Javier de León, Co-director of the UNESCO Chair in Tourism and Sustainable Economic Development at ULPGC, participated online as a guest speaker at the First Forum of Sectoral Leaders Committed to Human Sustainability and Planetary Sustainability, held in the city of Bogotá from September 1 to 3, 2025. His presentation, delivered on September 3 and entitled “Sustainable Tourism as a Path to Equality, Equity, and Social Inclusion”, was part of the panel Challenges and Opportunities in the Management and Sustainability of UNESCO Chairs in Ibero-America.
This event brought together leaders from higher education institutions, multilateral organizations, academic networks, and national and international experts, with the purpose of fostering strategic reflections and building collective proposals around the contemporary challenges of sustainability and educational transformation in Latin America. Over three days, the program featured keynote lectures, dialogues, panels, collaborative workshops, and the official launch of the Center for University Pedagogies for the Southern Cone (CPU), an initiative seeking to position itself as a platform for educational co-innovation and transformative teacher training.
Additionally, the Ibero-American Meeting of UNESCO Chairs was held, aimed at consolidating common agendas for educational transformation, digital citizenship, and social change from a network-based and sustainable perspective. The forum also served as a key opportunity to strengthen institutional partnerships, showcase inspiring practices, reinforce regional pedagogical leadership, and advance toward a more inclusive, innovative education committed to the well-being of present and future generations.
The forum was organized by the Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia(UNAD) in coordination with ACESAD, AIESAD, el Sistema Universitario Estatal (SUE Centro), the UNESCO-UNAD chair and the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce, with the support of UNESCO’s International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC).
More information regarding this event is available at this link