The Global Footprint Network and the Ecodynamics Group at the University of Siena are calling for presentations at their Footprint Forum: Meet the Winners of the 21st Century, in Colle di Val d’Elsa, Italy, just outside of Siena, Italy on June 7-12 2010.
Submissions are welcome on a range of issues and disciplines related to the Ecological Footprint (i.e., carbon, trade, biodiversity and water). Several abstracts will be selected for oral presentation. If your abstract is selected, you will have the opportunity to speak at the session for up to 15 minutes, followed by at least 10 minutes of discussion. In addition, a special issue of Ecological Indicators will include extended versions of a selection of papers submitted at Footprint Forum 2010.
All submissions must be a two-page abstract, and include an introduction, summary of methods and results section. Instructions and a template are attached. Deadline: March 31, 2010 (Early submissions are strongly encouraged).
The organizers describe the Forum as:
WHAT: Footprint Forum 2010 – Meet the Winners of the 21st Century will be a highly interactive forum designed to create the kind of learning and idea-sharing that will support government innovation, advance human development, and move the sustainability agenda forward in a time of increased ecological limits. Through a diverse line-up of sessions, the Forum will allow you to share your best practices and ideas, as well as learn how other amazing individuals are using the Ecological Footprint in innovative and impactful ways. Now, more than ever, there is a need for innovative, breakthrough ideas – and our upcoming Forum will be designed to stimulate just that. The aim of the sessions is to overcome barriers to action, fill gaps in knowledge, and identify strategies that inspire further sustainability investments and bring about systemic change.
WHO: Attendees will include international leaders in government, non-profits, development agencies and business, sharing the common mission of creating healthy societies where all people can live well, within the means of our planet. The Forum will allow governments to discuss strategies for maintaining a competitive economy during a time of resource scarcity, corporations to gain an understanding of how to build a robust business strategy that will withstand ecological pressures, and development agencies to explore what is needed to make development gains last while preserving natural capital.
WHY: Copenhagen – COP15 – showed us that national governments and political leaders are finding it difficult to act collectively in the global interest. Global Footprint Network is convinced that climate action will only gather momentum once nations see that decisive action is in their own best interest. This compelling self-interest story becomes obvious once we understand climate change in the context of ecological resource constraints, as one of a number of related crises – food, energy, water, biodiversity, and so forth – emerging from humanity’s systematic overuse of available resources. This reframing presents a great impetus for transformation. The focus of Footprint Forum 2010 is on how we can capitalize on this opportunity.