idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
idw - Informationsdienst
Wissenschaft
No fewer than fifteen Nobel Laureates and more than thirty leading scientists will be joined by a host of renowned representatives from the world of politics, business and public affairs, when they meet up for the First Interdisciplinary Symposium for Global Sustainability in Potsdam on October 9th -10th 2007. Focal point of the discussions during these two days will be the development of strategies to combat climate change and its adverse ecological and socio-economic effects. The Potsdam Memorandum, to be issued at the end of this Symposium, summarising the content of the discussions, is addressed to the United Nations Climate Summit being held in Bali at the end of this year.
The Symposium, which bears the title "Global Sustainability - a Nobel Cause" is being held under the patronage of Federal German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is playing an active part. Keynote speakers at the Symposium include not only Nobel Laureates such as Carlo Rubbia, Mario Molina, Wangari Maathai, Murray Gell-Mann and Sir James Mirrlees, but also other internationally renowned authorities such as Sir Nicholas Stern, Rajenda Pachauri and Sunita Narain.
Our planet will be inhabited by nine billion people during this century and they have the right to a worthy lifetime - this can only be secured for them, if they have affordable access to energy. Yet this is not currently possible, due to the limited availability and the uneven global distribution of fossil fuel resources. Furthermore, over-dependence on this kind of energy is threatening to destabilise the balance of our global climate.
How can we ensure that we drive change in our established ways of thinking? What must be done to increase the role played by sources of renewable energy? What needs to happen, in order to accelerate innovation processes and find ways of making better use of existing resources? How do we achieve a fairer and more just distribution of wealth around the globe?
Continuing climate change is already threatening the well-being of significant parts of our world population, particularly in the African sub-continent. This process can only be contained, if the international community develops and commits to new and more consequent measures. A new global climate protection agreement, going far beyond the reach of the Kyoto Protocol, which will expire at the end of 2012, would appear to be mandatory.
During the second day of the Nobel Laureates Symposium, results of the discussions held will be summarised in the Potsdam Memorandum. This document will later be submitted to the United Nations Climate Conference, being held in Bali at the end of this year.
The Symposium is being organised by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, in partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature and with principal support from the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research.
Further information:
See at: www.nobel-cause.de
Please address any questions regarding the Symposium to:
Uta Pohlmann (Press Office, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research)
Telephone + 49 331 288 2507
Cell-Phone +49 152 0208 6172
Isabel Pasch (Media Co-ordination)
Cell-Phone +49 152 0138 2076
Via e-mail to: nobel-cause@pik-potsdam.de
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English
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