IEF 10th Annual Conference programme

Friday 15 September
Chair: Wendi Momen

Welcome and opening remarks
Arthur Dahl, President of the International Environment Forum

Climate change: scientific and faith perspectives
Arthur Dahl, Switzerland (IEF)
[full paper] [instructions for audio file] [audio file 5.2mb, missing first 20 minutes] [powerpoint file 6.3mb] [pdf file of powerpoint 3.2mb]
Questions and discussion 

Climate change: impact on developing countries
Lars Friberg, Germany (University of Potsdam)
[audio file 5mb] [powerpoint file 10.6mb] [pdf file of powerpoint 1.8mb]

For the questions and discussion, see the Conference Report
 

Saturday 16 September
Chair: Arthur Dahl

Music and reflections
[instructions] [audio file 2.2mb] [powerpoint file 3.4mb] [pdf file of powerpoint 1mb]

Gender aspects of climate change
Minu Hemmati, Germany (consultant)
[audio file 3.4mb] [powerpoint file 7.7mb] [pdf file of powerpoint 420kb]

The international community's response to climate change
Halldor Thorgeirsson, Germany (Deputy Executive Secretary, UNFCCC Secretariat)
[audio file 3.7mb] [powerpoint file 60kb] [pdf file of powerpoint 28kb]

The need for North-South climate community
Peter Luff, UK (Action for a Global Climate Community)
[audio file 3.3mb]

Energy for better or worse: local-global links between energy use and climate change
Markku Lehtonen, UK (University of Sussex)
Sylvia Karlsson, Finland (Turku School of Economics)
[audio file 5.5mb] [powerpoint file 548kb] [pdf file of powerpoint 3.8mb] 

Carbon Quiz: C what you know prepared by Ineke Gijsbers [powerpoint 250 KB]

What economic systems and policies are compatible with protection of the environment?
Augusto Lopez-Claros, Switzerland (World Economic Forum)
[audio file 7.8mb] [powerpoint file 3.4mb] [pdf file of powerpoint 792kb]

Roundtable discussion: Spiritual dimensions of climate change 
Chair: Wendi Momen, with Arthur Dahl, Minu Hemmati, Sylvia Karlsson, Augusto Lopez-Claros, Halldor Thorgeirsson
[audio file 9.5mb]

Conference dinner at Vaults and Gardens (University Church of St Mary the Virgin)
 

Sunday 17 September
Chair: Stephen Vickers

Music and reflections
Judith Fienieg, United Kingdom
[instructions] [audio file 2mb] [powerpoint file 1.9mb] [pdf file of powerpoint 1mb]

Short introductions
Climate Change, what Oxford City Council and County Council are doing
Laura Thompson, UK (Oxford City Council)
[audio file 548kb] [powerpoint file 1.3mb] [pdf file of powerpoint 408kb]
George Marshall (Climate Outreach Information Network)

Three parallel subgroups 
each kicked off by 2 five minute presentations followed by discussion.
Coordinator: Michael Richards

   1. Sustainable living (chair: Stephen Vickers)
Presentations by Paula Posas & Laura Thompson   

   2. Sustainable business (chair: Minu Hemmati)
   Presentations by Philip Koomen & Wendi Momen
    A Strategy to Promote Sustainable Practice 
     Philip Koomen
    [powerpoint file 27mb] [pdf file of powerpoint 1mb]

   3. Sustainable transport (chair: Kaykhosrov Manuchehri)
   Presentations by Francis Standish & George Marshall

Educating our community 
George Marshall, UK (Climate Outreach Information Network)
[audio file 2.4mb]

Community empowerment
Poppy Villiers-Stuart, UK 

Smaller group discussions: What can I and my community do? 
Michael Richards (coordinator) & Minu Hemmati (reporter)
Facilitators: Poppy Villiers-Stuart, Shelagh Windsor-Richards, Sarah Richards, Raz Rahmani, Arthur Dahl, Danielle Pee

So what? Conclusions 

General Assembly of the International Environment Forum

Bahá'í World News Service article on the conference: http://news.bahai.org/story.cfm?storyid=482

BIOS OF MAIN CONFERENCE SPEAKERS

Arthur Dahl is a retired Deputy Assistant Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), where he was Deputy Director of the Regional Seas Programme, Coordinator of UN System-wide Earthwatch and Director of the Coral Reef Unit. He is now a consultant to UNEP and other international organizations on environmental assessment, observing strategies, indicators of sustainability, coral reefs, biodiversity, islands, environmental education, and social and economic development.  He represented the Baha'i International Community at the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment (1972), was in the Secretariat of the Rio Earth Summit (1992) to help prepare Agenda 21, and organized several parallel events at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, 2002). He participated in the Symposium on Religion, Science and the Environment in the Black Sea organized by the Orthodox Church in 1998. He is President of the International Environment Forum and on the governing boards of the European Baha'i Business Forum and the Global Islands Network.

Minu Hemmati is a clinical psychologist and she has been working as an independent advisor since 1996, Her interests focus on contributing to a shift in culture - from domination and conflict towards equity and collaboration. Her work includes designing and facilitating dialogue processes and partnerships among stakeholders; and on research and advocacy on gender issues (climate change; consumption; tourism). She is working with governments, international agencies, non-government organizations, women's networks, research institutions, and corporations. She is also engaging in research and learning processes in order to assess and increase the effectiveness of participation, dialogue and collaboration. As a psychologist, she tends to focus on the contributions that individuals can make to societal change, and the links between individual behaviour and group processes. She has been participating in United Nations conferences and summits since 1996, focusing on sustainable development, the advancement of women, social development and climate change. She is a Member of the Jury of the ReSource International Award for Sustainable Watershed Management, a member of the Independent Expert Panel to the Global Accountability Project, a member of the Board of Directors of EcoAgriculture Partners, a member of the core group of the Generative Dialogue Project, and a member of the advisory group to the Collective Leadership Institute.

Lars Friberg is a research fellow with Potsdam University at the Chair of International Politics. He is currently working in a collaborative research programme focusing on the role of the flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol. He has been engaged in the environmental movement and the UN process on sustainable development since 1995. His focus is now on climate change and the UN regime building process on climate change. He has also worked in Brussels as a Policy Officer for Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, the European node of the global network of Environmental NGOs working on climate change.

Sylvia Karlsson is a political scientist who works as a Reseach Fellow of the Academy of Finland at Finland Futures Research Centre, Turku School of Economics with projects that concern legitimacy and effectiveness of global environmental governance and multilevel governance of energy for sustainable development at global level and in SE Asia. Between 2001-2003 she worked as International Science Project Coordinator at the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP) in Bonn, Germany. In 2003-2004 she was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy where she studied the negotiations for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002). 

Markku Lehtonen has been working as a Research Fellow in the Sussex Energy Group (Science and Technology Policy Research), University of Sussex since October 2005. His main current research projects concern energy use and sustainability in the UK road freight transport, and distributed electricity generation. Other interests relate to international environmental policy, especially the role of international organizations; evaluation research; environmental policy integration; and transitions to sustainable energy systems. He has analyzed the impact of environmental policy evaluation, with the OECD Environmental Performance Review programme as a case study. He has done consultancy work and worked between 1995 and 2000 at the Finnish Ministry of the Environment with climate negotiations and evaluation of environmental policies as his main areas of responsibility.

Augusto Lopez-Claros is the Chief Economist and Director of the Global Competitiveness Programme at the World Economic Forum. Before joining the Forum, he was Executive Director with Lehman Brothers International (London) and Senior International Economist. He was the International Monetary Fund's resident representative in the Russian Federation (Moscow) during 1992-95. Before joining the IMF, he was professor of economics at the University of Chile in Santiago. He has written and lectured extensively in South America, the USA, Europe and Asia on a broad range of subjects, including aspects of economic reform in transition economies, economic integration, interdependence and cooperation, governance, peace, and the role of international organizations.

Halldor Thorgeirsson is Deputy Executive Secretary, Scientific and Technological Advice, of the Climate Change Secretariat in Bonn, Germany. He is responsible within the UNFCCC secretariat for support to the Convention Dialogue on long-term cooperative action and the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA). He heads a cluster of three programmes dealing with adaptation, technology, science, Clean Development Mechanism, Joint Implementation and Compliance. Before joining the secretariat in 2004, he was director of the Office of Sustainable Development and International Affairs at the Ministry for the Environment in Iceland. He has been active in climate negotiations since 1997. He was involved in the negotiations of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, and other international processes related to the environment and sustainable development. He was president of the Preparatory Committee for the Development of a Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management during 2003-2004. He worked for ten years at the Agricultural Research Institute in Iceland. He was a member of the Icelandic Research Council and represented Iceland in regional and international cooperation on climate change research.