From the EPIC-Asia Workshop occurring in May, eleven seed grants awarded for projects focusing on sustainability, climate resilience, and adaptation.
On May 25-27, 2021, The Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities – Network (EPIC-N) facilitated a virtual EPIC-Asia Workshop. The event brought together more than 70 representatives from Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Hong Kong, and China, to learn and discuss how to plan, scale, and implement EPIC Model programs across Asia.
Attending participants represented the local government and university sectors. The organizations supporting the event represented university, international, national, and local governments and non-governmental interests from around the globe including: EPIC-Africa, EPIC-N, ICLEI Southeast Asia, ICLEI-Asia (South Asia), Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), IGES Southeast Asia, Ministry of the Environment of Japan, START, Thammasat University, UN Habitat, UN Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) and its Global Adaptation Network (GAN), UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the US EPA Office of International Affairs.
“The EPIC Model, by its nature, is suitable to the entire world. The Asian extension is a natural addition to what we’ve accomplished elsewhere. We have gone to Africa, now Asia, and we intend to continue to expand. We want to increase the number and quality of EPIC programs worldwide and Asia is a very large part of the world,” says Joel Rogers, EPIC-N Board Chair and Secretary. And the EPIC-Asia Workshop helped to do just that. “This workshop made me more passionate and inspired by the many ideas to change the environment and the city in the future,” said a workshop participant from Chiang Mai, which is the capital of Chiang Mai Province, located 700 kilometers (435 miles) north of Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.
“Thanks to all of our city-university pairs because it has been quite inspiring for me to hear about your project ideas and to really think through how we can take this forward in a number of ways.” – Lis Mullin Bernhardt, UN Global Adaptation Network (GAN) Coordinator, UN Environmental Programme
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