the following measures:
● Invite, challenge, support and showcase universities and colleges as living laboratories and agents of change for climate change adaptation and mitigation, so that they, in turn, may inspire and stimulate actions in their local communities and societies. Showcase education initiatives that take an integrated and collaborative approach to the design and delivery of programmes and which place the Global Goals for Sustainable Development at the centre of teaching, learning and research.
● In acknowledging the connection between climate change impacts and systemically embedded social and economic structures that disadvantage, harm, and kill people all over the world, we request more support for transdisciplinary learning, teaching and research approaches that link climate solutions with the need to transform economic, political and social structures.
● Respect, acknowledge and support the academic freedom of universities and colleges in leading the research and understanding of the origins and trajectory of climate change, in gauging its consequences and designing reduction mitigation and adaptation solutions. National and public research funding support criteria needs to acknowledge and prioritize trans‐disciplinary research activities that address climate change and the Global Goals for Sustainable Development.
● Invest significant financial support to promote national and regional energy transition using university and college campuses and operations as a leverage agent to accelerate the transition.
● Develop and implement policy frameworks that embed accountability and responsibility for climate change mitigation and adaptation and the Global Goals for Sustainable Development into research, teaching, operations, and quality standards of institutions of higher education. Establish or strengthen existing reporting, benchmarking and accreditation frameworks for universities and colleges to account for and further improve sustainability performance.On behalf of all of our members and the communities which they serve and develop across the globe, we urge you to consider the measures proposed in partnership with universities and colleges. We are hopeful and confident that you will reach a strong and binding climate agreement during COP21 and believe that increased support and commitment towards the enabling role of universities and colleges in solving the climate crisis.
Poor, isn't it. It's as if the authors knew in advance that no one's going to bother with it, so they might as well pile as many ideas in as possible. Anyway, that saves the hard task of actually crafting something that is readable. A great pity.
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PS, I note, with some despair, that they have even managed to create a new concept: climate and sustainable development education [ CSDE ] as though the world didn't have enough ...
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