About the conference

5th Green Campuses Conference “Creating sustainable green campuses for our communities�

University of the Western Cape Concept Document

services; to structure curricula to include more focus on sustainability; to reduce resource usage by recycling, and to run resource usage audits.

In 2012, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) supported the launch of an additional initiative aimed at promoting climate change interventions in South Africa.

Specifically, Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande called on leaders of colleges and universities to sign the Climate Change Commitment Pledge to help build on the legacy of COP17. The DHET Minister called on the educators to help South Africa to launch the Green Campus initiatives, which aims to promote climate change interventions at college and university campuses.

These institutional initiatives are meant to provide students with the know-how and skills needed to address sustainability, environmental awareness, climate change, greening and to allow them to benefit in the economic opportunities that arise from the solutions they help develop.

Key aims of the programme are to encourage students and staff to think green, become green, use bicycles and buses; to teach them how to retro-fit buildings and create green buildings; to ensure that universities procure green products and

Since the launch of various Green Initiatives in respective institutions, the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University hosted the 1st Annual Green Campuses Conference in partnership with the Association of Colleges and University Housing OfficersInternational as a platform for national green benchmarking, since then there has been an increasing interest and participation by different institutions especially in the Student Housing Sector. However, recognizing the need for the development of vocational skills, environmental awareness, climate change justice, green economy in the country to address the demands of greener lifestyle, as well as the demands related to the development of green campuses – within both the educational and corporate sectors – the ACUHO-I-SAC is encouraging the institutions to embark upon a programmes to develop increased capacity to develop green skills & awareness.

The expected outcome of the 5th Green Campuses Conference is to inform the National Framework for “Recreating the greener future” in South Africa through various platforms including curriculum design and assessment practices, material development, career and development to effectively participate in the skills development opportunities within the Green Economy Sector.

Additional expected outcomes of the conference are: a. Gathering of stakeholder input toward the development of a shared strategic framework and implementation plan for a capacity development programme related to “green skills” b. Provision of a national, continental and international overview of green campus development to help domestic participants to develop a benchmark of where they are comparatively; and c. Fostering the development of a multi-stakeholder green campus development community of practice, to facilitate shared learning and public-private partnerships among members

Welcome to the 5th ACUHO-I-SAC Annual Green Campuses Conference 2016

Doc Nhassengo ACUHO-I-SAC President I wish to take this opportunity to welcome you all, both the presenters and delegates, to this historic occasion where Institutions of higher education are faced by a myriad of challenges which invoke the kind of responses that are largely determined by the kind of leadership that is prevalent at that time.

ACUHO-I SAC in its wisdom acknowledged from way back that the repository of knowledge does not reside with the administrators and elders but also within those whose futures are being designed.

There’s now this mantra that students use.

“Nothing about US without US” This is exactly why all of us are gathered here today and the next few days, to pool together our wisdom about things that affect us. When I say US I don’t want people to labour under the impression that for example, a rule or policy, only affects a student and therefore it must be students who make a determination on that. Any rule or policy affects both the students and the institutions in various ways.

It is our fervent hope that this platform is the start of great things which would make all of us to see things in the same way for the benefit of humanity. Enjoy your deliberations, robust as they may sound but being constructive and building the citizenry of the future. Remember that when you do this, you are in the global world and many opportunities lie ahead in serious engagements with counterparts from other regions and worlds.

Doc Nhassego ACUHO-I-SAC President

ABOUT THE GREEN CAMPUS INITIATIVE The Green Campus Initiative (GCI) was conceptualized during the year 2011 when South Africa was preparing to host the UN Climate Change Conference - COP 17 which was held in December 2011 in Durban, South Africa.

The initiative arose out of the question: “What can colleges and universities do to promote educational awareness on the causes and impact of climate change and what practical interventions can institutions initiate to design, develop and implement green campus programs?”

The Call for Climate Change Leadership The Green Campus Initiative (GCI) was established with the aim for the promotion of environmental sustainability/climate change interventions at colleges and universities campuses in Southern Africa. The formation of GCI was underpinned by the belief that colleges and universities must exercise leadership in their communities and throughout society by modelling ways to minimize global warming emissions, and by providing the knowledge and the educated graduates to achieve climate neutrality.

Campuses that address the climate challenge by reducing global warming emissions and by integrating sustainability into their curriculum will better serve their students and meet their social mandate to help create a thriving, ethical and civil society. By taking on this responsibility, these colleges and universities will be providing students with the knowledge and skills needed to address the critical, systemic challenges faced by the world in this new century and enable them to benefit from the economic opportunities that will arise as a result of solutions they develop.

The Green Campus Initiative is a collective, team effort. It takes the right balance of administrative, staff, faculty and student input. Even changes made completely off the radar screen of students are typically made with them in mind, and over the past decades’ students have shown that they’re paying attention. From protesting investments with links to abusive governments and lobbying for sweatshop-free college products to standing up for sustainability principles and climate-safe campus operations, students at schools large and small have voiced their concerns—and steered both opinion and policy in better directions.

But lately it’s been different. The stakes are much higher. The call for change is both global and personal. Students have been among the first to realize that leading the way for sustainability is an investment in their long-term prospects too—in future work, in family and community life, and in both private and public realms. Students are picking up on the fact that a world safe for people and wildlife is one that will support not only their own lives and dreams, but those of countless others.

They have long had a voice in what happened around them during their years of postsecondary schooling. But never has there been an organizing motivation like global warming and the related urgency to redirect society toward a clean energy future. Colleges and universities exist to educate young people, and what better place to learn the concepts and skills they will need to thrive in both an economy and society that is rapidly shifting—by necessity—to a cleaner, greener way of thinking and acting? Many students in campuses in

South Africa and across the world are already engaged in sustainability leadership, and through their green campus activities they gain valuable skills and practical knowledge by working on realworld campus projects. Students of every have much to offer and much to learn from the experience. It is encouraging that in the past few years, there has been a groundswell of individual campus actions—plus the formation of national groups and organizations that reflect a growing student movement based, in part, on a determination not to make the same unsustainable choices that now are the legacy of earlier generations.

Institutions like the University of Cape Town, University of the Western Cape, Durban University of Technology, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and many more have initiated some of the most successful Green Campus Initiative programs through the leadership of students.

Today’s students will see and be required to deal with some of the most devastating impacts of climate change, which will arise during their lifetimes. To them “the environment” is no longer an abstraction, but a looming global calamity that has moved many to approach this issue with passion and resolve The issues facing the campus, and indeed the world, may be daunting, but students are nevertheless taking on these challenges, initiating change and working to find solutions. Not surprisingly, the benefits to students due to their involvement in campus sustainability are many.

Not only do campuses (and the biosphere) benefit by having a healthier, higher quality of life, but students hone professional skills such as teamwork, communication, project planning, statistical analysis and navigating complex systems. In addition, they may acquire technical skills like processing biodiesel fuel and measuring electrical consumption. And while students gain a variety of personal benefits, campuses profit as well from the work they accomplish.

The case examples in the 35 campus actions below illustrate the huge potential for important contributions toward improving campus operations and public relations, as well as saving significant amounts of money. And because students rarely work in isolation on campus projects, they bring a greater sense of community to their institution as they work alongside staff, faculty and administrators.

FOCUS AREAS OF THE GREEN CAMPUSES INITIATIVE Although the first round of intervention focused mainly on educational awareness and behaviour change, GCI have identified other key areas of intervention that are important for the successful implementation of a sustainable Green Campus programs and projects. By definition, a green campus is a higher education community that is improving energy efficiency, conserving resources and enhancing environmental quality by educating for sustainability and creating healthy living and learning environments.

AWARENESS AND BEHAVIOUR CHANGE PROGRAMS The first phase of the GCI intervention was to focus on the creation of educational awareness amongst campus communities about climate change and capacity building on identifying the practical green campus programs that can be initiated at campus level to mitigate against the impact of climate change. While changes to campus infrastructure are needed to conserve energy and other resources, human behavior is a potentially large contributor to a smaller campus footprint.

Students across the country are actively engaged in teaching and influencing members of the campus community about how individual behaviors contribute to climate change—and about the opportunity for making a positive difference collectively. Through various outreach campaigns and pledges, students are targeting behaviors ranging from waste reduction to energy conservation.

ENERGY CONSERVATION AND EFFICIENCY With rising fuel and electricity costs, schools are increasingly turning to conservation and efficiency measures to save energy and much-needed money. While many campus energy managers have made huge strides in this realm, students often have played a part in helping identify new places to save energy. Many have assisted facilities staff with energy audits and greenhouse gas inventories and have helped investigate the availability and costs of alternative practices and technologies. Examples of the many possible actions in this area include lightbulb swaps, heat recovery projects and energy metering and feedback systems.

RENEWABLE ENERGY Campuses everywhere are making significant contributions to the renewable energy field, with students often providing much of the research in areas of policy, promotion and demonstration of real-time projects. The emissions-reduction payoff for installing renewables makes them especially valuable. By definition, technologies such as wind, solar, geothermal and biomass are carbon neutral, and thus they hold the promise of making real cuts in the campus carbon footprint. There is a need to invest in the installation of wind, solar or geothermal power.

Encourage the use of bio-fuels. Purchase clean energy from power utilities. Purchase offsets (which decrease steadily as campus “footprints” decreases)

FOOD AND DINING The sustainable foods movement resonates deeply in many student communities. From urging campus dining services to serve more local and organic foods to actually growing it themselves, students are helping change the way campuses eat, and ultimately reducing greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the many steps required to bring food from field to plate.

GREEN BUILDINGS “Green” is one of the most widely used terms associated with campus sustainability projects.

Generally meaning environmentally responsible or environmentally preferred, green building is an area where campuses have the opportunity to invest their funds to work in ways that help promote a clean, sustainable economy. Colleges and universities need to be encouraged towards implementing policies for healthy, energy efficient, high-performing buildings.

GREEN PURCHASING Buy local, buy recycle, buy sustainable goods. Colleges and universities are major purchasers of goods and services, which include custodial chemicals, food service supplies, office products and furnishings, bookstore merchandise, laboratory and research equipment, fleet vehicles, maintenance supplies and much more. In all of these areas, greener options are becoming more widely available as well as more cost-competitive. Copy paper with 100% post-consumer recycled content, for example, is now on par with virgin paper in both quality and cost. While individual purchases can be made with sustainability in mind, the preferred approach is for green products and purchasing to be required across the board in campus policies and contracts.

HABITAT MANAGEMENT AND RESTORATION Students can play an important role by helping protect, restore and manage both the landscaped and natural environments on and near their campuses—places that, among many other benefits, offer homes and shelter for wildlife. It will cover sustainable landscaping, natural areas management and restoration, green roofs, stormwater management, campus farms and local foods, and carbon sequestration.

RECYCLING AND WASTE REDUCTION Although solid waste contributes only a minor part of a campus carbon footprint (only a few percent of the total), waste reduction and recycling can help reduce those emissions, plus they save energy and can even increase carbon sequestration by leaving forest resources intact.

Students have been key players in launching recycling and composting programs across the country for the past three decades; and they continue to help waste management staff find ways to improve, such as hosting zero waste events, move-out collections, and by going “trayless” in dining halls. Students are also asking campuses to remember the first of the three Rs (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) by reducing waste at the source, as in the case of water bottles, coffee cups and other disposable items.

WATER CONSERVATION As the daily news brings more frequent stories of droughts and water shortages from around the world, the wise management of potable water is likely to become a growing issue for campuses too—especially in the more arid parts of the country. Recognizing this inevitable future, students are taking action on water conservation initiatives in a wide range of areas, including some of the ways described above such as in Eco-Reps programs, residence hall competitions and behavior-change outreach. Perhaps most important, students are helping to influence and create sustainability-minded campus water policies and studies—and doing the legwork to collect data and identify key places where water can be conserved.

STUDENT RESIDENCES While students attend college and university primarily for the coursework, those who live on campus spend more time in their living quarters than they do in classrooms. These student residences, not surprisingly, have become learning laboratories for many campus sustainability actions; often all it takes is one or two motivated students with a bright idea to get something started. From peer outreach programs to inter-hall energy competitions to model dorm rooms, students have been engaging with one another and with campus faculty and staff to reduce waste, conserve resources and spread the word about sustainability. And beyond improving the performance of traditional dorm buildings, students have also been active in creating.

TRANSPORTATION Single-occupant vehicles are a notoriously wasteful means of transportation in terms of pollution per passenger mile. Especially at commuter schools, the daily drive of students and staff can be among the largest sources of campus greenhouse gas emissions, which also has significant implications for community health and safety. In response, students have initiated many actions to help lessen the impact of transportation, including mass transit, alternative fuels and bicycle programs. In addition to reducing CO2 emissions, these alternatives also cut campus transportation management costs.

INVESTMENT IN CLIMATE SOLUTIONS: Dedicate funds for Green Campus initiatives. Use endowment to support climate innovation, discourage negative impacts.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Invest in new energy technologies, new systems design and adaptation measurers.

TEACH CLIMATE SCIENCE: Teach climate change science, develop climate change policy and educate the campus community. Educate the campus community about climate change solutions.

SMART PARTNERSHIPS TO SHARE CLIMATE CHANGE EXPERTISE Create partnerships with campus communities and share climate expert

OVERVIEW OF THE 4TH ANNUAL GREEN CAMPUSES CONFERENCE (PREVIOUS CONFERENCE) The following were conference themes:  Green Models used in the higher institutions to promote sustainability  Major Projects and impact to campus community i.e. Green Buildings/Residences  Green activities and programming as part of raising awareness about greening  Roles of institutional stakeholders to promote sustainability  Green Behavioural change programmes for students and Staff  Green Community engagement and development  Academia role  Usage of media to promote greener campuses  Green Innovation The following were papers that were presented  The Role of Higher Education Institutions in re-creating the future  Involvement of schools in the UWC Science Faculty environmental Programme”  Green Jobs: Towards decent work in the sustainable low carbon society  Renewable Energy: A strategic approach to creating a greener city  Role of youth in creating a green economy  UCT Student Housing Greening Model  UWC Waste Management Control  DUT Solar Charging Unit and impact to campus community  Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Research, Development, and Innovation strategy  Africa’s Greenest hotel: The role of corporate organizations in promoting sustainability  Introduction to Stellenbosch University Green Tygerberg Residence  The Role of Green Building Council and promotion of green Building Movement  The role of higher institutions in food security and eradicating poverty in residences  UCT Green Campus Initiative Community Engagement Projects  UWC Green Campus Initiative Greening Model  TUT green march in support of green initiatives: Strategy & Long Term Goals

Conference highlights  The conference attendance was about 200 delegates across 16 national Universities and 2 International Universities – namely; University of the Western Cape, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, University of Cape Town, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Tswhane University of Technology, University of Pretoria, Durban University of Technology, Stellenbosch University, Sefakgo M University of Health Sciences, Vaal University of Technology, University of Venda, Capricon TVET and North West University.

International University includes University of Botswana & Adeyimbi University of Education  The speakers of the conference included the UWC Deputy Vice Chancellor (Acting), Professor Mokgadi Moletsane, ACUHO-I-Southern African Chapter Mr Quintin Koetaan , ACUHO-I-SAC Treasurer and President Elect, Director of RS (UWC) and SAFSS Secretary General, Mr. Linda Grootboom, Deputy Director General, Department of the Premier, Western Cape Province,

ďƒź UWC Nature Reserve Manager, Hestelle Melville, Dr Glenda Raven, World Wide Fund for Nature, Mr. Daniel Claassen, Managing Director, FindaLift, ďƒź The delegates had an opportunity to visit noteworthy places such as National Assembly, National Council of Provinces, Robben Island, Table Mountain and other places around Cape Town

OVERVIEW OF THE 5TH ANNUAL GREEN CAMPUSES CONFERENCE 2016 This year marks the 5th Green Campuses Conference since its establishment in 2012 at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. This year’s will focus on current issues with an aim of establishing the national benchmarks and recommendations.

The themes:  Dialogue on Green Economy  Skills Gap, impact to the society and how youth can be mobilised to participate in the green economy  Renewable energy, energy conservation and efficiencies  Habitat Management & Restoration  Water shortage in South Africa and its impact to the society  Dialogue on Green Buildings  ICTs and public innovation  Promotion of green lifestyle education within African higher learning institution  Institutional benchmark

The conference proposed to invite the following organizations:             

Minister of Environmental Affairs Deputy Minister of Energy Department of Water & Sanitation City of Cape Town Green Building Council of South Africa UWC Nature Reserve Silulo Ulutho Technologies Hotel Verde Business Unity of South Africa Congress of South African Trade Unions Department of Premier: Western Cape United Nations Environmental Programme World Wide Fund for Nature

CONFERENCE COMMITTEES FOR 2016 The 5th Conference on Green Campuses Conference is chaired by the University of the Western Cape, and constitute of the following committees:  Committee on Logistics and Administration  Committee on Risk, Assessment & Review  Committee on Paper Reviews FUNDING  The conference is fully funded by Association of Colleges & University Housing Officers International through delegation registration fees  Any other form of support in terms of funding can be communicated to the Conference Chair EXPECTED ATTENDEES                   

North West University University of Cape Town Stellenbosch University Sefato Makgato Health Sciences University Durban University of Technology Walter Sisulu University Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University University of Botswana Adeyemi University of Education, Nigeria Cape Peninsula University of Technology University of Pretoria University of KwaZulu Natal Tswane University of Technology University of Johannesburg Johannesburg Central TVET College Capricorn TVET College University of the Western Cape University of Venda Vaal University of Technology