As you will see from the diverse list of sessions below, participants from around the world will not be coming together to rehash old thinking or revisit traditional strategies. Each session is designed to provide context for people to tackle some of humanity’s current dilemmas, and stimulate breakthrough thinking and new collaborations that would not have occurred outside this venue.
Session Topics and Descriptions
Forum sessions will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 5:45 p.m., with lunch provided daily. At the end of each intimate and highly interactive session, three agenda items will be created and used to develop our goals and monitor success for the following year. Dinner events are planned for evenings.
Footprint Forum: The Opportunity of Limits Conference Program
(Subject to Change)
- Conference opens June 7, 2010, and closes on June 11, 2010
- Technical Training sessions will be held on June 7-8, 2010 (subject to change)
Partner Meetings
National Accounts Committee Meeting
Standards Committee Meeting
Technical Training Day 1
Opening Plenary
Conference Opening – Mathis Wackernagel and Susan Burns
In Conversation: Natural Capital and Our Economy
What is the relationship between the ecological crisis and the financial crisis? Many believe the financial crisis is just part of a normal economic cycle or the result of weak regulation, but is there something deeper that’s being driven by natural resource limits? What shifts in our economy will be necessary to ensure that economic growth does not undermine natural capital?
Morning Sessions
Best Practices From the Network: Topic to be announced
From case studies to problem-solving to open dialogues, these 75 minute sessions are open to partners to create their own agenda.
Partner 2.0 Launch
(Partners Only)
Global Footprint Network’s Partner Network continues to expand and strengthen worldwide. Contribute to the evolution of the Network as we discuss exciting plans and initiatives, including the Corporate Circle, Ambassadors Council, and the Working Group on National Competitiveness. Provide your ideas on how to accelerate and expand our work through the Network.
Working Group on National Competitiveness (WGNC) #1
(For national government representatives and invited guests only)
More than 25 nations are, or have been, engaged in evaluating and adopting the Ecological Footprint as a national indicator. Global Footprint Network is kicking off a new partner group, WGNC, to provide networking, resources and support to national government representatives as they work within their own governments. Contribute to and learn more about WGNC, which will bring these individuals together for the first time, to share successes, challenges and strategies. This meeting will cover the purpose and structure of the WGNC.
Self-organizing conversations: The Lounge
Best Practices from the Network: Cities of the Future
The global effort for sustainability will be won, or lost, in the world’s cities, where urban design may influence over 70 percent of people’s Ecological Footprint. Global Footprint Network partners and city representatives will share the most innovative urban design strategies for reducing the Ecological Footprint of city populations and creating cities of the future. Which cities are building future resource traps? Which ones are building opportunities for resource-efficient and more competitive lifestyles?
World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD): Vision 2050
An interactive Workshop
Imagine the impact of 29 global corporations coming together to tackle these questions: What will a sustainable future look like in 2050? What are the pathways to getting there? This is WBCSD’s Vision 2050—come hear about and be a part of this powerful global vision.
Afternoon Sessions
Global Footprint Network Board Meeting
(closed)
Roundtable on Population
The United Nations predicts that the global population will peak by 2050. Will we have the biocapacity available by then to support this population? How can we boost investment in successful approaches such as women’s empowerment? How can we get population back on the agenda as one of many factors that affect global sustainability? Join us as we explore strategies to ensure that humanity’s needs are met on an increasingly limited planet.
Academic Session – Topic to be Announced
During these 75-minute sessions, footprint academics will be sharing the latest in Ecological Footprint science and methodology, as well as presenting academic papers chosen on topics such as carbon, trade, and biodiversity and water.
Self-organizing conversations: The Lounge
Best Practices from the Network: Corporate Footprint
Come hear and share cutting-edge best practices and case studies of practitioners and corporations that are using the Ecological Footprint to measure and reduce the impact of products and operations on the Earth.
Peak Oil
What exactly is “peak oil” and how might it mitigate or accentuate the biocapacity crunch? Will higher oil prices reduce consumption, thus support a lower carbon economy? Or will we reach out in desperation to dirtier energy sources such as tar sands and coal? What are key policy instruments to ensure that peak oil becomes a friend and not a foe?
Afternoon Plenary:
Feeding 9 Billion: The Food, Water and Energy Connection
Can we maintain biocpacity used for food consumption in the decades to come, given challenges such as growing water scarcity and shifts toward biofuels? What are the trade-offs between water, land and energy? Join us as we discuss challenges and devise strategies for these questions and more.
Morning Plenary
Ecological Creditors, Ecological Debtors: The New Rules of the Game
Today, 80 percent of the world’s people live in countries whose residents use more ecological services than the ecosystems within their borders can provide. These countries depend upon the biocapacity concentrated in a limited and rapidly dwindling number of “ecological creditor” countries, whose biocapacity (ability to produce resources and absorb CO2) exceeds their total demand.
As human pressure on the environment continues to grow, there will be strategic benefit for all nations if ecological creditor nations maintain their resource reserves. What are the best strategies for managing risk and maintaining natural capital? In a world of ecological creditors and debtors, how can we all win?
First Morning Session
Best Practices from the Network: Personal Behavior Change
In order to achieving One Planet Living we will need to educate and motivate people to change their daily habits. From ad campaigns to personal calculators, our partners are coming up with the most effective and innovative ways to inspire individuals to make a difference.
Dialogue – Financial Markets and relationship to reality
Footprint and Biodiversity
Evidence of the worldwide species decline is global, pervasive and troubling. If an ecosystem is like a factory, then biodiversity is like the assembly line that allows the factory to produce natural capital. What does it mean that the factory parts have never been fully booked and valued? What are the implications of global factory that is being continuously degraded?
The Ecological Footprint is a measure of the aggregate demand of humans on nature, of the pressure that our demands for natural capital place on ecosystems and species. When the Ecological Footprint helps decision makers understand what drives biodiversity loss, and how such losses can be mitigated, then declining ecosystem productivity may be slowed, halted or even reversed.
Self-organizing conversations: The Lounge
Open Space: To be Announced
From case studies to problem-solving to open dialogues, these 75-minute sessions are open to partners to create their own agenda.
Scenario Workshop – The Role of Government and Regulation – Part One
Using scenario planning, these sessions will engage participants in a dynamic exploration of the future around the focal question: What role will government have in a world of ecological overshoot? This question is relevant to corporations, governments and NGOs alike.
Second Morning Session
Calculator Walkabout
Be a part of this innovative show-and-tell, in which participants will have the opportunity to interact with our partners’ online tools and test them out.
Participating Organizations:
Value of Nature – A conversation
Humans now demand more biological capacity that nature can provide on a yearly basis. But what about other species? How much nature is left for non-humans, and is that too much or not enough? Do we only see nature in terms of its usefulness to humanity? How is quality of life influenced by the structure and function of ecosystems? What role do other species play in production of goods & services people depend on?
Why is it especially important today for people to reevaluate their interdependence on nature? In striving to meet human needs, can we ensure that we don’t lose the value of nature in its own right?
Explore some of the philosophical, scientific and economic perspectives addressing the value of nature, how that value is measured, and the extent to which ‘nature’ (species, habitats, ecosystems) deserves to be preserved, enhanced, restored or even created anew.
Self-organizing conversations: The Lounge
Open Space: One Planet Olympics
Scenario Workshop – The Role of Government and Regulation – Part Two
Using scenario planning, these sessions will engage participants in a dynamic exploration of the future around the focal question: What role will government have in a world of ecological overshoot? This question is relevant to corporations, governments and NGOs alike.
Afternoon Sessions
Working Group On National Competitiveness (WGNC) #2
(National Government Representatives Only)
This interactive session of the Working Group on National Competitiveness asks participants to work through the following topics: What successes have you had in your nation toward adoption of the Ecological Footprint? What are your most successful strategies and most difficult barriers? What role can this group play to amplify the success of our work, and accelerate it on an international level?
Resource Conflict
Wars have been fought over the control of resources for centuries; however, it is apparent that resource conflict is becoming more frequent and intense as the global demand for resources continues to exceed supply. The shortage of fresh water and arable land in Chiapas, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe, for example, have significantly contributed to conflict in these areas. What is the role of globalization, resource consumption and population growth rates and what is being done to address the issue? What more can be done?
Academic Session – Topic to be Announced
During these 75-minute sessions, footprint academics will be sharing the latest in Ecological Footprint science and methodology, as well as presenting academic papers chosen on topics such as carbon, trade, and biodiversity and water.
Self-organizing conversations: The Lounge
Open Space: To be Announced
From case studies to problem solving to open dialogues, these 75 minute sessions are open to partners to create their own agenda.
Feeding the World in 2050
How will we feed 9 billion people in 2050? Focused on agricultural productivity, this session tackles issues such as how to meet the needs of a growing population, industry challenges, genetically modified organisms, water issues, women’s empowerment, and more.
Afternoon Plenary
Global Health and Human Development
There is rising awareness that investments in alleviating poverty must provide populations with lasting solutions rather than act as short-term “Band-aids”. The same can be said for a population’s natural wealth. How do we ensure that development enhances a population’s natural capital as a source of long-term wealth? In a resource-constrained world, it is no longer about saving nature or saving people – it is about maintaining the health of both.
First Morning Session
Beyond Carbon: Limits, Biocapacity and Climate Change
What is the role of maintaining biocapacity when addressing climate change? Much of the global focus has been on reducing carbon – how can we build on that and expand the focus to biocapacity, such as the degradation of our forests and oceans? How do we ensure that efforts to reduce carbon don’t put equal pressure on other land types like forests and cropland?
Tech Training Day Two
Academic Session – Topic to be Announced
During these 75-minute sessions, footprint academics will be sharing the latest in Ecological Footprint science and methodology, as well as presenting academic papers chosen on topics such as carbon, trade, and biodiversity and water.
Self-organizing conversations: The Lounge
Working Group on National Competitiveness (WGNC) #3: Introduction to the Ecological Creditor Initiative
(National government representatives only)
This session is for national governments only and will serve as an introduction to the Ecological Creditor and Debtor Initiative. How will this concept reframe the geopolitical landscape? How can all countries benefit by getting involved?
Scenario Workshop – Financial Capital - Part One
What shape does the economic system need to take in order to support humanity living within the means of one planet? What kinds of investments are needed today for a sustainable future, regardless of how the economy will evolve and affect your organization? From macro to micro, this session helps you understand and navigate a changing economy for your success.
Second Morning Session
Corporate Leadership Circle Meeting (invitation only)
This roundtable is exclusive to members of our Corporate Circle. Share your insights and learn from others about how sustainability has been incorporated into business strategy, and what challenges business leaders have faced and overcome.
Tech Training Day Two
Academic Session – Topic to be Announced
During these 75-minute sessions, footprint academics will be sharing the latest in Ecological Footprint science and methodology, as well as presenting academic papers chosen on topics such as carbon, trade, and biodiversity and water.
Self-organizing conversations: The Lounge
Media Training (Partners Only)
Scenario Workshop – Financial Capital - Part Two
What shape does the economic system need to take in order to support humanity living within the means of one planet? What kinds of investments are needed today for a sustainable future, regardless of how the economy will evolve and affect your organization? From macro to micro, this session helps you understand and navigate a changing economy for your success.
Afternoon Closing Plenary
Setting the Agenda for 2010
Afternoon