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UNAI and SDSN Join Forces to Advance the Sustainable Development Goals

Combating hunger, poverty, climate change, and gender inequality while promoting good health, education, clean water and sanitation, and decent work and economic growth are just a few of the aims of the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).ÌýÌý

To mobilize action in support of achieving the SDGs, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) and the today announced a strategic collaboration to activate universities, research institutions and NGOs to advance teaching, applied research and problem solving around the SDGs.

Head of UNAI, Ramu Damodaran, said the agreement will help to generate relevant academic content and utilize academic expertise to help aid in policy development and progress on the SDGs. Ìý

New Tool Helps Communities Better Understand Climate Change

Global climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity, but communicating complex climate science to different stakeholders is a challenging task for climate scientists. Nevertheless, Article 6 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) addresses the importance of climate change communication and engaging stakeholders in the issue. It highlights the responsibility of participating countries to develop and implement educational and public awareness programmes on climate change and its effects to ensure public access to information and to promote public participation.

Low Impact Living Can Yield High Returns in Happiness

Six years ago American author Colin Beavan decided to see what it would take to live a truly eco-friendly life and have zero impact on the environment, all while living in the heart of New York City.Ìý He chronicled his yearlong experiment in the 2010 book No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet and the Discoveries He Makes about Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process.

Mr. Beavan stopped by the Ãå±±½ûµØBookshop at United Nations Headquarters on 28 January to launch his new book, How To Be Alive: A Guide to the Kind of Happiness That Helps the World, and discuss his ideas on how people can live a life more aligned with their values, passions and concerns.Ìý The discussion was moderated by Peter H. Kostmayer, CEO of the Citizens Committee for New York City, and Ãå±±½ûµØUnder-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, Cristina Gallach, made opening remarks.

Lessons Learned from 70 Years of Ãå±±½ûµØConflict Resolution and Peacekeeping

On Tuesday, 26 January more than 200 people attended an event co-hosted by United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) and the International Studies Association (ISA) entitled The United Nations Confronting War and Violence: Lessons after 70 Years.

The three hour discussion examined the lessons learned from seventy years of Ãå±±½ûµØconflict resolution and what role academia, research institutions and data collection can play in strengthening peacemaking, peacebuilding and peacekeeping.Ìý

UNAI Director Ramu Damodaran, as conference moderator, encouraged panelists to outline key areas in which the United Nations could improve in conflict prevention and response.

And Quiet Flows the River: Students use Dance and Song to Advocate for Environmental Change

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New Report Examines Perception of Religion and Looks at Ways to Increase Dialogue and Trust across Faiths

The 2016 Annual Dialogue Report, prepared by Media Tenor, was released today and examines ways in which we can build trust and increase dialogue across religious faiths.ÌýThe report, which has been published annually since 2008, provides objective data on the perception of religion and the media coverage of religious issues, in a study that compares attitudes and frames between countries. The analysis focuses especially on the perception of Islam and traces the development from 9/11, over the Pontificate of Benedict XVI and Obama's 2009 speech in Cairo, to the recent development in the Middle East that is shaped by the unprecedented rise of the Islamic State. The implications of the findings are unambiguous: the only way to overcome the divide between religions is to improve our attempts at unlearning intolerance.

Is a More Equitable Society a More Peaceful Society? UNAI-sponsored Conference Examines the Links between Poverty and Conflict

On 11 and 12 January 2016 more than two dozen scholars from universities, think tanks and non-governmental organizations gathered at United Nations headquarters for a two day conference examining the role poverty and inequality play in fostering conflict.Ìý

The conference, co-sponsored by United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), George Mason University's School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution and People Programme International, brought together scholars from various disciplines including economics, sociology, psychology, politics and cultural analysis to discuss the causes of poverty and inequality, what could be done to combat these issues and what role the United Nations could play in the process. ÌýÌý

The United Nations celebrated its 70^th birthday last year and adopted the Sustainable Development Goals in September, providing an opportunity to focus global attention on inequality as an impediment to achieving peace and security.Ìý

Call for Applications: 2016 Reham Al-Farra (RAF) Memorial Journalists Fellowship Programme

The United Nations Department of Public Information is currently seeking applications from young journalists and broadcasters for the 2016 Reham Al-Farra (RAF) Memorial Journalists Fellowship Programme.

The Programme provides journalists with an opportunity to gain first-hand experience in the work of the United Nations. It is also an opportunity to meet journalists from other countries and exchange ideas with Ãå±±½ûµØcommunication professionals.

Selected journalists and broadcasters will spend four weeks at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, from 8 September through 5 October, 2016

Upon completion of the Programme, participants are expected to continue working in journalism or broadcasting and help promote better understanding of the United Nations in their home country.

Happy New Year from UNAI

Happy New Year from UNAI! Ìý

We're looking forward to another year of knowledge, education and engagement with all our member schools!

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Cross Cultural Collaboration to Achieve the SDGs

Open communication, collaboration and cultural understanding are the hallmarks of international diplomacy, and a new initiative launched by Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, USA and Effat University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia looks to advance these principles through a newly launched partnership between the two schools.Ìý

On 7 December 2015 students and faculty from the two schools gathered in person and via videoconference at the United Nations in New York for their inaugural meeting to discuss areas of mutual interest and give students from both schools an opportunity to share their cultural backgrounds. Attendees also discussed how the universities could collaborate to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals that were adopted by the United Nations on 25 September.Ìý This collaboration is the first experience of this kind for both schools. ÌýÌý

Global Education Motivators initiate funding drive to help victims of Chennai flooding

On December 2, 2015, torrential rains in Chennai, India triggered the region's worst flood in over 100 years, killing 300 and leaving the city of 4.8 million people underwater.Ìý

The Chennai disaster is being called a 'perfect storm,' a shining example of what can happen when climate change meets poor urban planning, wrote Sreedhar Potarazu, founder of a software company focused on providing data science applications to assess health care delivery, in an op-ed on CNN.com.Ìý

As the city of Chennai begins the process of drying out and cleaning up, students and teachers at the Omega School have been doing the same.Ìý

Their library that housed more than 10,000 books now has only 20.Ìý

The Omega School was established for the purpose of teaching children not only what they need to succeed in the real world by way of practical skills, but also to teach them the values that they need to cherish and uphold all their lives.

UNAOC Call for application for the Youth Event for our Global Forum in Baku

The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) invites young people from around the world who are members of youth led organizations/networks/initiatives to apply to the Youth Event at the 7th UNAOC Global Forum in Baku on April 25-27, 2016. The event, entitled Living Together in Inclusive SocietiesÌýis an amazing opportunity for participants to interact with key stakeholders, experts and other youth involved in social action and to contribute to shaping the global narrative on social inclusion.Ìý
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Nations Reach Historic Agreement on Climate Change

On 12 December, 195 nations adopted an historic, legally binding agreement to combat climate change and unleash actions and investment towards a low carbon, resilient and sustainable future.Ìý The Paris agreement for the first time brings all nations into a common cause based on their historic, current and future responsibilities.

The overarching aim of the agreement is to limit temperature rise in this century to two degrees Celsius and to drive efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The 1.5 degrees Celsius limit is a significantly safer defence line against the worst impacts of a changing climate. Additionally, the agreement seeks to strengthen the ability to deal with the impacts of climate change.

Promoting and Protecting Freedom: Human Rights Day 2015

Amid large-scale atrocities and widespread abuses across the world, Human Rights Day should rally more concerted global action to promote the timeless principles that we have collectively pledged to uphold. –Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General

This Thursday, 10 December, is Human Rights Day, a day that commemorates the adoption of the by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948.Ìý

The Fast Track to End AIDS

Each hour nearly 140 people die from AIDS-related causes.ÌýThere are nearly 37 million people living with the disease and there were 2 million new infections reported in 2014.ÌýMuch has been done to address the AIDS epidemic in the last 10 years, but there is still work to do to halt the spread of HIV, ensure that people have access to life saving medications and address HIV/AIDS within the larger framework of the Global Sustainable Development Goals.

December 1 is World AIDS Day and provides an opportunity to raise awareness about what has been accomplished and the challenges that remain.ÌýThe theme for World AIDS Day 2015 is 'On The Fast Track to End AIDS:Ending the AIDS epidemic as part of the Sustainable Development Goals'.