Saving the Planet: new TVEAP project announced at UNESCO Conference

TVE Asia Pacific recently introduced its latest regional media project at a major international conference involving educators and environmental activists.

Saving the Planet is an Asian communications project dedicated to the United Nations Decade on Education for Sustainable Development (UN-DESD), 2005 – 2014. Implemented by TVE Asia Pacific in collaboration with the Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU), this project will produce, distribute and promote a regional TV series that will showcase innovative ESD activities in the Asia Pacific region. It will also build communications capacity of national and local institutions engaged.

The project was unveiled at the 10th APEID International Conference organised by UNESCO in Bangkok, Thailand, from 6 to 8 December 2006.

The conference, convened by the Asia-Pacific Programme of Educational Innovation for Development (APEID), was on the theme "Learning Together for Tomorrow: Education for Sustainable Development". It was attended by several hundred participants representing academia, civil society, educational institutions, government agencies and inter-governmental organisations.

Saving the Planet is TVE Asia Pacific (TVEAP)’s principal activity as a regional Centre of Excellence (COE) in Education for Sustainable Development. The regional organisation – with over a decade’s experience in communicating sustainable development using the mass media and new media -- was selected for this status in late 2006 after a competitive process.

“The world is in search of bright ideas and smart solutions to help us lead more sustainable lives. As professional story tellers, we see a role for ourselves to gather such information and amplify them as widely as possible,” said Manori Wijesekera, TVE Asia Pacific’s Regional Programme Manager, addressing the APEID Conference.

She added: “Saving the Planet aims to do just that: identify the most innovative and interesting practices in education for sustainable development through a public nomination process, and then profile them through a regional television series."

The project will also build the communications capacity of those organizations whose ESD practices or initiatives will be chosen to be featured in the series.

“We are committed to an inclusive, participatory communications process. This is where TVE Asia Pacific distinguishes itself – we don’t just shoot and depart; we stay engaged with the individuals and groups whose stories we capture and amplify,” Manori further said.

Manori made these remarks during a panel discussion session organized by ACCU, which saw all five Centres of Excellence presenting their DESD projects. The session theme was ‘Catalyst for ESD - An Innovation in Management and Implementation of Asia-Pacific ACCU-UNESCO Programme in ESD-Based Modalities and Spirit’.

This was the first major international gathering where the five regional Centres of Excellence came together. The other four COEs are: Asia South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education (ASPBAE), Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM), Thailand Environment Institute (TEI) and University of the South Pacific (USP) based in Fiji.

Meanwhile, TVE Asia Pacific’s International Board member Sombath Somphone delivered a keynote address at the APEID conference, on ‘The Interdependency between Education and Sustainable Development’.

A model of sustainable development, in the context of human resource development, should have education at its centre, with education and development interacting and reinforcing each other in a mutually positive and complementary manner, Sombath said.

Referring to the educational potential of mass media, Sombath said: “The mass media as it is today is a one way communication tool.  It can literally be a weapon of mass destruction of the brain. And it is done in the living rooms of most families throughout the world.” 

But the same media can be made into a powerful tool for education by engaging young people to produce their own radio and TV programmes. “Let our children and young people regain and re-own the air waves,” urged Sombath, who is Director of the Participatory Development Training Centre (PADETC) in Vientiane, Laos.

He told the diverse gathering of educators from across Asia: “We, the educators and development workers, do not know how and do not use the media very well. The commercial people and the entertainers enrich themselves from it.  They make billions of dollars.  It is time for us to wake up to this fact and do some thing about it.” 

Click here for Abstract of Sombath Somphone keynote address
Click here for full text of Sombath Somphone keynote address

It is precisely this timely need that TVE Asia Pacific will address with the communications capacity building under Saving the Planet project. This will be done through a regional training workshop to be held in mid 2007.

The TV series itself will be researched and developed during 2007 to be filmed on location during the first half of 2008. The series is to be launched regionally and globally before end 2008. As with all TVEAP projects, this series will have broadcast, civil society and educational outreach using a multitude of platforms and formats.

TVE Asia Pacific will distribute Saving the Planet TV series without any license fee or royalty charge, encouraging the widest possible use and adaptation of its content.

Note: A dedicated new website is currently under development for Saving the Planet, which will soon be placed online at www.savingtheplanet.tv. It will be used to promote and publicise the call for public nominations, as well as to post news and updates on the project and TV series.