(From left) UNU Rector Konrad Osterwalder and UNU-ISP Director Kazuhiko Takeuchi celebrate with Yasutoshi Nishimura, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Minister of Education Ryu Shionoya. Photo: Jeremy Hedley/UNU.

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Sciences and Technology, and the Japan Foundation for UNU hosted a reception on 26 March to celebrate the establishment of the UNU Institute for Sustainability and Peace (UNU-ISP).

Ryu Shionoya, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, opened the reception, held at UNU Headquarters in Tokyo.Shintaro Ito, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, delivered congratulatory remarks, as did Yasutoshi Nishimura, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs. Also speaking were Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, Executive Director of the Japan Foundation for UNU, and the foundation’s President, Hidetoshi Yajima, who delivered the toast.

Under the direction of UNU Vice-Rector Kazuhiko Takeuchi, UNU-ISP was established in January year to exploit the strengths of the former UNU Environment and Sustainable Development and UNU Peace and Governance Programmes. The aim is to more effectively address pressing global problems of human survival, development and welfare.

While there are hundreds of peace institutes and environmental institutes around the world, UNU-ISP is unique in that its innovative approach to sustainability embraces not only environment and development, but also peace and security. UNU-ISP’s work will provide entry points for joint collaboration with other UNU institutes, and for new co-operative relationships between UNU and the global academic and policy-making communities.

For more information, visit the UNU-ISP website.

(From left) Hidetoshi Yajima, Hiroyuki Yoshikawa, Govindan Parayil, Konrad Osterwalder, Ryu Shionoya, Shintaro Ito, Kazuhiko Takeuchi, Yasutoshi Nishimura. Photo: Jeremy Hedley/UNU.