How to manage the planet within its limits

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Published : May 17, 2011 Last modified : Oct 07, 2011 09:50 AM

European Environment Agency (EEA) Executive Director Jacqueline McGlade is participating in the 3rd Nobel Laureate Symposium on Global Sustainability, from 17-19 May. Prof. McGlade will act as a delegate and moderator. The key outcome of the Symposium, the Stockholm Memorandum, will develop a new vision for sustainable development and prosperity, along with mechanisms for achieving it.

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Humanity is altering the remarkable conditions for life on Earth. Ecosystems are reaching a state where they may collapse or change into very different forms with huge impacts on our societies and economies. It is time to choose a transformative path that will ensure global sustainability for future generations

Prof. Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of EEA

The 3^rd Nobel Laureate Symposium on Global Sustainability brings together Nobel laureates, leading policy makers and some of the world’s most renowned thinkers and experts on global sustainability. The Symposium provides an informal setting for productive discussions on how to transform current governance to be more sustainable and adaptive, operating within the boundaries of the planet.

“Humanity is altering the remarkable conditions for life on Earth. Ecosystems are reaching a state where they may collapse or change into very different forms with huge impacts on our societies and economies. It is time to choose a transformative path that will ensure global sustainability for future generations,” said Professor Jacqueline McGlade, EEA Executive Director.

The Symposium discussions will concentrate on three themes:

The human dominated planet focuses on the great acceleration of the human enterprise and on recent attempts to identify the safe operating space for humanity to continue to develop within a stable planet Earth.

Reconnecting to the Biosphere focuses on the role of ecosystems and the services they provide as the basis for societal development and human well-being.

Tipping towards sustainability will explore the links between crisis, opportunity, and innovation for navigating shifts and large-scale transformations towards global sustainability.

The outcome of the Symposium, the Stockholm Memorandum, will be signed by Nobel laureates on May 18^thand handed over in person to the High-level Panel on Global Sustainability. It will feed into the preparations for the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro (Rio +20) and for the on-going climate change negotiations.

The 3^rd Nobel Laureate Symposium is organised by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University, Stockholm Environment Institute, the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.