RCEs of the Americas The 2016 Americas Regional Meeting was hosted by RCE Curitiba, in Brazil from the

19th-21st of October. 10 RCEs from 8 different countries showcased their work from the previous year,

highlighting work on education and community engagement initiatives. 9 of the RCEs in the region created action plans for their individual RCEs, specifying

ties to GAP Priority Action Areas and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) SDGs that were prioritized for the region included:

Goal #4: Quality Education (7 RCEs have this SDG listed as a priority) Goal #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities (6 RCEs have this SDG listed as a priority) Goal #17: Partnerships for the Goals (6 RCEs have this SDG listed as a priority) Goal 12: Responsible Consumption & Production (5 RCEs have this SDG listed as a priority)

Inter-RCE Collaboration: RCE Grand Rapids continues to provide support to the Youth Virtual

Conference, this year assisting the African Youth Network in hosting its first virtual meeting

RCE Lima-Callao is coordinating the creation of a joint degree program among universities in Latin America which will highlight how traditional knowledge systems can contribute to sustainable development.

RCE Bogota and RCE Western Jalisco are interested in piloting an inter-RCE exchange in the Americas, and idea discussed for sometime, which would allow university students and teachers to visit another RCE and learn about ESD and the implementation of SDGs in the host region.

RCE Saskatchewan is actively working with environmental assessment in communities impacted by the development of mines in the area

RCEs of the Americas

Next Steps: RCEs present drafted an Action Plan on Joint Activities for the coming year;

the Plan highlights increased communication between RCEs in the region as a desired outcome

An open call for the RCE Americas Regional Meeting 2016 will be held shortly; RCE Quebec has already expressed interest

One idea held at this year’s Americas Conference was to hold the next regional meeting back to back with a youth workshop on sustainable development, where local youth and those visiting from other RCEs could work on a SD project to benefit the host community Mechanisms for enabling this will need to be discussed by next year’s host and the

RCEs of the region Attendees expressed their desire to find a mechanism to offset their carbon

emissions for next year’s conference, including tree planting in the host community or offsetting through forests in their home communities.

RCEs of the Americas

RCEs of the Americas