Last week, the ICC participated in the 1st Forum of Mesoamerican Universities in Climate Change, which gathered universities and specialist in the matter from Central America, southern Mexico, Dominican Republic and Colombia. The forum was hosted in Guatemala. The ICC was one of the organizing and sponsoring institutions, as it also shared its experiences working with the private sector and with Guatemalan universities through 34 students who have had their internships or thesis done in the ICC from 2011 to 2017.
The forum was held in Guatemala City (June 20th) in the Igloo Magna Classroom in the San Carlos University, and the 21st and 22nd in the Santo Tomas House of the San Carlos University in Antigua Guatemala.
The forum was organized by the National Network of Environmental Education and Research REDFIA, supported by the San Carlos University, the Guatemalan System of Climate Change Sciences SGCCC, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources MARN and the ICC.
The forum hosted keynote presentations with Dr. Orlando Saenz Zapata, from the Alliance of Iberoamerican Networks of Universities for the Sustainability and Environment ARIUSA, and Dr. Julie Lenox, from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean ECLAC on the 20th, while the 21st and 22nd participants shared experiences and worked in roundtables with the other assistants.
The event hosted participants from ARIUSA, the Sub Regional Headquarters from the ECLAC in Mexico, the San Carlos University of Guatemala, the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Guatemala, the National Secretariat for Science and Technology SENACYT, the Environmental Network of Sustainable Universities –RAUS (Colombia), the Institute for Environmental Research and Services IDEASA of the Sergio Arboleda University in Colombia, the Costa Rican Network of Sustainable Educational Institutions REDIES, EARTH University Costa Rica, the Environmental Network of Dominican Universities RAUDO, the Iberoamerican University UNIBE of Dominican Republic, the Center for Risk Management and Climate Change Research of the UNICACH, University of Sciences and Arts of Chiapas, Mexico, the International Marine University of Panama, the Galileo and Panamerican Universities of Guatemala, the National University of Forest Sciences and the National Autonomous University of Honduras, the University of El Salvador, the National University of Nicaragua, the Guatemalan System of Climate Change Sciences SGCCC, and the Private Institute for Climate Change Research ICC. Other representatives of the Guatemalan academic sector participated in the forum, such as Del Valle University, Galileo University, among others, as well as the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.
During the forum, the Declaration of Antigua Guatemala was issued (document in Spanish), which is related to the necessity and urgency to take actions in climate change locally and globally, and that reassure the commitment of the academic sector in the region in the efforts against climate change.
