The University of Civil Protection of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Belarus has held an open contest “Forming a culture of safety in achieving Sustainable Development Goals”. The aim of the contest is to attract students’ attention to Sustainable Development Goals and motivate them to take active actions and personally contribute to the achievement of the SDGs.
The contest participants were to understand the issues of demographic security and healthy lifestyle, environmental protection, safety and resilience of modern cities, energy security of the country, and then write an essay, make a video or make a report. The winners were students of the Belarusian State Medical University, Vitebsk State University, Belarusian State University of Transport, Belarusian State Agricultural Academy and University of Civil Protection of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Republic of Belarus.
The Maxim Tank Belarusian State Pedagogical University has become the first and so far the only one in Belarus to be certified as a member of the GUNi Global Network of Innovative Universities.
The GUNi Global Network of Innovative Universities was established in 1999 and now includes over 250 higher education institutions from 80 countries: universities, UNESCO Chairs and research centres. The network’s activities are aimed at full support of international cooperation and social responsibility in higher education. Universities within the network have access to data for research and can present their own projects more widely.
The inclusion of GUNi in the Global Network of Innovative Universities is recognition of BSPU’s work in promoting Sustainable Development Goals and sustainable development values in society. The Maxim Tank State Pedagogical University makes a significant contribution to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, in particular, in education for sustainable development practices. In 2017, the BSPU received the status of the Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development” and the Coordination Centre “Education for Sustainable Development” was established there. BSPU is a co-founder of the Association “Education for Sustainable Development”.
Photo: minsktourism.by
Smart industry is an industrial complex on the modern technological base and principles of organization and management of digital production. Such production makes it possible to accelerate the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 9 (Industrialization, Innovation and Infrastructure), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Settlements).
The Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Belarus has set up an organizing committee to create an organizational and technological platform “Smart Industry of Belarus”. It includes representatives of relevant government bodies, organizations of the real sector of all forms of ownership, innovation infrastructure entities and high-tech business associations with key competencies, system and conceptual thinking. The Organizing Committee will develop algorithms of the platform’s activity, define its legal form and development concept.
The organizational and technological platform “Smart Industry of Belarus” will be a new dialogue tool. With its help it will be possible to introduce fundamentally new business models for the Republic of Belarus and accelerate the digital transformation of the real sector of the economy. The platform will bring together the efforts and interests of the private sector and experts, help cooperation and collaboration in developing the legal framework and strategy for the digitalization of the economy, implementation of international technical assistance projects, own innovative projects in the field of digital transformation of the real sector.
Photo: sb.by
On March 31 and April 1 2020, students of educational institutions that are members of the Partnership Network of Schools of Sustainable Development, Resource Centers for Integrated Support of ESD Practices, members of the Association “Education for Sustainable Development” took part in the Spring discussion online marathon, which was held in the framework of the internet project “Sustainable Development Goals: Think and Act”.
About 30 pupils and teachers from 12 educational institutions of Vitebsk, Grodno, Mogilev and Minsk regions of the Republic of Belarus and the city of Minsk took part in the Spring discussion online marathon.
The participants of the online marathon presented the initiatives that their teams developed and implemented during the Internet project “Sustainable Development Goals: Think and Act”, shared their experience and materials, suggested ideas for new initiatives that can be implemented here and now.
More information about the Spring discussion online marathon can be found on the website of the Coordination Center “Education for Sustainable Development”.
National voluntary action “Forest Week” was held in the Republic of Belarus from March 28 to April 4, 2020. Volunteers together with employees of forestry institutions planted over 23 million trees (pine, spruce and birch).
According to the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Belarus, a new forest was planted on an area of 5,435.9 hectares, volunteers worked at 2332 sites, the action was attended by 42 thousand people. They removed 3,437 cubic meters of waste and restored 200 recreation facilities. Memorable alleys were laid in 75 places of the country.
Carrying out the “Forest Week” action is a contribution to the implementation of task 15.2 of Sustainable Development Goal 15: “To introduce methods for the rational use of all types of forests, stop deforestation, restore degraded forests and significantly increase the scale of reforestation around the world”.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus is holding public discussions of the draft Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Amendments to the Water Code of the Republic of Belarus”. You can find the full text of the document at the Legal Forum of Belarus. Comments and proposals can be sent to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection until April 13, 2020.
Water resources are one of the important components of sustainable development and are of great importance for social, economic and environmental aspects of development. Objectives for water resources conservation and management are included in Sustainable Development Goal 6.
From March 28 to April 4, 2020 a national voluntary action “Forest Week” is taking place in Belarus. The main purpose of the action is to draw public attention to environmental problems and teach careful attitude towards the forest.
The “Forest Week” campaign contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, first of all 13 and 15. Forests cover 30% of the Earth’s surface. They ensure food security, play a key role in combating climate change and help to preserve biodiversity. Every year, humanity loses thirteen million hectares of forest. Deforestation and desertification caused by human activities and climate change are serious obstacles to achieving sustainable development. That is why reforestation is so important.
The action is initiated by the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Belarus. This year it is timed to the Year of the Small Motherland and dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War.
More than 50,000 people take part in “Forest Week”, which has been held by the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Belarus for 13 years. More than 20 million trees are planted during the week of the action, usually spruce, pine and birch. In addition to planting trees, volunteers clean up garbage in the forests and restore recreation areas. Last year, such work was organized at 2,613 sites. In order to join the campaign, one should contact the nearest forestry enterprise or forestry enterprise, which will help with the inventory and planting material and indicate which places need to be reforested. Contact numbers for more information can be found on the website of the Ministry of Forestry of the Republic of Belarus.
On March 27, 2020 a working meeting was held in Baranovichi to discuss the concept of smart city for Baranovichi and the plan of its implementation. The participants also discussed the digital transformation of all economic spheres, approaches to building smart cities in the Republic of Belarus, creation of sustainable urban infrastructure, creation of equal opportunities in the regions to achieve a high level and quality of life, ensuring comfortable living conditions for people through the introduction of innovative digital solutions.
In the future, there are plans to develop a system of indicators for measuring smart city solutions and to adapt the model concept of smart cities in the Republic of Belarus for individual administrative and territorial units in the framework of the accelerated development of 11 cities with a population of more than 80,000 people, which are potential centres of economic growth (the cities of Orsha, Baranovichi, Pinsk, Novopolotsk, Mozyr, Lida, Borisov, Soligorsk, Molodechno and Bobruisk). In these cities it is planned to carry out the first-priority digital transformation as pilot projects with further perspective of systematic digitalization of all regions of the Republic.
The standard smart city concept has been developed and approved by the Ministry of Communications and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus. It gives possible approaches to the organization of the process of complex digitalization of the city, defines the conditions of implementation and prospects of smart cities technologies development in the republic. It also explains the order of implementation of measures in the field of informatization. The pilot project was the adaptation of the typical concept for the city of Orsha and the Orsha region.
Introduction of the smart cities concepts is a contribution to Sustainable Development Goals 9 (Industrialization, innovation and infrastructure) and 11 (Sustainable Cities and Settlements).
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus holds public discussions on the draft Strategy for Water Resources Management in the Context of Climate Change for the period up to 2030 and the report on defining the scope of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of the draft Strategy. The full text of the documents can be found on the website of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection. Comments and proposals can be sent to the Ministry of Natural Resources by 2 April 2020.
The main goal of the Strategy is to achieve long-term water security of the country for present and future generations. The Strategy has been developed in accordance with the Water Code of the Republic of Belarus, the Concept of National Security of the Republic of Belarus, the National Strategy of Sustainable Social and Economic Development of the Republic of Belarus for the period up to 2030 and other normative legal acts in the field of water resources protection and use in Belarus.
Water resources are one of the key elements of sustainable development that is of great importance for its social, economic and environmental aspects, and targets for their conservation and sustainable use are set out in Sustainable Development Goals 6.
Targets and their indicators for SDG 6 are also the objectives and indicators of the draft strategy. The baseline indicators are those for 2015-2016, among others:
Target 1: Ensure universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030.
Target 2: Ensure access of the population to adequate and equitable sanitation services by 2030.
Target 3: By 2030, improve the quality of natural water by reducing pollution and minimizing discharges of hazardous chemicals and materials, stopping the discharge of inadequately treated wastewater and increasing reuse (sequential). In solving this problem, a significant positive role can be played by the transition to the payment of environmental tax depending on the mass of pollutants discharged into the wastewater.
Task 4: Raise water use efficiency in all sectors of the economy and ensure sustainable water supply to the population.
Target 5: Implement integrated water resources management (IWRM) at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation where appropriate.
Target 6: Ensure the protection and restoration of water ecosystems.
Photo: permaculturewomen.com
The Ministry of Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Belarus holds public discussions on the draft National Strategy for Tourism Development in the Republic of Belarus until 2035.
You can get acquainted with the draft at the Legal Forum of Belarus. Comments and proposals on the draft National Strategy for Tourism Development in the Republic of Belarus until 2035 can be sent to the Ministry of Sport and Tourism until March 30, 2020.
The aim of the Strategy is the maximum realization of the tourist potential of the Republic of Belarus in the domestic and foreign markets. The implementation of the Strategy will contribute to the achievement by the Republic of Belarus of the Sustainable Development Goals in the field of ensuring sustainable economic growth, employment and welfare of the population through growth of incomes from tourism and stimulation of regional development.
The Strategy addresses current trends and prospects of tourism development in the modern world, the current situation and potential for tourism development in the Republic of Belarus, defines the goal, objectives and key benchmarks for tourism development, as well as the main priorities of the Strategy itself.
The Republic of Belarus as a tourist destination has a number of natural competitive advantages: its transit geographical position, valuable natural and cultural heritage. However, the considerable resource potential for tourism development in the country is not yet fully used. This is explained by the insufficient level of infrastructure development, low competitiveness of offered tourist products on the world market and limited activities to promote them, insufficient motivation for domestic tourism. Therefore, one of the goals of the Strategy is to expand the practical implementation of accelerators for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in tourism and to rank the Republic of Belarus among the 100 destinations of sustainable tourism.
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