With joint efforts of UNEP and Tongji University and support of Hanns Seidel Foundation, the 2016 Asia-Pacific Leadership Programme on Environment for Sustainable Development (APLP) under the theme of ‘Ecosystems Management and Sustainable Development’ was successfully inaugurated on 10th Oct at the UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development (IESD). 29 participants from 9 countries, including Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Indonesia, India, Australia and China, participated in the programme this year.  Experts from the United Nations Environment Programme, the United Nations University, the Griffith University, the Asian Institute of technology, University of Tsukuba, Tongji University, and other institutes were invited to give lectures and moderate the discussions among participants.

 At the opening ceremony, Prof. Wu Jiang, Executive Vice President of Tongji University delivered welcome remarks and shared Tongji’s practice and efforts in promoting education for sustainable development. Mr. Mahesh Pradhan from International Environmental Technology Centre of UNEP, gave a welcome speech and stressed the importance of leadership program.The Former Environmental Minister of Italy Corrado Clini made a keynote speech entitled ‘Renewable Energy, Energy Conservation and Ecosystem Management’. With detailed data and case, he analyzed the trend of global energy demand, as well as the challenges and innovations in the energy field after the signing of Paris Agreement.

  Since 2004, APLP was held at the Tongji University once a year, and it is the 13th year of the programme. So far, more than 400 emerging leaders from 42 countries and organizations have benefited from this annual leadership programme at IESD, of which more than 30 countries are from the Asia-Pacific. The leadership programme has also attracted participants from North America, Africa, Europe and who have shared experiences.

  During the one-week course, experts will interact with participants around topics such as human, environmental, social and economic dimensions, and analyze the concept of sustainable development through case study and moderated discussion.