Tenth Inter-Institutional Academic Meeting. School of Accounting and Administration

The tenth edition of the Inter-Institutional Academic Meeting of the School of Accounting and Administration (FCA, Spanish initials) was attended by five speakers who dedicated their participation to environment, climate change, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The main guest was the Coordination of Scientific Research (CIC), attached to UNAM’s Office for Research and Development (SID, Spanish initials, see: https://sid.unam.mx/), an organization with around four thousand academics committed to the articulation of scientific networks in which companies, public entities, international organizations, and academics participate.

One of these networks is the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which integrates professionals from all disciplines in search for solutions to current problems, through balancing three fundamental axes: economic, social, and environmental. These approaches address problems such as sustainable food, land use, spatial intervention, global warming, and droughts, among many others. The model to be followed for the resolution of these problems is embodied in the 17 SDGs.

Edgar Leyva López, representative of the CIC, explained actions carried out by UNAM to lead scientific projects that generate global changes aimed at achieving the SDGs, projects in which the National Council of the 2030 Agenda, in the Secretary of Economy, actively participates.

There was also a reflection on the actors currently working for the SDGs and how there is constant feedback between academia and the SDGs, in both directions, as the main ideas for sustainable development, conservation, and mitigation and adaptation to climate change effects come from academia.

Beatriz Sánchez Osorio spoke about the process followed at the FCA to achieve, in 2021, the 2030 Accreditation, issued by the International Agency for Educational Quality, in terms of the SDGs, being the first academic entity in Mexico to obtain this certification.

Throughout the meeting, the need to increase academia involvement in the SDGs was reiterated, stating that universities around the world must incorporate into their curricula material that generates awareness in students since ultimately they are the ones who will have to apply public policies that protect the environment in the future.

Another of the obligations of the academy is that, through the awareness creation, the university community is permeated by the same values and concerns, and this generates a ripple effect in society.

When we talk about environmental issues, it is always thought that the natural and health sciences are in charge of studying the phenomena and proposing solutions; however, in this meeting, it was stated that the issue is global and that the action of professionals from all careers and all sectors of society is necessary to reach solutions that have a truly global impact.

The testimonies of two FCA students who did their social service in the University Program for Interdisciplinary Soil Studies (PUEIS) were also presented, concluding that the participation of all sectors of academia is increasingly urgent since in recent years five percent of agricultural productivity has been lost.

Rosalina Báez Martínez PhD concluded the session by speaking about the relationship between the SDGs and the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The latest report is divided into three parts: Physical Science Basis, Impacts and Adaptation, and Solutions, and outlines five major environmental threats to our well-being: extreme weather, failure to reverse climate change, natural disasters, biodiversity loss, and man-made catastrophes.

The meeting tacitly focused on the generation of bonds for the participation of all sectors, commitment with green entrepreneurship, a binding agenda, and international cooperation.

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