Annual meeting WSC-SD Report
AM 2006 In Rasa, Ticino, Switzerland
March 27th ~ April 1st 2006
Contents
 Foreword
 Introduction
Participants
Conference Topic
Location
Conference Schedule
 Reports
Personal impression
Motivation for AM2006 (by Ayumi ARAKAWA)
Academic
Student Speeches (by Genki MORIYAMA, Huiting WEI)
Work Shop (by Joko )
Specialist Speeches (by Pandit, Toshi INOUE)
Poster (by Sohel PASHA)
Culture Exchange
Communication (by Hotaka OKABE)
Feedback
Feed back from all participants and organizer (by Sanae OHSHIRO)
 Attachments
Work Shop document
Presentation document at AM WSC-SD AM 2006 Reporting
Financial report
AM 2006 Report
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Foreword
In recent years, the need for “sustainable development” has been widely recognized
and encouraged. WSC-SD Annual Meeting is great opportunities for students to discuss
about sustainable development, share their thinking, broaden their view points and built
wider network all over the world.
This report is mainly written about what we learn in AM2006.
In Part 1, this report provides introduction of basic information about this conference
and participants. In Part 2, this report shows what we felt and what we learned by our
academic and cultural experience during the conference. And through the feedback form
all participants, some road map for next AM2007 in Tokyo is created.
It would have been impossible to complete such meaningful experience without the
support from AGS Promotion Office, The University of Tokyo. We can hardly thank
you enough for your support, but we hope this report can delivery our appreciation, and
be helpful for AM2007 in Tokyo.
Thank you.
AM 2006 Participants
AM 2006 Report
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Introduction
AM 2006 Report
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Participants
Ayumi ARAKAWA (are_you_me_712@hotmail.com)
Department of Agriculture,
International cooperation and agricultural technology for
rural development course
Genki Moriyama (genki@env.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp)
Graduate School of Frontier Science,
Environmental study course
Hotaka OKABE (lead_hota7@yahoo.co.jp)
Graduate School of Public Policy,
International Public Policy course
Huiting WEI (zz58046@ mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp)
Graduate School of Public Policy,
International Public Policy course
Toshihiro INOUE (toshi@cfdl.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp)
School of Engineering,
Departments of Mechanical Engineeering
AM 2006 Report
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Sanae OHSHIRO (sunny_may_30@hotmail.com)
Graduate School of Frontier Science,
Environmental study course
Debapratim PANDIT (pandit@env.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp)
Graduate Student of Urban Engineering
Sohel PASHA (sohel504@yahoo.com)
Graduate Student of Urban Engineering
Joko Sulistyo YEKTI (joko_yekti@yahoo.com)
Graduate Student of Urban Engineering
Department Environmental Engineering course.
AM 2006 Report
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Conference Topic
Mind, Knowledge and Sustainability
The concept of AM2006 is “Mind, Knowledge and Sustainability”.
Global sustainability – the responsible handling of our most important resource, the
Earth – requires the right actions from individuals. These actions require personal
consciousness of which concepts are sustainable in a global sense and applicable in the
long-term.
The information concerning how to live sustain ably already exists, as certain cultures
have or have had life-styles that do not destroy their basis of living. Much of this
essential information is being neglected, lost or sometimes even willingly destroyed.
Furthermore the information necessary for us to develop long-term concepts is diluted
by a huge amount of irrelevant information. But how do we find the relevant
information, the needle in a haystack? What are good ways of planning future actions,
having so much information penetrating and confusing our senses? And as our society is
a society based on knowledge, how should our community integrate old knowledge
together with new facts without loosing either? A clear awareness of the long-term
effects of our actions is the basis of acting sustainable. It is obvious that this requires a
clear and consistent perception of reality. In other words: Before we can realize
sustainable solutions in the “outer world”, we must analyze the situation carefully. This
happens in our mind, and it requires our mind to be relaxed, clear, and well-balanced.
Even though everyone easily agrees with this, often we neglect the importance of these
fundamental factors.
This conference gave us great opportunity to rink global sustainability with our right
actions from individuals. Knowledge recognized as being essential should be available
for all social levels in all geographic areas as well as for future generations. This is not a
question of mere conservation, but of maintaining a living transmission including
learning, understanding and application.
More information about AM2006
http://www.project21.ethz.ch/
AM 2006 Report
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Location
Rasa – A Place of Respect and Tranquility
By PASHA Sohel,
Introduction
The fourth annual meeting of the World Student
Community for Sustainable Development was
held from March 27th to April 1st, 2006 in the
village of Rasa, Switzerland. This location in the
quiet and inspiring atmosphere of the Swiss Alps
was a perfect place to lead extensive discussions
around the topic “Mind, Knowledge and
Sustainability”.
Rasa– a small mountain village
It has been inhabited since the 16th century and
represents a typical old village of Ticino. A
settlement built around 1400 called Raxa is first
mentioned in writing. It is located on the site of
today’s Terra Vecchia, south-west of Rasa. The
first houses of present-day Rasa are built around
1700. In 1864, Rasa becomes an independent
community with 83 inhabitants.
Campo Rasa – The Conference Venue
Rasa
Rasa is a quiet, traffic-free mountain village in
Ticino, the southern part of Switzerland. It is a
small village standing at 900 meters above sea
level on a sunny terrace in the Cento Valli
(Hundred Valleys). Rasa can only be reached by
cableway or on foot from Intragna, Corcapolo, or
Bordei. Rasa is a quiet oasis in the midst of a
mostly untouched, powerful scenery as well as
the starting point for adventurous hikes and
excursions.
Map of Rasa
Rasa is the symbol for the simple and healthy
community life style. It is renovated, insulated
and equipped with a water pipeline of 4
kilometres, a waste water system, a wood-based
central heating system, solar panels for warm
water production and sanitary installations
(bathrooms, kitchen).
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Solar panels for warm water production
Campo Rasa - The Conference Venue
Surrounded by snowy peaks and chestnut forests,
the conference centre of Rasa, comprising some
over 200 year-old buildings and modern
sustainable infrastructure, offers an ideal location
for the conference. The whole conference centre
has carefully been restored following the
principles of sustainability. Its furnishings and
equipment is plain, functional and elegant. Apart
from lodging, dining room and cafeteria, there
are several differently sized lounges and rooms
for workshops. All houses are built and
renovated in accordance to the local tradition,
which exemplifies a lasting architecture.
Casa Rocca with main conference hall for
60-70 persons
Cá dal Sóo ("House of the Sun" in the local
dialect): A recently renovated multi-purpose
house with a beautiful and sunny backyard. A
wood-based central heating system with solar
panels for warm water production is installed –
which is a conscious decision to emphasize on
ecology. The second floor has a maximum of 18
beds in 5 rooms with 2 to 6 beds each, and a
multi-purpose room under the roof. The first
floor provides a number of public rooms such as
a cafeteria, a library, and a lounge with an open
fireplace. The cafeteria includes a kitchen which
is used to prepare small meals.
Casa Fonte: An impressive palazzo with 20 beds
in single and double rooms, 2 dining rooms with
large fireplaces as well as 2 group rooms, a
kitchen and the reception. All rooms are
electrically heated.
The lounge in Cá dal Sóo
A bedroom in Casa Fonte
Casa Rocca: On the first floor, there is a large
gathering room for up to 60 people. On the
second floor, there are 2 holiday apartments with
4 and 3 rooms (9 and 7 beds) and a small kitchen.
All rooms are electrically heated, the kitchens
have a small stove each.
Open fireplace in the "Ca da Soo"
Chapel: Next to the backyard of Cá dal Sóo,
there is another multi-purpose room, the
"Chapel", a place for gathering, reading, holding
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services, or just spending quiet time. In the
winter of 2003, the renovation of the Chapel
started. In response to the increased demand for
space the Chapel is enlarged with new window
facade and balcony.
Husbandry in Rasa
In front of the Chapel
Surroundings of the Conference Venue
A large number of trails lead through forests,
over mountainous meadows to lonely peaks
offering beautiful views. Locarno, As-cona and
the lake of Lago Maggiore are close. The guided
excursions to such places familiarized the
participants with examples of sustainability in
Switzerland and with the local culture.
A trail leads through chestnut forest around
Rasa
Attached to the conference venue is a small farm
with different animals and a large vegetable
garden. This is not only a contribution to the
integration of the Campo Rasa into the original
surroundings, but the farm also provided the
kitchen with self-grown, organic vegetables and
meat.
Conclusion
The Annual Meeting of the World Student
Community for Sustainable Development 2006
was a week long intensive discussions and
reflections on “Mind, knowledge and
sustainability.” During this week, we
investigated the conditions necessary for finding
and implementing long-term, sustainable
solutions. We not only concentrated on the
theoretical aspect of sustainable development,
but several excursions and inspections also gave
us an exemplary insight into the practical
applications of long-term thinking. The
conference centre itself set a good example. The
buildings, constructed several centuries ago, still
offer a comfortable living and working
environment. Furthermore today, the conference
centre, including the kitchen, is run on modern
ecological principles. But in particular, it is the
calm and solitude of Rasa – free from everyday
pressures – that allowed discussion in a relaxed
atmosphere. As a place of quietness Rasa is
especially suited for times of retreat for the
conference
participants.
Removed
from
distractions, the location and setting of the
conference supported the calm and focused
atmosphere. Rasa’s quietness is absolutely the
right conditions to find inner peace,
encouragement and new motivation for thinking
long-term, sustainable solutions. In short, the
special atmosphere of the conference location
and the conference topic, which raises
fundamental questions, provided fruitful
impulses and made the conference a remaining
experience for all the participants.
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Conference Schedule
Student speeches
Evelyn Rutto & Ruth Moko, University of Nairobi, Kenya
Mental Stability
Priyank Gupta & Vithika Sharma, Jaypee Institute of Information technology, India
An effort towards sustainable solutions for agriculture
Flor de Maria Perla-Alfaro, University of Regina, Canada
Sustainability, governance and capacity building in the south: a conceptual framework
Nnaemeka Okochi, University of Regina, Canada
Intellectual gain versus conscience – the struggle for the human soul, and its remedies
Debapratim Pandit, University of Tokyo
Towards a Sustainable Knowledge Society - Cultural diversity to networked
Interculturality
Tsewang Gyatso, Tibetan Medical and Astro Institute, Dharamsala, India
How to preserve 3000 year old knowledge: the case of Tibetan medicine
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Nina Kruglikova, Herzen State Pedagigical University of Russia, St. Petersburg
Education for and about Sustainable Development: Knowledge and Skills for
Sustainability
Sammy Chebon, University of Nairoby, Kenya
Knowledge Dissemination: Social Levels and Geographical Locations
S. M. Wahid, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand
Traditional and “Modern” Knowledge Systems: Roles in Sustainable Smallholder
Agriculture in a Poor and Crowded Delta
Workshops
University of Tokyo Student Community
Knowledge Beyond Boundaries” --- Role of Interdisciplinary Communication in
Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer
Selma L’Orange & Christoph Meier, University and ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Human – The forgotten Factor
Anastassia Manuilova, University of Regina, Canada
Development of new MSc program in Industrial Environmental Management and
Sustainable Development
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Reports
Page 13 of 34
Personal Impression
“How has my motivation changed throughout AM?”
By Ayumi Arakawa
To write this report, I interviewed two other participants, Nnaemeka Okochi from
Canada and Carl Justin Kamp from Swedwen.
Arumi
Nnaemeka
Justin
“I want to go back to Switzerland,”
This was my first motivation to apply for the AM 2006. Because I participated in
YES2005 in Switzerland which I thought one of my greatest and most fruitful days
in my life, I hoped to attend this kind of meeting again. During YES, of course there
were many lectures of professors and specialists from all over the world, I enjoyed
and learned much more from working with diverse participants and we built a strong
network of participants through which we still write to each other.
What was your motivation to attend AM?
“I desired to help represent my student community and to further develop
international networking.”(Justin)
“A lot of factors informed my decision to attend the AM. Most importantly, I believed
it would be a good opportunity to meet with, share ideas, learn from, and establish
contact with other young people like myself whom I consider future leaders of nations,
businesses, industry, academia, and other areas of life relevant to humanity. I was
not disappointed – it was a rich experience, and I also had lots of fun! Also, I believe
strongly in the reality and importance of the relationship between the mind,
knowledge and sustainability. It is a good topic that remains relevant to our past,
present and future.” (Nnaemeka)
After the selection of AM participants, we started working for our workshop named
“Knowledge Beyond Boundaries”. It was a great experience to work with masters
and doctors since I normally don’t have chances to be in the same project with them.
Preparing for workshop was not easy at all. I learned a lot not only about IPRs and
HIV/AIDS which were themes for our workshop, but also how to make a good
workshop. I thought building a workshop beforehand with people who would be
going together was a good preparation of mind, which I didn’t have during
preparation of YES program.
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After I arrived in Switzerland, time passed so quickly. I think I’ve got something from
everything I saw, heard, and I talked about with participants. I have learned that
“sustainability” has such diverse aspects. We never are able to define it completely,
but we can still seek that.
What have you learned through AM?
“I have learned that there are many amazing people from all over the world who share
a common vision, and who were deeply interested in everything the AM could offer. I
learned to see common problems through very different eyes.”(Justin)
“I have learnt that we are all different in some ways, but yet similar in many others.
We all want a better world, but have different ideas to get there. Being able to
consider the different viewpoints based on personal and cultural exposures was a very
elevating experience. Above all, I learnt that if we can keep a candid culture of
dialogue and listen with an open heart to one another’s viewpoint then we can work
effectively to bring about the change we all desire so much when tomorrow comes,
and we are the leaders.” (Nnaemeka)
Has this AM changed you?
“Yes, it has made me very excited to be a part of the organization and it gave me a
driving force to implement changes here in Sweden. I think we all had at least 10
interesting conversations per day of the AM. Through these conversations we were
able understand and bond with each other.” (Justin)
“Every experience changes people. At times, the change is positive; at other times, it
is negative. So, Yes! This experience has changed me in the sense that it has improved
my person, and widened the scope of my thinking. As I interacted with different
people from diverse backgrounds and origins, I saw the world in one place, but yet in
a multidimensional framework of interesting thoughts and ideas. It was an opportunity
to agree and to disagree, but above all, to learn and be a better person.” (Naemeka)
Yes. Before this AM, all of my motivation for attending it was just for me. I want to
go back to Switzerland. I want to meet new people. I want to have fun. But after it, I
found myself as a member of UTSC, WSC-SD and people responsible for making
changes to the world. I would like to commit myself to those communities and to the
sustainable world.
I believe that, AM2006 is just a start.
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Academic: Student Speeches
by Genki MORIYAMA, Huiting WEI
Student speeches
We’d like to make a short report on 8 student oral presentations.
 Evelyn Rutto & Ruth Moko, University of Nairobi, Kenya
Mental Stability
This presentation mainly talked about human well-being is important for sustainability,
and sustainable development should seek to maximize the contribution of humans and
ecosystems while minimizing the stress of people and ecosystems. One of the good
ways this presentation suggested was taking more mental care in education.

Priyank Gupta & Vithika Sharma, Jaypee Institute of Information
technology, India
An effort towards sustainable solutions for agriculture
This presentation mainly talked about the importance of traditional knowledge and its
application. Through the example of their work that involves documentation of the
innovative indigenous and sustainable methods in agriculture being practiced in India.
The conclusion is the implementation of the project requires the target population to
go through the documented innovations and understand the uses of alternate
indigenous innovative practices in order to achieve agricultural sustainability.
 Flor de Maria Perla-Alfaro, University of Regina, Canada
Sustainability, governance and capacity building in the south: a conceptual
framework
She gave us the presentation named “Sustainability, governance and capacity
building in the south: a conceptual framework”. She stated that governing process are
changing and are increasingly defined by complexity and uncertainty, particularly in
relation to sustainability. Traditional hierarchical models of governance are no longer
effective or appropriate to meet these demands. Governance processes are essential to
sustainability at various scales and good governance as an act of steering people’s
development involves a full range of meaningful and informed participation and
embraces transparency, accountability, equity and legitimacy. It requires effective
capacities on the part of stakeholders at community, local, national and global levels
and in all sectors. She took an example of the rural community of El Bajo Lempa, El
Salvador, and explored the theoretical issues and challenges related to capacity
building for local governance in the context of sustainable development.
 Nnaemeka Okochi, University of Regina, Canada
Intellectual gain versus conscience – the struggle for the human soul, and its
remedies
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He argued that the human mind is a powerful medium of creation; from within its
chambers emanate the visible fruits of our existence – both good and bad. History
over many centuries proved the amazing productivity, as well as the highly destructive
capability of man’s mind. He pointed out that intellectual property rights are
extraordinary and dynamic boundaries of technology transfer that gives humanity new
hops for a sustainable livelihood, there still exist a vast majority of people, mostly in
developing countries, who may remain trapped fro a long time to come, in the
trenches if poverty and despair. He raised an example from case study in Nigeria. In
Nigeria, the normal software such as Windows is too expensive and not affordable for
the people living there. But how then can we bridge the conflict that emanates
between a legitimate desire for the compensation of intellectual property, and noble
call to help the less privileged nations of the earth who can not afford the cost of such
technologies? His paper highlighted and discussed what the he believes are some
potent remedies to solving the conflicts between a legitimate desire for gain on
intellectual properties versus a need to uphold public interest, especially in regards to
the developing nations of the world. Also, he pointed out that a relation ship
between this problem, as well as the effect of its proposed solutions, and sustainable
development is established.
 Debapratim Pandit, University of Tokyo
Towards a Sustainable Knowledge Society - Cultural diversity to networked
Interculturality
In this paper, he analyzed the current trend of ICT (Information and Communication
Technologies) usage and attempts to identify how new technologies can transform
cultural diversity into as asset rather than barrier towards networked interculturtality
and an efficient sustainable knowledge society. He examined the various theoretical
and practical aspects of this process and tries to identify the key concepts and
technologies to ensure the sustainable knowledge society. He puts the emphasize on
the local content, linguistic diversity, art, literature etc, are all ingredients of this
cultural diversity, which needs to be integrated with the existing notion of an
information society, to ensure the sustainable knowledge society.
 Olumuyiwa Oni, MIT
“Examining the Pipeline: Why isn’t the Knowledge Base Getting to the Human
Pipeline”
The strategies and knowledge based to support sustainable living are available now,
and today’s goal centre on transmitting that knowledge from community to
community and from person to person, and facilitating its sustained application.
Unfortunately though, the tasks of knowledge transmission and application have
proven much more difficult to realize than the task of compiling the facts and
sustainable strategies. In order to improve the success of these tasks at all levels, it is
necessary to examine the kind of local and global system that make knowledge
transmission and application less feasible. He mentioned two cases, one is US where
he is living now and another is Nigeria where he came from. In the US, a suitable
system for sustainable growth might be fortified by environmentally conscious
legislature that targets the corporate or consumer levels. In Nigeria, the system for
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sustainable growth might be fortified by provision of regular, reliable power
distribution and water distribution to the masses. He put the stress on that the question
of what kinds of systems need to be in place today to enable successful knowledge
transmission and application is locally specific, in a global sense these systems
demand transparency and personal accountability at the government level, corporate
level and consumer level. At the most fundamental level, transparency involves
making available information relevant to global sustainability, and accountability
involves taking responsibility of one’s actions and rectifying them when necessary. In
the case of EarthWatch Nigeria, they believe that the system of accountability and
transparency needs to be rectified for sustainable progress and serves as a
development and environment organization that informs, interprets, advocates at the
government, corporate and consumer levels – it is a necessary step towards
facilitating global sustainability.
 Sammy Chebon, University of Nairoby, Kenya
Knowledge Dissemination: Social Levels and Geographical Locations
This presentation mainly talked about the availability of knowledge has
indisputably created wide rift between the rich and the poor, developed and
developing countries, proving irrefutably that knowledge is power. This presentation
suggested that there should be encouragement on critical thinking original creativity,
imagination, intelligence and acting utilizing knowledge and experience and
perception of reality especially in this changing world. This can be achieved by
rewarding new inventions and greater achievements and awarding jobs according to
merit.
 S. M. Wahid, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok, Thailand
Traditional and “Modern” Knowledge Systems: Roles in
Smallholder Agriculture in a Poor and Crowded Delta
Sustainable
This presentation argued that modern agricultural knowledge systems are overtly
focused on the better endowed regions, commodity-intensive production systems, and
commercial crops. Example is taken from the Post-green Revolution in Bangladesh.
And this presentation concluded in favor of targeting modern agricultural research
more effectively towards the involvement of smallholders in the generation and
diffusion of knowledge and processed that our university education and research
programmes need to shift the search light into in depth analysis of the parallelism of
insights between the traditional knowledge systems, on one hand, and certain areas of
modern science concerned with fundamental aspects, on the other.
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Academic: Workshop Report
Workshop Title:
“Knowledge Beyond Boundaries” --- Role of Interdisciplinary
Communication in Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer.
By: University of Tokyo Student Community (UTSC)
by Joko Sulistyo YEKTI
In this 2006 Annual Meeting of World Student Community for Sustainable
Development held in Rasa village-Switzerland, University of Tokyo Student
Community had conducted a workshop with the title mentioned above as it related
with the main theme of the annual meeting “Mind-Knowledge, and Sustainability”.
We realized the fact that, the gaps and boundaries existing between the
different disciplines of knowledge as well as its reach and spread among the masses as
the primary hindrance to a sustainable society. Thus, to achieve sustainability, two
important issues that need to be addressed are collaboration among researchers from
various fields leading to cutting edge multi-disciplinary research and to
simultaneously devise plans to ensure this knowledge reaches the entire society.
Within this Workshop we will try to highlight the fact that, interdisciplinary
communication between the various majors can essentially result in innovative
solutions as well as to form a concrete plan to make this technology reach the people
who would be actually using them. The present workshop focuses on the issues
related to IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) and the technology transfer process.
For example, access to
pharmaceuticals and particularly
HIV/AIDS drugs is an important
issue in the world today. However,
intellectual property in form of
patents and trademarks prevent
the access to this technology
from the poorer parts of the world.
In the workshop we will debate
the process of technology transfer
vis-a-vis intellectual property and
try to come up with some new
ideas in this respect.
←
Our work shop structure
The main objective of this workshop is to highlight the fact that,
interdisciplinary thinking and communication could actually result in more effective
and appropriate solutions for various sustainability problems. In order to reach the
objective, we were convey adequate relevant information about these issues through
case studies and the same time engage the participants into a multidisciplinary
discussion to analyze the various issues involved.
Page 19 of 34
We can say that our workshop were the
most successful one, compare with the other two
workshops. Being held in the same pararel session
with another workshop, made us worried in the
beginning, whether we will be able to have
enough participants as we expected before or not,
since our workshop methodology will works
effectively with enough number of participants.
But it happened that our workshop title had
impressed most of the participants (…out of…)
and they realized that this title is really important
problem to be discussed in the real world.
Within the workshop, as we expected, the
participants here were really active and gave a lot
of great arguments in each group we set. It was
also interesting to see the discussion between
individuals with different background of culture,
education. In this workshop, representative of
UTSC were played a role as a facilitator for each
group we made. He/she has to give general
information about what happened in the world
about IPR and Technology transfer related with
HIV medicine, including the problems and/or
issues related. And after that, facilitator has a role
to keep in context the discussion in the group.
At the end of the workshop, each group
of participants, were presented their discussion
result in front of all participants. Several
recommendation from each group of “education
backgrounds” named: Economist, Engineer,
Public Policy maker, Sociologist, are listed
below:
There should not be “one size fits all” patent available. The
suggestion are:
1.
Different prices for different country.
2.
Different prices for medicine. Especially for medicine which
urgently needed for diseases in third world or developing countries.
Free license for developing countries. But, we have to make sets of
indicator to define what kind of developing country need this “free license”.
Groups of countries can come together to get the medicine. There is
a need for well defined mediatory institutions/ IP clearinghouse.
Redefined TRIPS (Trade Related on Intellectual Property)
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agreement.
Increase company support for HIV medicine.
Less than conventional patent period for some medicine. The patent
period now on is 6 years, which means that during this period, anyone who are going
to use or “duplicate” the know how process of one particular medicine, has to include
patent fee, which result on higher price.
Coordination between countries for legislation for open source of
medicine technology.
Coordination with NGO’s for some case of medicine for one
particular area which severely needs medicine.
In general, we can say that we achieved our workshops’ goal that
interdisciplinary thinking and communication could actually result in more effective
and appropriate solutions for various sustainability problems. In fact, some of
participants commend on our workshop methodology which clearly represent the
condition of real discussion happened in the real world.
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Academic: Expert Panel & Speeches
by Debapratim PANDIT
The expert panel and speeches at WSCSD AM 2006 were directly linked to
the theme of this years’ conference “Mind Knowledge & Sustainability”. There were
three speeches in particular with topics ranging from traditional knowledge to moral
ethics. However, most of these speeches stressed the link between Sustainability,
spirituality and philosophy.
Speech by Jeremy Narby, Anthropologist
Jeremy Narby is an anthropologist who worked with the Ashaninca Indians of
the Peruvian Amazons and on their methods of using the forest’s resources. His
speech gave us an insight into the indigenous knowledge of the ethnic people who has
gained it over time and interestingly which matches the findings of modern medicine
but without the help of modern instruments and scientific knowledge. There he
stressed the link between indigenous knowledge with a deeper cosmological and
philosophical framework and gave us several examples using sources in anthropology
and biology.
Speech by Tenzin Namdul, Tibetian Medicine Specialist
Tenzin Namdul is a specialist in the science of Tibetan Medicine and involved
in research on diabetes and clinical toxicity study on Cancer as a research doctor at
the Tibetan Medicine and Astrological Institute. His speech titled, “ Moral Ethics: the
Core Element of Sustainable Development” touches on the Tibetan culture and
particularly Tibetan Medicine , knowledge exchange between different cultures and
the failure of the present generation to handle wisdom thus emphasizing the
importance of mind in positive sustainable development.
His speech started with Tibetan history where he stressed from the period from
3rd to the 11th century coined as the “ Golden Age” of Tibetan culture when there was
a positive and serene exchange of knowledge, literature, religion, medicine and
merchandize between Tibet and the neighboring countries which resulted in the
development of Tibet’s traditional medical systems and similarly which influenced the
knowledge and culture of the neighboring countries as well. This concept of
development of knowledge could significantly contribute to world sustainable
development. He also stressed the fact that, Buddhist philosophy as in the case of
Tibetan Medicine and similar other philosophies have traditionally influenced
knowledge in different cultures over time.
Last of all he pointed out that, in spite of the availability of vast amount of
knowledge and literature, the importance of the individual consciousness and the
importance of mind is one of the most important dimensions we usually forget while
searching for positive sustainable development.
Speech by Kurt Lussi, Author and Curator of Museum of History Luzern
Kurt Lussi being a specialist on the research field of popular faiths and
popular medicine in the Alpine regions gave a speech on the magico-religious
mentality in Central Switzerland. He talked about the beliefs and traditions of the
Alpine people and how these were an important part for their sense of self-confidence
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and which in turn provided the basis for their spiritual quality of life. He also stressed
the point that spirituality is the basis for international mutual understanding and
ultimately peace.
Conclusion:
All the speeches were interesting and very informative and gave us an insight
into a very different way of looking into sustainability. In fact all of these speeches
mentioned the importance of spirituality and philosophy in achieving sustainability as
sustainability couldn’t be achieved only by science and technology but by changes in
our way of life and thinking.
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Academic: Report on Posters
By PASHA Sohel,
T
his year in AM 2006 the number of posters is not sufficient to hold a full session of an hour
or two. So, it has been decided to display the posters on the walls of the lecture/ speech hall
(Rocca Hall) and the participants could watch those and have discussion with the authors during
the breaks from March 28th noon to March 29th evening. A total of 6 posters were in display this
year.
1. Model Workshop for Sustainability
Learning – To Become Changing Agent for
Sustainable Future
Ohshiro Sanae
University of Tokyo, Japan
Genki Moriyama
University of Tokyo, Japan
Tamai Akihiro
University of Tokyo, Japan
It has been said that the major obstacles to
accomplish sustainable society is caused by
the gaps and boundaries among disciplines
and the interval between scientific researches
and the real world. Therefore, to achieve
sustainability,
collaboration
among
multi-disciplinal research is required. Also,
scientists should develop their capability to
apply their knowledge and wisdom for
contribution to society. In this poster, the
usefulness of workshop is reconsidered as one
of the quite effective ways to brush up on
individual communication skill and to build
the capacity for consensus building among
diversity in order to bridge this gap. Through
spread of this workshop model, networking
among diverse researchers would be promoted
and consensus building towards global
sustainability could expand all over the world.
2. Governance and Capacity Building in the
South: A Conceptual Framework
Flor de Maria Alfaro
University of Regina, Canada
Governing processes are changing and are
increasingly defined by complexity and
uncertainty, particularly in relation to
sustainability. Traditional hierarchical models
of governance are no longer effective or
appropriate to meet these demands. Governing
processes are essential to sustainability at
various scales. Examining local governing
processes and how local authorities and their
citizens manage change and determining what
novel forms of governing they are developing
is integral to understanding opportunities and
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constrains to the implementation of
sustainable rural praxis in rural communities
of the periphery. In this sense, good
governance as an act of steering people’s
development involves full range of
meaningful and informed participation and
embraces transparency, accountability, equity
and legitimacy. It requires effective capacities
on the part of stakeholders at community,
local, national and global levels and in all
sectors. By taking into consideration the
experiences of the rural community of Bajo
Lempa, El Salvador, this research explores the
theoretical issues and challenges related to
capacity building for local governance in the
context of sustainable development. This
paper finds that novel and creative forms of
local participation differs from previous more
limited efforts on community participation by
connecting citizens to local governments
through institutional linkage.
3.
Sustainable
Development
Appropriate Technologies
can perform tasks as varied as making roof
tiles, pumping water, and depulping coffee
quickly, easily, and more economically
without need for fossil fuels or electricity. Our
project with MayaPedal aims to increase their
capacity to serve their community primarily
by implementing a lean production system for
their most popular product: the biccimolino/
desgranadora, or maize grinder and sheller.
This shift to lean thinking in the organization
of the shop and manufacturing process should
decrease costs, thereby allowing MayaPedal to
decrease the price to its customers, and to
increase their own financial stability.
and
Jessica Vechakul
MIT, USA
Alexander Yip
MIT, USA
(a) Public Service Fellowships: Pedal Power
MayaPedal is a Guatemalan NGO that
produces bicimaquinas, or pedal-powered
devices,
to
create
income-generating
opportunities for people in the local rural
community. With bicimaquinas rural farmers
(b) Bicycle Ambulance
In remote villages, people are dying from
curable diseases sometimes because they
cannot reach medical care when they need it
most. Often, the only way for family members
to bring ill patients or pregnant women to a
clinic is to carry them on their backs. If the
distance from home to healthcare takes several
days to traverse, villagers do not even attempt
the journey, allow conditions to worsen, or die
before they reach aid. The bicycle ambulance
has been a proven solution to this tragic
problem in several developing areas. Bicycles
are an appropriate technology that can be
locally maintained, but bicycles alone do not
offer a safe or comfortable means of transport
for ill or pregnant patients. In several
developing countries, bicycle ambulances
have been used to transport people in need to
health centers in rural areas, where current
methods of transport are inappropriate in
speed, safety, cost, or availability. Designing
bicycle ambulance that will meet the needs of
rural communities in Zambia was the goal of
this project.
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(c) D-Lab Zambia
In the Luangwa Valley of Eastern Zambia, life
is challenging for the subsistence farmers
struggling to survive and live peaceably
among wildlife. In this remote area, about 60
km from the nearest paved road, lies the
chiefdom of Mwape. Since January 2005,
Mwape has been a home and a
mind-broadening, life-changing experience for
several D-lab and UNZA (University of
Zambia) students. During the most recent trip
in January 2006, the D-lab team worked on
projects in areas as varied as water, education,
and agriculture. In the future, we intend to
initiate a pit latrine promotion program and
encourage the use of soap to improve
sanitation and reduce the transmission of
disease. As more teams of students continue to
visit Mwape each year, we hope to strengthen
the bonds of friendship and collaboration,
hoping to bring development in a way that
empowers and enriches the community.
The objective of the presentation is to assess
the situation “mental health” in the world
today with highlights on urbanization, poverty,
unemployment and HIV/AIDS. If the issue of
mental health is not taken seriously, the
potential and productivity of people will
continue to decline. Our agenda should first
and foremost be to invest in people, in human
capital as a resource on which to build
sustainability.
5. A Proposal for the International Youth
Network for Sustainability – Visualize our
Significant Network!!
Okabe Hotaka
University of Tokyo, Japan
4. Mental Stability
Ruth Moko
University of Nairobi, Kenya
Evelyne Rutto
University of Nairobi, Kenya
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Student Community (SC) for sustainable
development is growing in each country and
university all over the world. However, due to
the weak connection among those SCs, it is
difficult to develop the lively interaction and
collaborative work beyond the boundaries of
distance, generation and so on. Useful
networking
system
for
effective
communication is needed so that every SC
member can interact easily. In this poster, we
would like to propose some examples of the
networking system which is currently being
developed in the University of Tokyo Student
Community (UTSC).
There was a poster titled “Environmental
Psychology” by an anonymous author in
display. The poster was about perception of
environmental crisis, effects of environmental
stress and necessary conditions for
environmentally friendly behaviour.
6. Environmental Psychology
Anonymous
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Culture & Communication
By Hotaka Okabe
In my part, I would like to report about culture and communication in AM. In this
AM, there are many programs for culture and communication, for example, concert,
introducing participants own culture, hiking, excursion, religious lecture which expert
did because one of this AM theme is “Mind”. In addition, AM was held in small villageRasa, there is no internet, no TV, no film, and this village is surrounded by nature,
mountains. This environment made participants relaxed and promoted participants to
communicate with each other. Actually, many participants talked till a late hour in front
of the fire. I think this AM made more communication among participants that former
AM I heard.
In my experience, these programs helped me communicate with other. At first, I was
so nervous because of my English skill. I sometimes couldn’t understand what other
participants said, and talked about
specialist theme. Moreover, I thought it
was chance to develop my English skill,
so I didn’t communicate with member of
UTSC as much as possible. However,
this thought made me pressured and
nervous. These programs made me are
free from this pressure, for example
–hiking to Alpe du Naccio Pizzo Leone-
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it was so hard to reach the top of mountain. The number of people who could reach the
top is about 15 people. This was so hard, but we could share our moving experience.
This experience made me realize that language problem is not problem and to
understand each other doesn’t need word. These programs provided subject for talking.
I think it is important that we have shared experience among different culture people.
I learned shared experience is
important
and
promotes
our
communication. I think this way have
wide application for UTSC. For
example, we can make program for
hiking to see beautiful landscape in
UTSC. Other example, we can
coordinate some exciting symposium
for developing our relation. In this
year, I want to make more relation
with each Working Group. In next year, we are organizer of WSC-SD AM, so I think it
is opportunity for more communication. In addition, I can make use of this experience
and I want to do that.
I would like to sincerely thank you for all UTSC members and AGS UT giving me
chance to go exciting AM.
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Feedback
Feed back from participants for AM2007
by Sanae OHSHIRO
UTSC is going to host the next WSCSD AM in March, 2007. In order to make
the most of the valuable experience of this AM 2006, we asked for feedback from the
participants, and got some answers to the following questions via E-mail.
Questions:
----------------Feed back from this AM2006
1) How did you like it? Etc
In accordance with your answer above, what is your request to AM2007 in Japan
In terms of
2) Conference Theme
3) Conference location
& please feel free to write 4) anything else that you want to comment for
AM2007
----------------Answers:
AM06 in Rasa
1) How did you like it? etc
Generally, the previous meeting enjoyed popularity among almost all
participants and especially they loved the location like Rasa very much.
Location
+all the participants lived more or less at the same place in a remote village.
That’s important to develop a “group-feeling”, which in turn is important since we
only have to possibility to meet once a year.
+the special location and the amazong intercultural group did the rest for
creating a very special experience.
Topic ”mind, knowledge, and sustainability”
+the combination of spiritual and praktical thoughts and topics inspired me
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for my professional and my private life.
Program and Activities
+Leisure activities give the participants a bit a feeling of holidays which in
turn can make the atmosphere more relaxed.
-there were too many leisure activities, and less time for presentation or
academic experiences.
- Too long
e too long. Most people do research or have to follow their
studies. Three to four days should be enough.
- Too little focus on students’ presentations.
possibility to present their work
- Posters were not rates
on the AM topic, but that people should be free to send in posters in their field of
research in SD, even if it doesn’t fit under the AM topic.
Hosting of participants by [project21]
+it was great to have the possibility to be hosted by someone from
[project21]. People with small budget can safe some money but it’s also good to get to
know how people live and to make friends.
- Attitude of organizers
Logistics & more
- Call of papers/posters was started too late
on the weekend, which was a bit troublesome to organize.
AM07 in Tokyo
2)Conference theme
・Cutting edge technologies
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think thank and mastermind in the field of SD, being aware of what is “new on the
market” and what has potential to revolutionize the field.
・
Evidence to promote SD.
a certain technology – let’s say on the local CO2 emission? We often hear of negative
effects of certain behaviour, but rarely about positive ones. Evidence of the positive
effect of a program should be the basis for policy and behaviour change. Student could
present their work with special emphasis on the outcome.
・the problems humanity and this world is facing from a different angle
and technical about it, but this whole topic definitely involves how we treat each other,
it involves societal values and a spiritual search for everyone of us. because if we do not
solve the problems inside of us, how do we change bigger problems? how do we change
that people are just looking after themselves, not caring about the suffering of others,
how do we change that people want to consume more and more just because they feel
empty inside? so a search for a more sustainable, a fairer world involves the topics we
touched in Rasa.
3) conference location
All feedbacks recommended the place like Rasa in the next AM in Japan,
・it is great to try to act more sustainable in our daily lifes. Rasa showed us
one way to be more aware of our own behaviour.
・a site like Rasa would still be a good Idea
・thinking back to Rasa and other AMs, I would strongly recommend that
people all stay in the same place, maybe even out of town. I think that was what made
Rasa special, people also spent evenings together, not like in a big city where people all
go to their own hotel after lectures are over.
・prefer to have the next AM in a place where everybody lives and works
together, like it was the case in Rasa. This allows much more intensive discussions as it
would be if people met only during the official sessions. I have never been to Japan, but
I already imagine myself walking around in a nive Japanese garden as I saw on some
pictures...
4) other recommends, etc.
・Announcement / Call for paper: it would be good to announce the dates of the
next a bit earlier than this time.
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・
Timing: At university of Zurich and ETH, we will have vacations from
February 10th to March 18th. Ususally there are some exams at the beginning of the
vacations. Of course it's better for us to have the meeting during vacation time.
・In order to improve the next years AM, you can try to provide for simple things
Ex) Note taking folders: very few of us were taking notes and somebody is
always taking note of all that is taking place in the presentations, workshops etc and
decisions people made and projects proposed. At last we will have something to reflect
on. Unlike this years meeting where I noticed that very few people were taking notes
and there was no summary of what was discussed and many people I believe went home
with very little unlike if there was a summary. the summarized document can be
forwarded to people later after the meeting of not ready immediately after the meeting.
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Attachments
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