Description

We face great challenges in the 21st century: global poverty, population growth, climate change, environmental degradation, and global security. By 2030 in only 15 years time global food and energy demand will have increased by 50% and freshwater requirement will have increased by 30%. This is partly due to the rise in global population but most is caused by the rapid development of lower income countries and a huge increase in consumption. Add to this the increase effects of climate change, which directly threatens water and food security and you have what Sir John Beddington (previous UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser) calls the 'perfect storm'. To meet these 21st century challenges we must change some of the basic rules of our society to allow us to adopt a much more global and long-term approach and in doing so develop win-win solution that benefit everyone. Prof. Maslin will examines the three key pressure of the perfect storm, rapid population growth, rapid development and climate change. He then discusses the possible solutions and how our global society needs to adapt and change. This will be followed by an open discussion with the audience on how different nations can contribute to solving these 21st century challenges.