May 23-27, 2016, Nairobi - the second session of the United Nations Environment Assembly(UNEA-2), held in Nairobi, Kenya, the ministers and senior delegates from 173 UN Member States gathered at the headquarters of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to discuss the plan for the global environment governance and sustainable development, delivering on the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In addition to the plenary session and the high-level meetings, UNEP provides the platform for global major groups and stakeholders to organize a series of dialogues called "Green Room Events".

Organized by Global Universities Partnership on Environment and Sustainability (GUPES) and UNEP Environmental Education and Training Unit (EETU), the Green Room Event under the theme Sustainability Innovations and Solutions: Environmental Education for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) focused on innovations for mainstreaming environmental education, partnership for environmental education and assessment of sustainability, which encourages better understanding and active engagement in innovative approaches for mainstreaming environmental education, as well as enhanced interactions among environmental education professionals. Ms. Oyun Sanjasuren, the UNEA-1 President, and Prof. WU Jiang, GUPES Chair and Vice President of Tongji University, attended the meeting.

In his remarks, Prof. Wu said, since the establishment in 2011, GUPES has grown to an influential global network with 800 universities worldwide. With support and coordination by UNEP, GUPES members have been able to develop, share, and better utilize intellectual resources, knowledge products and tools, such as the Greening University Toolkit and MOOCs, to accelerate the process of greening curriculum, greening campus, and promote the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. During this assembly, the UNEP-GUPES 2016 new MOOC "Ecosystem Approach and Systems Thinking" is opening for registration during the week of UNEA-2, which invites all GUPES members to encourage students taking the free MOOC course, as to develop their critical systems thinking skills that are needed for building holistic solutions and views in an increasingly complex world. As the main player of GUPES, Tongji University has always been implementing the concept of sustainable development in the scientific research and teaching. UNEP and Tongji University has jointly launched the Chinese version of Green Economy Textbook and promoted it to the domestic universities, governments and decision-makers. The English version of green economy textbook is being organized by experts and will be disseminated through GUPES. Furthermore, an updated version of the Greening University Toolkit was completed jointly between UNEP, Tongji University, the University of New South Wales and other GUPES partners. 

At the end of the meeting, Prof. Wu Jiang had cordial greetings to the students, encouraging them to actively participating in international affairs, and to share their voice from China and Tongji in international platform, thus contribute to the development of sustainable environment education and the 2030 Agenda. 

Global Universities Partnership on Environment for Sustainability (GUPES) was the result of a consultative forum organized by UNEP and its partners to increase successful engagement with universities. It is geared towards encouraging further interaction between UNEP and universities, around the three pillars of education, training and applied research. This is done in accordance to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, and in partnership with UNESCO, UNU and other organizations.

Links: GUPES - http://www.unep.org/training/programmes/gupes.asp

http://gupes.org/index.php?classid=3234