The Environmental Change Institute and Earth Day Network are excited to co-host a panel and conversation on the intersectionality of environmental management, human development and social justice. What is the new data and research telling us? Can new learning help us to continue achieving steady progress? Is there something that we can do collectively to elevate environmental issues to the top of the political, social, and economic agendas again? Why is 2020 a key opportunity?
Background: 25 years after the first Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report warned that human emissions were creating an unprecedented threat to humankind through global warming, the environmental challenges facing the planet have only intensified. The planet faces a convergent and interacting combination of challenges in energy, water and food security, ecosystem degradation, and climate change. The impacts are spilling over into all aspects of society, through resource scarcity, the impacts of natural disasters, forced migration, and conflict. There is potential for a coming together of multiple climate change related crises over the next 10-20 years, and this potential is heterogeneous across the world.
The response to the intensifying threats facing the planet appears to be significantly lacking in scale, urgency, inspiration, and leadership. Decisions are being made with insufficient attention to the scientific evidence warning of the potential impacts of inaction. Also, the lack of decisive leadership leaves the Earth’s life support systems at risk of becoming irreversibly over-exploited. The endeavor for social justice and human development are inextricably linked to the environmental movement and if strategies going forward do not address both issues as cross contributing factors, facing serious difficulties and a major global crisis are real possibilities.
Speakers: Dr. Friederike E. L. Otto, Valeria Merino JD, Dr. Peter Walton, Dr. Emilie Parry, Dr. John Ingram, and Dr. Robert Dunford.
You can find the agenda for this event here: ECI EDN Agenda Event in Oxford