International Webinar of RCEs of Asia-Pacific Region

International Webinar of RCEs of Asia-Pacific Region

Celebrating “International Mountain Day” (IMD) 2020 (SDGs 1, 2, 13, 15)

Theme: Mountain Biodiversity

Friday, 11^th December 2020 10:30-12:30 hrs Indian Standard Time

05:00 hrs United Kingdom | 10:00 hrs Pakistan | 10:30 hrs India | 10:45 hrs Nepal | 11:00 hrs Bangladesh and Kyrgyzstan |12:00 hrs Cambodia, Jakarta and Thailand | 13:00 hrs Balikpapan, China, Malaysia and Philippines | 14:00 hrs Japan & Korea |16:00 hrs Sydney | 18:00 hrs New

Zoom Link: https://bit.ly/RCENKCH

Meeting ID: 878 4067 4436| Password not required

SDGs 1, 2, 13, 15

Climate, Hunger, Gender and Poverty addressed through mountain events

SDG 15 (Life on Land); SDG 13 (Climate Action); SDG 1 (No poverty); SDG 2 (Zero hunger)

Agenda

END

Speakers

Opening Remarks

Mountains: Upstream-Downstream, Sustainable Mountain Development

Covering around 27 percent of the earth's land surface, mountains play a critical role in moving the world towards sustainable economic growth. Mountains not only provide sustenance and well-being to 1.1 billion mountain people around the world but also indirectly benefit billions more living downstream. Mountains provide freshwater, energy and food - resources that will be increasingly scarce in coming decades. Mountains are prone to natural disasters and the vulnerability of mountain people for disasters is very high. Making mountain communities sustainable, climate smart and disaster resilient warrants immediate and urgent attention.

Speaker:

Mr L. Venkateshwar Lu, IAS Director General, Uttar Pradesh (UP) Academy of Administration & Management, and State Institute of Rural Development, UP, India.

‘Disaster Risk Reduction and Crisis Management’

In the wake of increasing disasters, both in frequency and magnitude, and currently the COVID-19 pandemic, DRR Preparedness for all warrants urgent attention and becomes need of the hour, now and for ever. Crisis Management is equally important needed to be learnt by everyone. RCEs can help reduce the vulnerabilities and increase the capacities of their local communities in dealing with disasters.

Speaker:

Mr. IGARASHI Hitoshi, Professor at the Faculty of Risk and Crisis Management at the Chiba Institute of Science .

What’s in it for the Asia-Pacific RCEs?

Two important aspects that will help strengthen the RCE community will be addressed in this webinar - Training and Capacity Building, and Institution Building.

Training and Capacity Building:   Another important aspect for all the RCEs is Training and Capacity Building. We must learn how we can develop our people so that they can drive initiatives and produce long-lasting, life-changing results. Challenges faced by the local communities remain dynamic triggering dynamic role ESD has to play. For RCE community to keep pace with the dynamic roles ESD has to cater to ‘training and capacity building’ attains high importance.

Speaker:

Dr. James Hindson, Moreton Hall School, Shropshire, Formerly Director, International Programmes, Field Studies Council, United Kingdom.

Speakers:

Prof. Anant Darshan Shankar is the Managing Trustee of the Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions (FRLHT) and Vice Chancellor of the Trans-Disciplinary University (TDU), Bangalore.

Dr. (Ms.) Eun-kyung Park, Founder and Chairperson, Sejahtera Forest Centre, Tongyeong ESD Council, RCE Tongyeong, Republic of Korea.

Concluding Remarks

Speaker:

Dr. Barry Law, Director, RCE Otago

History of International Mountain Day

On 20 December 2002, the UN declared 11 December as “International Mountain Day” for the awareness of mountain development and urged upon the international community to hold events relating to sustainable mountain development on this date. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was appointed as the coordinating organization of the UN about this mission. The first International Mountain Day was observed on 11 December 2003. Each year UN allocates a theme for this day.

‘Mountain Biodiversity’ is the theme of IMD 2020:

Mountains loom large in some of the world’s most spectacular landscapes. Their unique topography, compressed climatic zones and isolation have created the conditions for a wide spectrum of life forms.

Half of the world’s biodiversity hotspots are in mountains.

Mountains are home to more than 85 percent of the world’s species of amphibians, birds and mammals. These include increasingly rare animals such as gorillas, mountain lions and the majestic tahr.