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- Introducing a new paradigm of relationships between International Conventions/Organizations and universities, giving an operative contribution to the CBD Secretariat and other bodies that operate in the field of cultural and biological diversity — among others, UNEP, the International Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (IPBES), UNDP, UNESCO, FAO, WIPO, MEAs, International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), IUCN
- Establishing a dynamic learning platform of dialogue between education, science, policy and society
- Developing the integration between communication, education, capacity building, public awareness and the policy implementation processes
- Allowing universities to play a dynamic role as local social drivers opened to society, local/indigenous communities, experts, policy makers
- Enabling universities:
- to bridge the gap of communication and knowledge between the university system of studies and the International Conventions/Organizations
- to reduce the gap between education and capacity building
- to enhance the role universities play in disseminating and linking the policy agenda and programmes of work of the CBD and related International Conventions/Organizations to the local context to which they belong
- Developing educational, research, public awareness activities for the implementation of the outcome document “The future we want” of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable developement (2012), the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), the United Nations Decade on Biodiversity, the CBD Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the Aichi Targets, the Communication, Education, Public Awareness CBD Programme (CEPA) established in partnerships with UNESCO, UNEP, MEAs, IUCN
- Supporting the implementation of the UNEP Global University Partnership on Education and Sustainability (GUPES) and the UNEP Mainstreaming Environment and Sustainability in Africa (MESA) Universities Partnership, as well as other international and regional academic and scientific networks
- Mainstreaming and introducing the policy agenda and programmes of work of the CBD and related Conventions/Organizations in the academic system of studies, bridging the gap between academic and institutional policy perspectives
- ‘Translating’ the CBD, the Cartagena Protocol, the Nagoya Protocol and other related policy agendas and programmes of work in new academic contents, designing and introducing innovative curricula/research activities, and, as appropriate, outreach activities, taking into account:
- the local context and the multi-scale policy implementation, as well as the vision and needs of each university partner
- the visions and involvement of local communities and indigenous peoples, their own learning processes, capacity building needs and traditional knowledge systems
- Institutionalizing these curricula and programmes in the academic system of studies beyond the logics of the short term projects
- Adding value to, and highlighting, the activities already developed by partner universities in the field of cultural and biological diversity, and presenting the outcomes at international level
- Offering a coordinated international platform of information, knowledge, research questions and integrated research/teaching programmes in order to develop and reply transdisciplinary studies, curricula, academic and outreach initiatives, linked to the evolution of the CBD and related policy agendas and programmes of work
- Developing joint research/teaching/capacity building initiatives, pilot projects and events in order to strengthen local capacities, exchange and compare local experiences and case studies at international/national multi-scale level, achieve high standards of advanced studies, link universities to the local implementation of the CBD and related policy agenda and programmes of work, provide tools to grow a critical mass of experts
- Offering a transdisciplinary scientific contribution to the international multi-scale policy debate
- Supporting cooperation initiatives and the organization of a South oriented forum on biodiversity for development
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