Bangkok, 16 September 2016 – An initiative using simple, low-cost measures and traditional knowledge to climate-proof Pacific island communities has made Fiji National University one of four winners of the inaugural Green Gown Awards launched by UN Environment and a global network of higher education institutions.
The awards were conferred on Fiji National University and three other universities from Ecuador, Sweden and Canada at a ceremony held on 13 September 2016 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, United States of America.
Fiji National University was judged the winner in the Community Engagement category for its project to enhance community resilience to climate change in six upper watershed communities in Ba (Viti Levu) Fiji Islands using agroforestry systems and soil conservation.
“This project demonstrates that resilience can be achieved through simple practical measures that don’t require large external funding. Sustainability is derived from bottom-up practical means of adaptation, thus creating shared interest and mutual interconnectedness, emphasizing traditional knowledge and strengthening institutional research and development endeavors in Small Islands Developing States,” said Fiji National University Vice-Chancellor/Principal Professor Nigel Healey.
A joint initiative of UN Environment and the Global Universities Partnership on Environment and Sustainability, a network of over 800 universities and colleges around the world, the award aims to make environmental concerns central to institutions of higher learning.
“I was happy to learn that a university in the Pacific won the award for a project that tackles an issue that is particularly pertinent in Asia Pacific – climate change. Their project to use climate-smart landscapes to enhance community resilience shows that we all have a role to play, including the education sector, to build a sustainable future,” said Isabelle Louis, Acting Regional Director, United Nations Environment Asia Pacific.
Fourteen universities from Africa, Asia and Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and North America sent entries in three categories – Institutional Change, Community Engagement and Student Engagement.
The GUPES Green Gown Awards are open to Global Universities Partnership on Environment and Sustainability members in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America and West Asia.
For more information, please contact:
Ms. Satwant Kaur, Regional Information Officer, UNEP Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Tel: + (66 2) 2882127; Mobile: +(66 8) 17001376, Email: satwant.kaur@unep.org
