The 9th batch of the Asia-Pacific Young Leadership Program on Environment for Sustainable Development highlighted Green Economy, in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication, was held at Tongji University, Shanghai on 4th until 8th of June 2012. The central theme was one of the emerging challenges that will be discussed during the Rio+20, a UN conference on sustainable development to be held in Rio de Janeiro on 20th - 22nd of June 2012.

A total of 25 young leaders from South Asia, Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia had been selected among other 128 applicants to participate in the training. They represented various governments, think tanks, NGOs, post graduate students, international organizations, and universities. Trainers of the training were provided by the Regional University Consortium that consisted of United Nations University, University of Wollongong, Tongji University, New South Wales, Yale University, Asian Institute of Technology, and Fudan University. In addition, corporate sector, UNEP Nairobi and Rio+20 Secretariat New York contributed to enrich the program.

The annual training was co-organized by Tongji University, UNEP Nairobi and the Hanns Seidel Foundation, and its representatives addressed participants during the opening session. UNEP Nairobi was represented by the Deputy Director of UNEP DEPI, Ms. Elizabeth Mrema, Nairobi, Tongji University was represented by the Vice President of Tongji University, Prof. Wu Jiang and Hanns Seidel Foundation was represented by the Indonesia office Program Coordinator, Ms. Nila Puspita, as well as by its Vietnam office representative, Mr. Axel Neubert.

The Hanns Seidel Foundation Indonesia joined the program from its inception in 2004. Its support for Tongji University was made possible through the long standing partnership with UNEP. The partnership goes back to the signed MoU between UNEP and HSF in 2009 in Nairobi. This particular support focuses on ASEAN participants, as the program is a part of the implementation of the ASEAN Environmental Education Action Plans for Sustainable Development. Among other regional programs are ASEAN Eco School, ASEAN Environmentally Sustainable Cities, ASEAN State of Environment Report, ASEAN Environmental Emergencies, etc. with partnership with ASEAN Secretariat.

The leadership training aims to improve the all-around thinking and decision-making abilities of the young and promising leaders in government organizations, NGOs, and private enterprises in the Asia-Pacific regions, particularly on the issue of sustainable development from the perspective of green economy. The sustainable development dimensions were discussed during the training, which pertained the discussion of (i) Human dimension, through covering topics of “Climate Change and Atmospheric Issues”, “Leadership Skills”, “Leadership Systems Thinking”, “Environment Ethics”, (ii) Environment dimension, through covering topics of “Water Issues”, “Atmospheric Issues – Chemical Release”, “The Built Environment”, “Urban Ecology”, and (iii) Socio & Economic dimension, through covering “Energy Efficiency”, “Eco-Transportation”, “The Regeneration of the Historical Landscape – Socio Economic Implications”, “Civil Society and Sustainable Development”, “Green Economy – Key Issues”, “New Energy Technology & Utilization”, “Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”.