UNEP ROAP

New building unveiled at UNEP-Tongji University Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development
- to serve as teaching and research hub for Asia-Pacific region -

Shanghai, Bangkok, Sept 29, 2004 –The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development in Shanghai today unveiled a new, 12,000 square metre building to serve as a hub for regional education and research on the environment.

Tongji University has invested in the six-storey building, which was officially opened by UNEP Executive Director Mr. Klaus Toepfer, the Vice Minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) Mr. Zhu Guangyao, the Vice Mayor of Shanghai Mr. Yang Xiong and President of Tongji University Professor Wan Gang at a ceremony on the university campus.

Mr Toepfer said he was delighted to pass another milestone in the creation of Asia and the Pacific’s premier environmental teaching and learning centre.

“China is the centre of a region that is fast becoming the world’s economic powerhouse, but to realize and sustain this potential for enhancing human well being we must ensure that environment is fully integrated into the developmental model,” Mr Toepfer said.

“This can be achieved by tapping the best technological, legal, managerial and social science knowledge, from both here and abroad, and putting it to service for the environment.”

Mr Toepfer said he had been greatly encouraged by China’s long term plans and policies for environmental protection and expected the institute would play a major part in their implementation through the training of a new generation of leaders.

The institute was initiated two and a half years ago with the signing of an agreement between UNEP and Tongji University and the encouragement the Shanghai Municipal Authority.

In July this year it offered its first educational course, a leadership development programme, designed by the UNEP-Tongji Institute and a faculty of teachers from a dozen universities and educational institutes in the region.

The course was attended by 36 participants from 25 countries and attempted to add the human dimensions of “body, mind and soul” to the traditional three pillar – economy, environment and society - approach to teaching and learning about sustainability.

Feedback from the programme has been very positive and the consortium of tertiary institutes supporting UNEP and Tongji University – the universities of New South Wales and Wollongong, and Griffith University in Australia, the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Yale University in the United States and the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand – are now collaborating on the design of a Masters curriculum, to be offered from 2005.

After the unveiling of a plaque on the new building Mr Toepfer gave the inaugural address in one of the institute’s new lecture theatres to 200 Tongji University students.

He then chaired the 2nd advisory board meeting of the UNEP-Tongji institute to further develop its strategic vision, particularly in identifying areas for research, and integration with the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, which begins next year.

Mr Toepfer has been in China this week for the 20th anniversary of the UNEP Sasakawa Prize in Beijing and also delivered the keynote address at the International Environmental Conference on World Expo 2010, hosted by the Shanghai Municipal Government.
For more information:

See www.rrcap.unep.org/uneptongji/

Or contact Tim Higham, Regional Information Officer, UNEP, Bangkok, phone 0 2 2882127, 09 1283803, email higham@un.org or Dr.May LI, Deputy Director, International Office, Tongji University, phone 86-21-65982612, Email: may@mail.tongji.edu.cn