From Global Warning to Global Policy: The future belongs to us all

Abstract

The World Political Forum and the Club of Rome convened in Turin on March 28-29 2008 with the theme “From Global Warning to Global Policy”, chaired by President Mikhail Gorbachev. The meeting gathered representatives from parliaments and other political institutions, science, education and global civil society, business and finance. It focused on the underlying causes of our inability to take effective action to avert the intensifying problems which threaten sustainable development and peace and, indeed, the future of our civilization.

The participants concluded that the world has entered a period in which the dramatic scale, complexity and speed of change caused by human activities threatens the fragile environmental and ecological systems of the planet on which we depend. It is urgent therefore that the world community should agree rapidly on strategies and effective action to avert irreversible change in world systems, brought about by accelerating climate change, the ecosystems crisis, the depletion of energy resources and the diminishing availability of water, the degradation of environments across the world, persistent poverty and deprivation and the rising gulf between rich and poor within and between countries. Also, global population is in the midst of a transition from explosive growth to a new paradigm of development, never before experienced by humankind.

And yet never in the history of mankind have we had so much knowledge on the state of the planet, on the needs and aspirations of people and on how these needs can be met. In fact, today’s technologies, if properly used, would be fully capable of providing for a decent and full life for all, even within the finite limits of our planet. The problems can be solved – but they will require a different level of determination, the commitment of political will and responsibility and substantial transformations of the political and economic systems that exist today.

Format: Workshop
Day: 2008-05-07
Time: 14:00 - 15:15
Place: Kammarsalen

Speakers