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M. F. Cavalcanti-Bandos and A. Paucar-Caceres
access to basic services, green and decent jobs and a better quality of life for
all. Its implementation helps to achieve overall development plans, reduce future
economic, environmental and social costs, strengthen economic competitiveness and
reduce poverty (SDG, 12 2019). Additionally, this SDG states that the goal: includes
educating consumers on sustainable consumption and lifestyles, providing them with
adequate information through standards and labels and engaging in sustainable
public procurement, among others (SDG, 12 2019). By reading the tenor of this
goal, we believe that the VERSAS Project is addressing these issues.
Furthermore, there are three important targets related to this university project:
(…) target 12.5—by 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention,
reduction, recycling and reuse; (…) and target 12.7—promote public procurement
practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities;
12.8—by 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and
awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature.
Goal 15 of the UN established that it is important that human beings have to
protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably
managed forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation and halt
biodiversity loss. Forests cover 30.7% of the Earth’s surface and, in addition to
providing food security and shelter, they are key to combating climate change,
protecting biodiversity and the homes of indigenous populations. By protecting
forests, we will also be able to strengthen natural resource management and increase
land productivity. (SDG, 15 2019). The VERSAS Project will work in activities
connected with the community, which explain the importance of reverse land degradation, also revealing during the “Green Week” how people can protect, restore and
promote the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems.
2.2 Higher Education and Sustainable Development (SD)
To start talking about sustainable development we should start from a basic premise:
there is only one planet with human life, ‘The Planet Earth’. When thinking about its
sustainability, we are thinking about human longevity on the planet. This fact affects
all of us who live here. Therefore, it is a fundamental subject to be researched and
exhaustively discussed.
Consequently, by taking care of the planet, planning actions with a low impact
on the environment, thinking about saving scarce resources, properly disposing of
waste generated by the human being itself, among other actions that have become
mandatory in the current twenty-first century.
In this context, Vargas et al (2019) highlighted the outstanding role of the United
Nations, together with various national and local actors, in recognizing SD, and
emphasized the importance of universities’ role or Higher Education Institutions’
(HEI) role in influencing and contributing to SD. This field at universities is rapidly
emerging (Leal Filho et al. 1996; Leal Filho 2012; Leal Filho et al. 2018). About
M. F. Cavalcanti-Bandos and A. Paucar-Caceres
access to basic services, green and decent jobs and a better quality of life for
all. Its implementation helps to achieve overall development plans, reduce future
economic, environmental and social costs, strengthen economic competitiveness and
reduce poverty (SDG, 12 2019). Additionally, this SDG states that the goal: includes
educating consumers on sustainable consumption and lifestyles, providing them with
adequate information through standards and labels and engaging in sustainable
public procurement, among others (SDG, 12 2019). By reading the tenor of this
goal, we believe that the VERSAS Project is addressing these issues.
Furthermore, there are three important targets related to this university project:
(…) target 12.5—by 2030, substantially reduce waste generation through prevention,
reduction, recycling and reuse; (…) and target 12.7—promote public procurement
practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities;
12.8—by 2030, ensure that people everywhere have the relevant information and
awareness for sustainable development and lifestyles in harmony with nature.
Goal 15 of the UN established that it is important that human beings have to
protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably
managed forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation and halt
biodiversity loss. Forests cover 30.7% of the Earth’s surface and, in addition to
providing food security and shelter, they are key to combating climate change,
protecting biodiversity and the homes of indigenous populations. By protecting
forests, we will also be able to strengthen natural resource management and increase
land productivity. (SDG, 15 2019). The VERSAS Project will work in activities
connected with the community, which explain the importance of reverse land degradation, also revealing during the “Green Week” how people can protect, restore and
promote the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems.
2.2 Higher Education and Sustainable Development (SD)
To start talking about sustainable development we should start from a basic premise:
there is only one planet with human life, ‘The Planet Earth’. When thinking about its
sustainability, we are thinking about human longevity on the planet. This fact affects
all of us who live here. Therefore, it is a fundamental subject to be researched and
exhaustively discussed.
Consequently, by taking care of the planet, planning actions with a low impact
on the environment, thinking about saving scarce resources, properly disposing of
waste generated by the human being itself, among other actions that have become
mandatory in the current twenty-first century.
In this context, Vargas et al (2019) highlighted the outstanding role of the United
Nations, together with various national and local actors, in recognizing SD, and
emphasized the importance of universities’ role or Higher Education Institutions’
(HEI) role in influencing and contributing to SD. This field at universities is rapidly
emerging (Leal Filho et al. 1996; Leal Filho 2012; Leal Filho et al. 2018). About