Media

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Policy for Sustainability Lab (PSL) of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong has recently joined the International Partnership for Satoyama Initiative (IPSI) established at the Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP10). PSL is the first IPSI member from the Greater Bay Area. IPSI was launched in 2010 with the mission of promoting and conserving sustainable human-influenced natural environments worldwide. To date IPSI comprises 230 member organizations from 65 countries. The IPSI membership is a recognition of PSL’s contributions to rural sustainability through the “HSBC Rural Sustainability Programme” (titled “Sustainable Lai Chi Wo Programme” before October 2017) supported by The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC). The success story of Lai Chi Wo has been published and shared on the IPSI website (https://satoyama-initiative.org/casestudies/).

The news was announced today at the launch of the Academy for Sustainable Communities (the Academy) under the auspices of the HSBC Rural Sustainability Programme. The Academy is first-of-its-kind in Hong Kong with a vision to become a regional platform for disseminating knowledge of sustainability and nurturing a new generation of change-agents for sustainability. It offers curricula in four key learning areas—Integration, Environment, Community and Innovation—through an interactive and experiential approach. It also organises Sustainability Hackathons and offers a Rural in Action Start-up Scheme which helps graduates of the Academy turn novel ideas of sustainability into innovative actions.

The launching ceremony of the Academy and the forum on “Urban-Rural Dialogue on Community Revitalization” was opened today by Professor Samson Tse, Acting Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences, and Professor Wai-Fung Lam, Director of PSL. The four speakers were Mr Liu Ka-Shiang, a renowned nature journalist from Taiwan; Ms Ada Wong Ying Kay, Chairperson of Make A Difference Institute and Convenor and Director of Good Lab Foundation; Mr Ricky Yeung Sau Churk, an experienced local artist and a committee member of Soil for Indigenous Learning; and Ms Winnie Yeung Wing Yin, Head of Heritage at Tai Kwun. The Dialogue discussed issues related to community revitalization, urban-rural connection, and sustainable development of urban and rural communities.

For media enquiries, please contact
Ms Anna Yau, PSL, Faculty of Social Sciences, HKU (Tel: 6089-6047; email: annawyau@hku.hk)

About Policy for Sustainability Lab
Policy for Sustainability Lab is an initiative of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong to contribute to the attainment of sustainability through forging evidence-based, innovative solutions to inform policy deliberation and action, raising public awareness of the importance of sustainability, facilitating collective action in and across sectors, and fostering stakeholder engagement. Projects of PSL cover a wide range of sustainability topics addressing the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals at the local, regional and international levels. For more information, please visit: http://www.socsc.hku.hk/psl/

About HSBC Rural Sustainability Programme
The HSBC Rural Sustainability Programme is a flagship project of PSL with the aim to incubate sustainability models for rural areas in Hong Kong and beyond. For more details about the HSBC Rural Sustainability Programme and the Academy for Sustainable Communities, please visit: http://www.socsc.hku.hk/psl/laichiwo/