| Oct 29, 2013 |
Klimagune: Opportunities, challenges and barriers for transitions towards sustainability
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(Nanowerk News) The aim of this initiative is to share knowledge, projects and developments in terms of scientific advancements, based on the creation of synergies and possible frameworks for cooperation between the various research groups, organisations and institutions that address this matter.
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Klimagune Workshop is a forum for informal discussion on Climate Change, open to all the agents in the Basque Science and Technology Network. The aim of this initiative is to share knowledge, projects and developments in terms of scientific advancements, based on the creation of synergies and possible frameworks for cooperation between the various research groups, organisations and institutions that address this matter. The third annual edition was held in June 2012 under the heading, “From Euskadi to Rio + 20” and was attended by over 100 delegates from the Basque science network.
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The fourth edition of the Klimagune Workshop is to be held on Thursday, 19th of December, at the Bizkaia Aretoa in Bilbao, under the heading: “Opportunities, Challenges and Barriers for Transitions Towards Sustainability in the Context of Climate Change ”.
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The event will consist of a plenary session and three panel sessions that will focus on 1) Urban Areas including their Natural and Built Infrastructure, (2) Rural Areas, Food and Agriculture and (3) Energy.
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The Plenary Session will introduce two Keynote Speakers of considerable international renown, Prof. Daniel Innerarity and Dr. Vanesa Castan Broto.
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Climate change poses great challenges for societies and there is growing consensus about the urgency to transform our social and economic structures, habits and practices that affect the integrity of the productive base of the economy as well as the health of ecosystems and ultimately human well-being. These transformations are of particular relevance in areas such as the agro-food systems, energy, transport, urban environment, and natural and built infrastructure. Here transformation refers to the act of changing a system when the current conditions are untenable. Similarly, sustainability transitions aim at creating a fundamentally new system where ecological, economic, and social conditions reasonably satisfy the basic needs of present and future generations.
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Although some advances have been made in the last 30 years, it is also recognised that traditional approaches towards sustainability have been insufficient to mitigate the impacts of climate change and to sufficiently invest in adaptation strategies to cope with global environmental changes, and particularly with climate change. New perspectives, innovative processes and awakening policy discourses are required to move society towards new and more sustainable human-nature relations. Learning, innovation and experimentation are critical to dematerialise and de-carbonise society’s development paths both in urban and rural areas. Such endeavor requires to acknowledge a shared responsibility between individuals, communities, the public and private sectors, which must recognise and put into practice their comparative advantages towards developing a set of efficient and equitable transition strategies towards sustainability.
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Transitions are complex phenomena and are not free from risk and uncertainty. Science can provide key insights that can help redirect societal and economic systems in the quest for alternative transition paths towards sustainability. At the same time, science ought to respond to the evolving needs that such transitions will create over time at the local, national and global scales.
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The objective of this fourth edition of the Klimagune Workshop is to address the economic, environmental, social and technological transformation pathways towards sustainable transitions at the local, national and global scales.
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A scientific committee has been set up for this year’s Klimagune Workshop 2013 with a view to including those aspects required to imbue this new initiative with a multi-disciplinary approach. and , a Call for proposals has been launched and will be open untill November 11th. We encourage all researchers working on climate change in the Basque Science and Technology Network to submit their proposals and participate in the Klimagune Workshop with their contributions.
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Communication will be especially relevant in the Klimagune Workshop. The initiative will serve as a showcase for the dissemination of the papers of the researchers involved.
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