Oxford welcomes Colombian universities to the Nature Positive Universities Alliance

Nature Positive Universities began in 2022 as a partnership between UNEP and Oxford University, established off the back of research by the Department of Biology into the University’s biodiversity footprint. Its mission is to engage universities to prioritise nature restoration within the higher education sector. Through the Alliance, 142 Universities have already taken an official pledge and begun actions to improve their overall ecological footprint on our planet.

Wetland sanctuary for migratory birds at Universidad de San Buenaventura. Image credit: Nature Positive Universities.

1)      Carrying out baseline assessments;

2)      Setting specific, time limited, and measurable targets for nature;

3)      Taking bold action to reduce biodiversity impacts, and protect species and ecosystems;

4)      Transparent annual reporting.

A further 600 Universities worldwide have joined the broader Nature Positive University network to work together for nature on their campuses.  

Emily Stott, Coordinator of the Nature Positive Universities Alliance at the Department of Biology, University of Oxford, said: ‘As universities, we sit in the heart of our cities and have a unique power to shape the next generation of leaders, providing green skills to our students and influencing our communities and governments. By sharing best practice and addressing our own institutions' environmental impacts, universities can be powerful thought leaders while also directly contributing to restoring nature.’

The network is supported by a popular Student Ambassador Programme, which has engaged over 850 students from across 50 countries so far. These ambassadors champion actions for nature on their campuses, working through a toolkit of activities and attending monthly green skills workshops run by the Alliance, connecting with their global peers.

Map of the global Nature Positive Universities network:

Actions undertaken by universities in the Nature Positive Universities Alliance include:

• The ‘Familial Forestry’ intervention, based at Government Dungar College, Rajasthan, India. This has established 9 public sapling nurseries, engaged 2 million families in 18,000 villages, established 200 “institutional forests” mostly at schools and colleges, and planted an estimated 4 million saplings and restored 207 areas of land in the Dabla Talab area.

• Establishing pollinating gardens with the students at Universidad del Valle Cali. Image credit: Nature Positive Universities.
  Protection of the Hemispheres Biodiversity Reserve, Ecuador. The Universidad Hemisferios has taken actions to protect the Hemisferios Biodiversity Reserve, a 2,168-hectare transitional forest between cloud forest and Andean forest. They intend to engage their students to work with the local community and encourage more biodiversity within this reserve and the rivers running through it.

• The designation of Canada’s first Urban Night Sky Place at Parc du Mont-Bellevue (partly owned by Université de Sherbrooke). The certification aims to raise awareness about the impacts of light pollution on the nocturnal environment and model good outdoor lighting practices.

• The UNICAMP Ecological Corridors Project, Unicamp, Brazil. This project aims to restore and connect remnants of native forest in the region of Fazenda Argentina, an area of 1.4 million square meters.

• The ‘1000 species in 1000 days’ at Dawson College, Canada. This project has trained staff and students to use the iNaturalist App to identify campus flora and fauna, and set the challenge of recording 1,000 species of plants, insects, invertebrates, bacteria, algae, and animals in 1,000 days.

Emilio Latorre, Senior Fellow of the Red Universitaria de Campus Sostenible (RUCAS) in Cali said: ‘Universities in Cali and southwest Colombia have organised a series of seminars on biodiversity topics leading up to COP16 and will partner with the city's environmental committee, alongside NGOs, local government, schools, and the private sector, in a joint effort to fight biodiversity loss. This initiative will expand urban forests, ensure public access to green spaces, create wildlife corridors, and integrate nature into urban development, while involving citizens in local ecological monitoring.’

Sugam Guragain, a Nature Positive Universities Student Ambassador at Agriculture and Forestry University, Nepal, said: ‘As an forestry student I always looks for opportunities to take part in conservation activities. Unfortunately, I had limited experience and techniques to carry out research and strategies to disseminate the conservation activities among local people. So, this program became a golden opportunity and a great platform for me where I receive contemporary techniques and methods for environment and biodiversity conservation activities which helped me to improve the level of awareness for conservation in local people.’

The Nature Positive Universities Alliance is calling on other Universities worldwide to join its collaborative network and to make institutional pledges. Information on different ways for universities and their members to engage, or how to ask your university to consider making a pledge, can be found on the Nature Positive Universities Alliance website.