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IPSI Newsletter

January 2022
Welcome to IPSI Newsletter!
Dear IPSI members and friends,

Welcome to the first IPSI Newsletter of 2022! We have a lot of new and exciting things planned for this year, like the mini newsletter we sent earlier this month and the new look of IPSI’s monthly newsletter.

January’s newsletter contains important announcements about grants opportunities, an IPSI survey, and much more. We also received from IPSI members news about receiving awards for their rural sustainability programme and a case study on socio-ecological production landscapes of three ethnolinguistic enclaves in the Dagestan high Caucasus.

As always, we hope you will contact us to submit any new case studies, news about your activities, or if you have any questions or comments.

IPSI Secretariat

Thank you for your abstracts!

We would like to thank everyone that submitted an abstract to be considered for the eighth volume of the annual series Satoyama Initiative Thematic Review (SITR-8): Ecosystem restoration through managing socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS). If your submission was shortlisted, a full manuscript will be requested by 20 February 2022.
Announcements
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Survey on IPSI activities
We are glad to invite IPSI members to an online survey to collect your views about the accomplishments of the Satoyama Initiative in the last decade and your opinion about priority themes and activities for the upcoming period.
The Secretariat sent an email earlier this month to all IPSI members’ focal points with a link to the survey. We would highly appreciate your participation; your inputs are important for future IPSI activities. The survey is expected to take only a few minutes and your answers will remain anonymous. If your organisation did not receive the email, please let us know.

The survey is open until 31 January 2022.

Academic Opportunities at UNU-IAS
UNU-IAS invites applications for September 2022 admission to our postgraduate degree programmes: the Master of Science in Sustainability and the PhD in Sustainability Science.
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The application deadline is 21 February 2022 for the master’s programme, and 28 March 2022 for the doctoral programme. Both programmes start in September 2022. Please check the UNU-IAS website for more information.
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Review of the IPBES Assessment on Invasive Alien Species
IPBES is inviting experts to participate as reviewers in the external review of the invasive alien species assessment! To participate as a reviewer and in workshops go here. The review period will end on 15 February 2022.
CBD: Webinars to support discussions at the resumed sessions of SBSTTA-24, SBI-3, and WG2020-3
Leading up to the resumed sessions of the twenty-fourth meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-24), the third meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation (SBI-3) and the third meeting of the Open-ended Working Group on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (WG2020-3), scheduled to take place on 13-29 March 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland, the CBD Secretariat is hosting a series of webinars. Go here.
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11th Hour Racing: Grants for Projects in Ocean Restoration

11th Hour Racing is offering grants to nonprofit organisations with projects in:

📖Ocean Literacy & Stewardship

🚢Clean Technologies & Best Practices

🐚Ecosystem Restoration

Apply by Jan 31
CBD: Fourth Call for Proposals under the Bio-Bridge Initiative

The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is now accepting proposals for the fourth round of technical and scientific cooperation demonstration projects under the Bio-Bridge Initiative (BBI).

The projects must, among other criteria points, address one of the following focal areas:

🌱Biodiversity and climate change
💉Biodiversity and health
🐆Sustainable use of wild species and wildlife trade

Apply by 1 March
HKUs HSBC Rural Sustainability Programme wins UN-Habitat's 2021 Asian Townscape Award
Recent News

IPSI Member receives UN-Habitat’s 2021 Asian Townscape Award

We would like to congratulate the University of Hong Kong for receiving the UN-Habitat’s 2021 Asian Townscape Award for their “HSBC Rural Sustainability Programme” in Lai Chi Wo Village.

The programme is managed by IPSI member the Policy for Sustainability Lab at the university’s Centre for Civil Society and Governance (CCSG) since 2013 with the support of the Lai Chi Wo Village and HSBC. The jury commended that the programme revived a devastated rural village into an ideal farm. The various organizations brought out the vitality of the people”. “We also focused on the interaction between rural and urban areas to make it sustainable,” the jury further commended. Last year, the programme was also awarded the Special Recognition for Sustainable Development in the 2020 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation.

The revitalisation of Lai Chi Wo Village was also awarded the “AIA Hong Kong Citation 2021” by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Hong Kong Chapter “for the ongoing collaborative efforts of individuals and organizations in heritage conservation of this historic Hakka walled settlement…thereby promoting sustainable rural community development and encouraging effective control over rural land use”.
Lai Chi Wo Village revitalisation team receiving AIA Hong Kong Citation 2021

Lai Chi Wo Village revitalisation team receiving AIA Hong Kong Citation 2021

A representative of the university commented, “We are glad that our programme, with the support from HSBC, has raised and incubated the interest of keen individuals and organisations to start new conservation projects in Lai Chi Wo and beyond. Last year, our Centre also launched a “Forest Village” programme to revitalise two villages in the vicinity of Lai Chi Wo and established a partnership with international agencies and universities in the Asia-Pacific region for the incubation of rural sustainability knowledge and actions”.

Stockholm+50 Partners Meeting on Youth Engagement

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IPSI Secretariat attended the Stockholm+50 preparation meeting on youth engagement together with representatives of the Children and Youth Major Group of UNEP, the National Youth Council for Swedish Organisations (LSU), and other UN Agencies. H.E. Johanna Lissinger-Peitz, Ministry of Climate and Environment of Sweden opened the meeting noting the importance of youth engagement for transformative change.

The Stockholm+50 conference in June 2022 will commemorate 50 years since the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Environment and celebrate global environmental action. By recognizing the importance of multilateralism in tackling the Earth’s triple planetary crisis – climate change, biodiversity, and pollution – the event will accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. Youth will play an important part in the meeting.

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Case Study

The socio-ecological production landscapes of three ethnolinguistic enclaves in the Dagestan high Caucasus

The IPSI Secretariat recently received a case study from our partner the Institute of Ecology and Sustainable Development, at the Dagestan State University in Russia, titled “The socio-ecological production landscapes of three ethnolinguistic enclaves in the Dagestan high Caucasus. Sustaining a multi-millennial agro-pastoral continuum - the example of Verkhnee Gakvari”.

The Godoberi, Chamalal, and Bagula communities living in the mountainous region Caucasus in Dagestan have nurtured for thousands of years sustainable agro-pastoralism practices. With time, they have come to understand in depth the natural environment in which they live and used this knowledge to optimise crop cultivation and livestock farming in harmony with the environment. However, their local economy doesn’t generate enough revenue to sustain their populations independently and lack assistance from authorities to fund essential services and infrastructure. The Dagestan State University works alongside these communities and agencies to protect ecological and cultural heritages and further develop sustainable development education.
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Message from New IPSI Secretariat Staff: Suneetha M. Subramanian

Suneetha in a beach at Cancun, Mexico

Suneetha is Cancun, Mexico

We are pleased to welcome Suneetha M. Subramanian to the IPSI Secretariat as a Research Fellow.
I look forward to continuing to work with IPSI members on understanding how priorities on the ground match with policy goals related to biodiversity, environment and human wellbeing. The rich experience amongst the members gives us the inspiration and the evidence to inform appropriate policy forums to deploy more context sensitive implementation programs related to conservation and development plans.

Warmly,

Suneetha
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Contact

Let us know if there are any changes in your e-mail address or contact information.


Secretariat of the International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative

United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS)
5–53–70 Jingumae
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8925
Japan


Phone: +81 3-5467-1212
Fax: +81 3-3499-2828
Email: isi@unu.edu

If you have been forwarded this newsletter and would like to SUBSCRIBE, you can do so on the IPSI website here.

Cover photo by Tomas Malik on Unsplash

The activities of the IPSI Secretariat are made possible through the financial contribution of the Ministry of Environment, Government of Japan

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