IARU Sustainability Science Congress

The opening session of this congress will emphasize why research is an essential partner to politicians and private enterprise in shaping the societal response to global sustainability challenges and set the scene for the coming day’s deliberations. The congress is held back-to-back with the Global Green Growth Forum (3GF), a high-level event for politicians and business leaders initiated by the Danish Government in collaboration with the governments of China, Kenya, Mexico, Qatar and Rep. of Korea. The opening session will reflect on the outcomes of 3GF, bringing the solutions and commitments in focus for public-private partnerships into the scientific arena.

The closing panel debate with leading representatives from research and policy will look ahead towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the IPCC Synthesis Report to be presented for policymakers in Copenhagen shortly after the congress.

Plenary talks and parallel theme sessions will take place throughout the three days of the congress. Planned sessions are as follows:

• Moving from 'climate' to 'sustainability'
• Transitioning to new types of economic growth
• Governance in light of planetary boundaries
• From knowledge to action
• Feeding future generations with limited resource
• Water for all
• The multiple demands on biomass
• Putting biodiversity concerns into operation
• Elucidating sustainability-health interactions
• Reconciling world views on the human-earth relationship
• Social Equity, Development and Global Environment (Session coordinators include Debra Roberts, member of the Future Earth Interim Engagement Committee)
• Energy in a resource constrained economy
• Urbanisation (Session coordinators include Xuemei Bai, member of the Future Earth Science Committee, and Karen Seto, Co-Chair, Scientific Steering Committee, UGEC – Urbanization and Global Environmental Change.
• Education