Educ confab to address sustainable development

CEBU, Philippines - Over a hundred delegates from 15 countries will be joining the 8th Asia-Pacific Regional Center of Expertise Conference today in Cebu.

RCE-Cebu vice president Rhodora Bucoy said that the two-day event will focus on various sustainable development initiatives adopted by the participating RCEs in the field of education and environment.

RCE is a network of existing formal, non-formal and informal education organizations mobilized to deliver education for sustainable development to local and regional communities.

Its network of RCEs around the globe aspires to achieve the goals of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development by translating its global objectives into the context of the local communities in which they operate.

“It is a very big challenge on how to concretize this global vision into the local setting,” said Mario Tabucanon of the United Nations University Institute for the Advance Study of Sustainability in Japan.

Tabucanon added that unless they work together, they cannot achieve the goals.

This year’s conference aims to strengthen collaboration among Asia-Pacific RCEs and to contribute to the global RCE movement through thematic, operational and strategic discussions.

The conference will focus on developing a strategic roadmap in moving forward with Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in 2015 and beyond.

It is also an opportunity for Cebu and its partners, to present its sustainable development initiatives in different areas such as community and disaster risk reduction with a special focus on multi-stakeholder partnerships and community empowerment.

There are currently 135 acknowledged RCEs worldwide.

RCE brings together institutions at the regional and local level to jointly promote ESD.

RCEs build innovative platforms to share information and experiences and to promote dialogues among regional and local stakeholders through partnerships for sustainable development. — (FREEMAN)