JOHOR BAHRU, 7 February 2015 – The Iskandar Malaysia Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) on Education for Sustainable Development was officially acknowledged by the United Nations University (UNU).
The announcement was made in conjunction with the closing ceremony of ‘Iskandar Malaysia Sustainable and Low Carbon Schools Exhibition 2015’ which was organized by the Centre of Engineering Education and UTM Low Carbon Asia Research.
The closing ceremony was completed by the Johor State Exco of Health and Environment, Datuk Ayub Rahmat at Dewan Sultan Iskandar, UTM Johor Bahru.
The RCE on Education for Sustainable Development is a network of individuals, experts and organizations that have strong commitment in creating a sustainable future through education. With UTM and Iskandar Regional Development Agency (IRDA) as its secretariat, offering support by coordinating and managing activities promoting Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), RCE Iskandar is the third in Malaysia, after RCE Penang and RCE Central Malaysia.
RCE Iskandar led by Prof. Dr. Ho Chin Siong, who is the Coordinator of RCE Iskandar, aims to provide a platform to bring together individuals and organizations working on sustainable development issues at all community levels.
It also aims at empowering and recognizing people within Iskandar Malaysia to create a better future by providing them with information and education.
The Iskandar Malaysia Sustainable and Low Carbon Schools Exhibition 2015 is an international exhibition and competition designed to provide an opportunity for schools in Iskandar Malaysia to showcase their efforts in creating sustainable and low carbon schools.35 primary and secondary schools within the Iskandar Malaysia region together with NGOs and research groups participated in the event.
The event was coordinated by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatin Aliah Phang, with strong international collaboration from Kyoto University, National Institute for Environment Studies (NIES) Japan, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).
Also invited were experts from several organizations such as UTM, Malaysian Nature Society (MNS), Green Earth Society (GES), Solid Waste Management, Public Cleansing Corporation (PPSPPA) and Ibaraki University, Japan who conducted talks and workshops on various topics on the theme of low carbon, sustainable development and environment.
The event consolidated networking among experts of various organizations and empowered local communities to create a better future as targeted by the RCE Iskandar.
Present at the closing ceremony were the Deputy Vice- Chancellor of Research and Innovation, Prof. Dr. Ahmad Fauzi Ismail and UTM Head of Low Carbon Research Team, Prof. Dr. Ho Chin Siong.