Rio+20 – the short name for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development –  is an historic opportunity to define pathways to a safer, more equitable, cleaner, greener and more prosperous world for all. It will take place in Brazil on 20-22 June 2012 to mark the 20th anniversary of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), in Rio de Janeiro.

At the Rio+20 Conference, world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups, will come together to shape how we can reduce poverty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection on an ever more crowded planet to get to the future we want.
For more information, visit http://www.uncsd2012.org

In relation to Rio+20, we are calling out to all university students to get involved and join us in this new event under AGORAsia series: “My Idea of Sustainable Lifestyle”.

Show us your idea of a sustainable lifestyle! What do you think that will look like? What aspects of a sustainable lifestyle you would enjoy? What can you do to achieve that? What kind of future do you want?

WHAT?
Be creative! Create something, and show it to the world! If your work gets selected, you will get a chance to present and discuss your work in front of the audience in our event!

Your work can be submitted in the following formats:

• Photo (in JPEG, BMP, GIF, or PNG)
• Drawing or painting (either by hand or digitally drawn, in JPEG, BMP, GIF, or PNG)
• Song (in MP3, WAV, or WMA)
• Poetry (in Word)
• Article (in Word)
• Video (in WMV, MPEG, AVI, FLV, or  MP4)
• or contact us if you have other type of work that you would like to submit.

Along with the artwork, also write a description of your work and the message that you want to convey to the world.

All the submissions will be screened and if yours get selected, you will get a chance to present and discuss your work live in front of all the audience during the event! You will also receive some tokens of appreciation from UNESCO Jakarta. We will contact the selected participants for more details.

We are collaborating with United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) Jakarta in this event. Visit their Facebook page and see their inspiring “Rio+20 Bubbles” photos!

WHEN?
The deadline for submission: Thursday, May 31, 2012, 23:59 PM (GMT+7). 

The event “My Idea of Sustainable Lifestyle” will be held on Thursday, June 14, 2012, 13:00 – 14:30 (GMT+7). It will feature Mr. Michele Zaccheo, the Director of United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) Jakarta, as our guest speaker.

HOW?

TO SUBMIT YOUR WORK

General Guidelines:

• One person / one group can only submit one artwork.
• All submitted work must be original and created by you. You need to agree to Creative Common License upon submission.

Specific Guidelines:

• For photo / drawing / painting artworks: size of the file should not exceed 4 MB.
• For audio and video artworks:
  • Maximum length is 4 minutes.
  • If your artwork size is more than 4 MB, you can use 3^rd party cyber locker to submit your work to us. We recommend using Sendspace. It is free, require no account registration, and can contain files up to 300 MB for each upload. If you are not familiar with it, click here for information on how to use Sendspace.
  • You can also choose to use 3^rd party online video server (such as Youtube) to upload your video there.

IMPORTANT for all submission:
Send your work to Marlin Tambowon ( ml.tambowon[at]unesco.org )
Write in your e-mail subject: MISL-[yourname]and include the following detail in your email:

1. Name,
2. University,
3. City and country,
4. Link to your artwork (if you use Sendspace or Youtube. If your artwork’s size is less than 4 MB, you can attach it in the email),
5. Description of the work,
6. Your message to the world.

TO PARTICIPATE IN “My Idea of Sustainable Lifestyle” Event

To attend the event (as audience):
This workshop will be live-streamed and broadcast to our partner networks and universities. For detailed information on how to join, visit http://connectivity.connect-asia.org/connect-to-us/

For further information please contact Marlin Tambowon ( ml.tambowon[at]unesco.org ) or Piska Aprilia ( p.aprilia[at]unesco.org )

Click here to download this event’s leaflet.

—SUSTAINABLE ENERGY FOR ALL—
MARCH 17 and 31, 2012@ASIA

Designed as a joint effort by Keio Media Design’s Global Education project, UNESCO and SOI Asia, AGORAsia Youth is an online environment to stimulate global discussion on sustainable development among young students in Asia from different countries, locations and backgrounds.

This global experience will provide them with a great opportunity to gather with peers abroad, discuss, teach and learn from each other, share and send their message from Asia to peers around the world and to future generations. The nameAGORAsia is derived from two words: ‘Agora’ means public “place of assembly” in ancient Greek, and ‘Asia’ represents the origin of this project.

OBJECTIVE
This edition of AGORAsia Youth will stimulate high schools students in Asia to think, reflect and discuss about one of most challenging global issues: Energy.

United Nations declared 2012 as the Year of Sustainable Energy for All, in order to “raise awareness about the importance of increasing access to energy, energy efficiency and renewable energy.” (Sustainable Energy for All website)

Participants will learn more about the importance of energy in our daily lives, the influence on a nation’s development and what is sustainable energy and the need for to study this subject matter now. Together they will try to find a way to contribute to the spread of sustainable energy.

TARGET AUDIENCE/PARTICIPANTS
High School students (with intermediate or advanced English skills). Junior High School students are also welcome.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Participants need to register in advance in order to attend the first edition of AGORAsia Youth 2012. Please download event plan, read carefully all requirements and fill out the online form below.

REGISTRATION
Complete the ONLINE REGISTRATION FORM

DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 28, 2012 (Tuesday), 11:59pm JST. Extended to MARCH 8, 2012 (Thursday), 11:59pm JST.

If you have any questions or need further information, please send an email to agorasiayouth[at]soi.asia. Comments, suggestions and feedback regarding the program are welcome!

PROGRAM
SESSION 1 – Introduction & Discussion
March 17, 2012 (SAT) – 11:00am ~ 1:00pm JST
- Workshop, Participants and Guest Speaker Introduction
- Guest Speaker Lecture (to be defined)
- Groups and topics introduction and presentation
- Discussion Time

SESSION 2 – Express yourself
March 17, 2012 (SAT) – 2:00pm ~ 5:00pm JST
- Video producing workshop

SESSION 3 – Messages for the World and Next Generations
March 31, 2012 (SAT) – 3:00pm ~ 6:00pm JST
- Review of the workshop
- Screening
- Comments and Q&A

POSTER
Please use this file to publicize AGORAsia Youth in your community.
AGORAsia Youth Poster (English)

Here is also a special file for those who want to customize the texts in your local language.
AGORAsia Youth Poster template

On behalf of UNESCO, I would like to extend our great appreciation for your participation and support in the online seminar titled Building A Green Society – The Role of Education, Science, Culture and Communication which was opened by the Indonesian Minister of Education and Culture, Prof. Mohammad Nuh and UNESCO Director General, Ms. Irina Bokova.

The online seminar has proven that world citizens need to care about various global topics; green society is one of them. The approaches taken by experts delivering their opinions in varied places show how many ways we can do to take on the topic. The ICT-enabled discussion provided by participants in the forms of comments or questions have also enriched the ideas formed by the interactions with the experts.

We look forward to your active participation in the next events and wish you the best success in your future activities.

UPDATE:

1. The CONNECTivity event video recording are available here. You can also view them on iTunes in  http://itunes.apple.com/itunes-u/building-green-society-videos/id514310204

2. We counted there were 513 people participated via video conference and 2592 people joined via our live streaming websites from all over the world.

3. We broke the Guinness World Record with “The largest online ecology seminar involved 2,592 participants and was achieved by UNESCO Jakarta & CONNECT-Asia in Jakarta, Indonesia on 25 November 2011.”  

Sincerely,

Hubert Gijzen, PhD
Director and Representative
UNESCO Office, Jakarta

Signed Letter (PDF)

1. Welcoming remarks by Indonesian Minister of Education and Culture Mr. Mohammad Nuh, and UNESCO’s Director General Ms. Irina Bokova.
   
2. Keynote Speaker Prof. Jeffrey Sachs from the Earth Institute, Columbia University, speaks live from New York at 2 AM in the morning about our readiness towards a Green Economy.
   
3. A question from Philippines participant who asks Prof. Sachs about the linkage of his clinical economics concepts with the concept of Green Society.
   
4. First Speaker for the Science Sub-theme, Prof. Martin Lees (Former Secretary General of Club of Rome) talks about The Role of Science, Technology & Innovation in the Transition to a Green Economy.
   
5. Prof. Jun Murai of Keio University, who is widely considered as the father of Japan’s Internet, speaks about the history, development, and prospects of Science, Technology & Innovation in the transition to a Green Economy.
   
6. Prof. Murai aswers a question about what will happen to human being with the increasing role of Social Networking System such as Twitter or alike, and global connectivity in general.
   
7. Prof. Hans van Ginkel, former rector of United Nations University, talks about Educating for a Sustainable Future from from Utrecht University, Holland.
   
8. Prof. Emil Salim, a long time devotee of Green Society and currently part of the Presidential Advisory Council in Indonesia delivers his fascinating point of view.
   
9. Ms. Desi Anwar and a distant participant asks the panelists about the challenge of governments for the need of changing education for Sustainable Development.
   
10. Dr. Faridah Noor Mohd Noor from University of Malaya addresses e-culture as an attractive and stimulative way of engaging the youth to preserve the cultural heritages.
    
11. Mr. Herbie Hancock, a well known mucisian which is also UNESCO’s Goodwill Ambassador for Intercultural Diversity delivers his interesting perspective.
    
12. UNESCO’s Director General Ms. Irina Bokova and a participant comments about the role of culture from their respective perspectives.
    
13. Closing remarks by Indonesian Minister of Education and Culture Mr. Mohammad Nuh.
    

WHAT IS AGORASIA?

AGORAsia is an online environment where university students, lecturers and other audiences gather to listen, discuss, create and share knowledge, from Asia to the world. The name AGORAsia is derived from two words: ‘Agora’ means public “place of assembly” in ancient Greek, and ‘Asia’ represents the origin of this project.

This series of lectures and workshops will explore the students’ opportunities in contributing for sustainable development from these aspects: science and technology, preserving world heritage, and international cooperation. It will promote sustainable development education and nurture sustainable development-focused minds (solve local problems, handle crisis, adapt to change, etc). At the same time, we aim to stimulate communication among students, making the best use of ICT to promote real time multilateral communication and promoting interaction and collaborative works among multisites.

Through the sessions, students are expected to think, discuss and express their thoughts; students can create a video based in what they have got from their experiences participating in the workshops. The films can be submitted to Video Collaboration in CONNECTivity event (details tba).

SPECIAL WORKSHOP 1 (finished)
Date                        : Monday, December 12, 2011
Time                        : 11:00 – 12:30 (Jakarta Time)
Featured Topic      : Digital Preservation of World Heritage
Featured Heritage : Borobudur Temple (Indonesia)
Featured Speaker  : Prof. Hary Gunarto (lecturer in Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, Japan)

SPECIAL WORKSHOP 2  
Date                         : Tuesday, January 30, 2012
Time                         : 10:30 – 12:30 (Jakarta Time, GMT+7)
Featured Theme     : Food Security (joint session with Sustainability Science course)
Featured Speaker  :  Mr. Anthony R. Chittenden, Hokkaido University

Friday, 25^th November, 2011
This event will start at 07:00 hours GMT ()

My great grandchild,

A bird sings in the tree for you,

We have used our knowledge wisely,

Not forgotten is our culture,

And taught you the right way.

The CONNECTivity tele-seminar will connect experts worldwide to share their vision on creating green societies. Participants will interact in this discussion centered in Asia through video conference, video streaming, and social media from their own sites around the globe.

The CONNECTivity event will use higher education and research networks to deliver the seminar on Green Society, with topics covering Education, Culture, Science, and Communication sector, harmonizing with Rio+20: United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012.

This event is linked to the CONNECT Asia initiative which has been conducting series of lectures and various online activities since 2009.

Moderator
Ms. Desi Anwar

Opening Remarks
Indonesia’s Minister of Education and Culture
Prof. Dr. Ir. KH. Mohammad Nuh, DEA

Opening Remarks
UNESCO Director General
Ms. Irina Bokova

Keynote Speaker:
Prof. Jeffrey Sachs
Towards a Green Economy

Prof. Martin Lees & Prof. Jun Murai
Science and Communication: The Role of Science, Technology & Innovation in the transition to a Green Economy

M. Herbie Hancock & Dr. Faridah Noor Mohd Noor
Culture: A Driver for Effective Sustainable Development

Prof. Hans van Ginkel & Prof. Emil Salim Education: Educating for a Sustainable Future
Click here to download Prof. Hans van Ginkel’s presentation file or here to download the speech text.

International caliber Scientists, politicians, artists, and public figures, from three continents, all here, meet and talk for the sake of our children, and grand childen.

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