AIS Partnerships

The Ateneo Institute of Sustainability is currently the Secretariat of the AUN-EEC, a group of universities around South East Asia that spearheads the ASEAN programs for environmental sustainability. AUN-EEC was created to complement ASEAN policies and programs, such as the ASEAN Strategic Plan on Environment (ASPEN), the Roadmap for ASEAN Community 2015 that stipulates a clean and green environment, and the ASEAN Environmental Education Action Plan (AEEAP). The network aims to develop generations of Southeast Asians with the mindset and competencies to conserve and protect the environment, despite facing the challenges of economic growth and social changes.

The Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Philippines is a platform for organizations to contribute practical solutions in achieving the sustainable development goals. AIS works with other universities such as the School of Economics of the University of the Philippines, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), and the Far Eastern University Public Policy Center, as well as SDSN Youth Philippines, the local official youth initiative of the UN Secretary General for the Sustainable Development Goals.

VPSD and AIS represent the Ateneo in the ProSPERNet, an alliance of leading universities in the Asia-Pacific region that are committed to integrating sustainable development into postgraduate courses and curricula. The network is developing the next generation of leaders trained in tackling global sustainability challenges while facing rapid environmental degradation.

AIS represents the Ateneo de Manila University in the Universities Working Group of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. The working group is currently focused on refining and launching the Laudato Si' Action Platform, a collaborative effort of the Vatican, an international coalition of Catholic organizations, and men and women of goodwill. It aims to empower all to take decisive action rooted in the different contexts of communities around the world.

The Ateneo Center for Social Entrepreneurship (ACSEnt) is the University's center that cultivates a vibrant Philippine social entrepreneurship sector to foster social transformation and contribute to nation-building. ACSEnt aims to develop an ecosystem of multi-sector partners to support and enhance programs in research education and training, advocacy, and incubation. These programs engage leaders, experts, practitioners and advocates who can extend collaborative partnerships with communities and other grassroots sectors, creating mutual socio-economic and environmental benefits that support national development.

The Coastal Cities at Risk in the Philippines project undertakes new trans-disciplinary resilience action research, promotes capacity building of resilience scientists and practitioners, strengthens public-private partnerships for resilience, and informs the resilience plans of cities.

The project aims to enhance the capacities of low-lying, river-delta coastal megacities cities, such as those in Iloilo, Naga and Metro Manila, to better analyze and understand the complexity and dynamics of climate and disaster risks so that they may better prepare, adapt, and transform towards resilience. Apart from this, these cities are already pressured by rapid population growth and economic, social, health, and cultural challenges.

The "Strengthening University-Enterprise Collaboration for Resilience Communities in Asia" or SECRA project aims to contribute to more resilient communities in Asia through institutionalized, systematic, monitored, innovative,and inclusive university–enterprise collaboration (UEC) in climate change action and disaster resilience This is a new engagement with an international consortium funded by the Erasmus+ Capacity-building in Higher Education (CBHE) grant to implement the project.

SECRA aims to produce inputs to policies governing collaborative activities in partner countries; a relation framework to understand UEC; an online platform for a Community of Practice (CoP) consisting of Higher Education Institutions (HEI), public sector and enterprise actors; a corporate start-uplab and networking activities in partner HEIs, and a monitoring tool to assess the quality of UEC that can be broadly contextualized for use in HEIs worldwide.

ADMU has been designated as the country lead for this program. In the Ateneo, the project is being implemented jointly through the Department of Environmental Science, the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability, the John Gokongwei School ofManagement and the Ateneo Intellectual Property Office. The project officially launched last January 2021 and will run for 3 years. A Philippine launch was hosted by Malayan Colleges Laguna with the rest of the Philippine teams in May 2021.

The overall project coordinator is Mid Sweden University. Members of the consortium hail from the UK, Estonia, Sri Lanka, Thailand,and the Philippines. Other universities in the network are: University of Central Lancashire (UK), University of Huddersfield (UK), Tallinn University ofTechnology (Estonia), University of Ruhuna (Sri Lanka), University of SriJayewardenepura (Sri Lanka), University of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka), Chiang MaiUniversity (Thailand), Naresuan University (Thailand), Mahasarakham University(Thailand), Philippine Normal University, Malayan Colleges Laguna.

The Forest Foundation Philippines' Best Friends of the Forest (BFF) Movement aims to engage young and action-oriented environmentalists, conservationists, social entrepreneurs and artists to share the advocacy of forest conservation and protection. The Ateneo Wild project aims to cascade this movement to the Ateneo community and other Universities by engaging the urban, university-level youth (between 18 to 25 years old). This aims to help them to gain a deeper appreciation and understanding of biodiversity conservation and shift to or adopt sustainable lifestyles.

AIS provides support to the World Climate Research Programme through different avenues. AIS assisted the focal points for the Southeast Asia Regional Climate Forums. The AIS Director co-chaired the building block on Dialogue with Society for the new home called Regional Information for Society. In addition to these, AIS has become a regional hub for the Lighthouse Activity, My Climate Risk.