Sustainability Committee
Photo: Irish Gap Year
mission
GYA’s Sustainability Committee promotes awareness of and actions to address the gap year field’s ecological, cultural, and economic impacts.
We accomplish our mission by:
- Developing sustainability-related standards of accreditation.
- Developing resources to help GYA members achieve sustainability goals within their own businesses/organizations.
Our 2024 goals included:
- Developing climate action resources for students and gap year program providers.
- Ensure that GYA pursues clear and measurable climate action steps as outlined in GYA’s 2023-2026 Climate Action Plan.
Next Meeting:
MAY 2, 2024
Email info@irishgapyear.com for meeting link.
Co-Chairs
Founding Director of Irish Gap Year
Ryan founded Irish Gap Year in 2015 and sits on the Gap Year Association Board of Directors. He is the co-chair of the Gap Year Association Sustainability Committee and co-founder of Green Education Ireland.
Ryan is a lifelong passionate surfer and outdoorsman, a father of two young children (Maggie and Tommy) and a musician. He lives in Bundoran, County Donegal, Ireland with his young family.
Over the past 20 years, Ryan’s adventurous spirit has taken him all over the world adventuring and surfing while teaching outdoor and experiential education in Scandinavia, Europe and the USA. Ryan loves getting out in the field with students, teaching Irish Gap Year’s leadership workshops on the Adventure & Leadership Program and feels particularly fortunate to have the opportunity to marry his passions with his career.
Daniel Ponce-Taylor is the Sustainability & Strategic Partnerships Director at Intercultural Outreach Initiative (IOI). Daniel received his MSc in Sustainable Management of Coastal and Marine Ecosystems from the University of Cadiz.
For over 15 years, Daniel has been developing and managing overseas operations in more than 15 countries, tackling key local and global conservation and development focuses and objectives. Recently his work has been focusing on increasing the impact and contribution that these partnerships have on the Agenda 2030 and UN Sustainable Development Goals, whilst developing strategies to go beyond sustainability and move towards regenerative practices.
Daniel has been co-chairing the Sustainability SIG for the past 4 years, and was part of the team who drafted the Forum on Education Abroad Guidelines on Advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals through Education Abroad. Daniel is also a member of the CANIE Europe chapter leadership team and is a regular speaker and presenter at conferences and provides coaching and training on sustainability and climate action strategy and implementation plans.
Resources from the Sustainability Committee
GYA’s 2023-2026 Climate Action Plan was adopted by GYA’s Board of Directors on July 26, 2023
The Climate Action Plan outlines a set of strategic climate-oriented goals that demonstrate GYA’s commitment to prioritizing climate action within the experiential education field. This document outlines the commitments that will allow GYA to become a signatory of the CANIE Accord, and is available as a template/resource for others in our field who would like to pursue similar commitments to curbing the climate crisis.
GYA SIgns the CANIE ACCORD on February 1, 2024
After drafting the Climate Action Plan, GYA officially signed the CANIE Accord during the Sustainability Committee’s monthly meeting on February 1, 2024. The meeting was recorded as a public resource for others interested in walking through the various steps of signing the Accord.
For Programs
In the Sustainability Committee’s work to encourage climate action across the gap year field, they have developed GYA’s Climate Action Plan Template for Gap Year Program Providers, which was created as a tool to help programs implement their own individual climate action plans. Special thanks to Irish Gap Year (and founder/director Ryan Allen) for leading the creation of this tool, and for sharing the specific program examples used throughout the template.
Other resources:
For Gap Year Students & Alumni
For Educators