A professor from London gave a lecture on sustainable development

Professor Tristan McCowan from University College London delivered a lecture at KazNU on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

A public lecture on a topical subject for faculty and doctoral students of KazNU was organized by the Ban Ki-moon Institute for Sustainable Development. Ban Ki-moon Institute for Sustainable Development.

The lecture emphasized the role of universities as a key element of development. Professor Tristan McCowan stressed the importance of their impact on society and the ecosphere through education, research and interaction with international organizations.

In the course of the lecture the trends and peculiarities of development of higher education institutions' activities in the context of implementation of the 17 SDGs of the UN agenda were discussed. Special attention was paid to the commitments within the framework of the goals to achieve the 17 SDGs of the UN Agenda 2024 on the example of University College London. The lecturer, in particular, spoke about the fact that every student has the opportunity to learn and be involved in sustainability. He emphasized that it is necessary to intensify scientific research with a focus on the SDGs, to achieve full carbon neutrality in the university by 2030, to create an eco-campus with a green zone with biodiversity on campus, to reduce waste by 20%.  

It is worth noting that University College London is one of the leading educational institutions in the world, ranked 9th in the QS WUR international ranking and 22nd in the TNE international ranking.

Following the lecture, an open discussion was held, during which Prof. McCowan proposed to include KazNU in the network of partners of the GCRF Climate-U project, which could strengthen the university's contribution to the fight against climate change.

In turn, the director of the Ban Ki-moon Institute for Sustainable Development, Mr. Janzay Ilya Ilya. Director of the Ban Ki-moon Institute for Sustainable Development Zhansaya Isayeva expressed readiness for cooperation and confirmed the intention to start work on the integration of the university into the project, which promises to implement measures to adapt universities to the changing climate and combat its negative effects.

The international GCRF Climate-U (Transforming Universities for a Changing Climate) project aims to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis. It is actively supported by universities in seven countries including Brazil, Fiji, Kenya, India, Kenya and the UK in working on localized climate change initiatives.

Press-service of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University