The Planet Under Pressure 2012 conference is in need of a legacy. Scientists should be encouraged to say what they think about the prospects for limiting global warming to two degrees. The consequences could be profound.
Sustainable inequality looms over Rio+20
Professor Richard Wilkinson and Dr Mamphela Ramphele spoke about global inequality this morning at the Planet Under Pressure 2012 conference. We know that it’s a big problem with few easy answers in the context of sustainable development.
Conference notes: 27th March
A potential setback on Day 2 of the Planet Under Pressure 2012 conference. The UN’s preparatory negotiations for Rio+20 are not following the script.
Global relationships in urgent need of warming
Senior politicians and business leaders are not talking to the scientists or development experts. The Planet Under Pressure 2012 conference warns that this is a recipe for failure at Rio+20. But the participants have their own communication barriers too.
Conference notes: 26th March
Miscellaneous reflections on the first day of the Planet Under Pressure 2012 conference, embracing Lord Giddens, Twitter and Wordsworth.
Planetary boundaries or opportunities?
The Planet Under Pressure 2012 conference has opened with a blunt dilemma. Signs of improvement in our environmental stewardship are insufficient to halt the slide towards the limits.
Scientists welcome Anthropocene with less science, more solutions
The world’s leading earth scientists have been summoned to a London conference in a last ditch attempt to influence the outcome of the UN summit on the future of people and the planet in Rio de Janeiro in June.
Scientists shrink from the economics of ecosystems
We all know that GDP is unfit for the purpose of measuring progress. Should scientists at the Planet Under Pressure 2012 conference be doing more to promote the research results of The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB)?
Conference notes: 22nd March
Today’s jottings about the forthcoming Planet Under Pressure 2012 conference. The delegation from Arizona wants to “recast” the science research agenda. And the Global Warming Policy Foundation wants to recast the policy briefs published for the event.
Is Rio+20 capable of a constitutional moment?
The Planet Under Pressure 2012 conference opening in London next week will debate recommendations for the institutional framework for sustainable development published by the Earth System Governance Project. These call for a “constitutional moment” at the Rio+20 summit.