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activities such as curriculum modifications to discipline-specific
curriculum changes.
The third phase
(2009-2011) aims at promoting the mainstream-
ing of environment and sustainability into teaching, learning and
research and further into community outreach in at least 50 per
cent of African universities. It is a follow-up to the ITP and will
upscale the successes of the training programme and promote the
positive lessons learned to at least 50 per cent of Africa’s universities.
Phase three will also promote teaching and research in the six UNEP
priority themes of climate change, disasters and conflicts, ecosystem
management, environmental governance, harmful substances and
hazardous waste, resource efficiency: sustainable consumption and
production. This phase will also see the translation of the MESA
ESD toolkit into Portuguese and Arabic to reach out to Lusophone
and Arabic Africa, including capacity-building programmes for
course design, use of ICTs and UNEP materials, and strengthen-
ing the MESA electronic networking forum to adopt a proactive,
developmental approach to networking. Also, this phase will see
the establishment and formalization of a MESA focal point commu-
nications system in all participating universities, using existing
university infrastructure and resources.
Introducing GUPES
From 2010 to 2011, MESA is being replicated at the global level under
the Global University Partnership on Environment and Sustainability
(GUPES) partnership programme. The main aim of GUPES is similar
to MESA in promoting the integration of environment and sustain-
ability concerns into teaching, research, community engagement and
management of universities. UNEP will also partner with GUPES to
guide knowledge generation in its thematic areas.
The initiative, in line with the Bali Strategic Plan, focuses on engag-
ing with universities to influence policy by competency building
and technology support at the global, regional and national levels.
Furthermore GUPES will contribute to the promotion of the envi-
ronment component of the United Nations Decade of Education for
Sustainable Development (2005-2014) and the implementation of
the Programme of Work 2010-11, which is replete with
knowledge generation and capacity-building activities for
UNEP’s key stakeholder groups.
Outputs of GUPES in UNEP’s Programme of Work
2010-2011 include:
• Creating an expanded network of universities on
North/South and South/South modalities that
integrate ecosystem management systematically into
a wide range of disciplines, faculties, programmes
and courses in universities, and focusing on
integration of these concerns into university
policies, management practices, community
engagement and student activities. The expanded
network should be measured on quantity and
quality of research and teaching
• Establishing knowledge networks to inform and
support key stakeholders in the reform of
policies and the implementation of programmes for
renewable energy, energy efficiency and reduced
greenhouse gas emissions
• Ensuring that multi-disciplinary scientific networks
are more strategically connected to policy makers
and development practitioners, to integrate
environment into development processes
• Establishing national and regional information networks
and demonstrating that they support regional-level
actions on chemical-related priority issues.
UNEP and the Caribbean sub-region have launched a
similar programme, dubbed Mainstreaming Environment
and Sustainability in Caribbean Universities (MESCA)
under the GUPES programme with The University of
West Indies (UWI) in Jamaica as the focal point. The first
GUPES consultative meeting is planned for November
2010 to bring together stakeholders in shaping the direc-
tion of the global programme.
Group photograph of the first MESA Workshop participants. Front row centre: Mr. Achim Steiner, Executive Director, UNEP and the Hon. John Michuki, Kenya’s
Minister for Environment and Mineral Resources
Image: UNEP