As with most other conferences, attending the World Sustainability Development Summit has meant linking up with a long list of interesting and like-minded people. For instance I shared lunch with, among others, a dedicated sustainability-blogger:
Pankaj Arora runs the ‘Linking Sustainability Blog – Creating Positive Impact of Sustainability in Business World’:
linkingsustainability.com
A quick brainstorm over lunch lead to a first vision: we must begin establishing a network of sustainability-bloggers from around the planet, and then use our powers as the independent and committed reporters we are, not attached to any media, organisation, authority or commercial interest, to spread the decarbonising-message as well as beginning to fundraise, most likely through ‘crowdfunding’, for sustaining the network’s ability to keep at it.
Awareness study
I also met Pekka Harju-Autti from Finland who runs a Facebook page with the title Environmental awareness in the World. He is doing a study comparing environmental awareness in the states of India, and around the world.
In this short video interview, I asked Pekka why he is doing that:
Video from the summit
The organisers, TERI, have uploaded video-recordings of the presentations at the conference, so far 69 of them, on youtube.
Some examples:
• In my opinion, Mr Bittu Sehgal gave one of the best speeches at the DSDS 2013. He speaks out of my heart. You must take seven minutes to see this video and listen to his speech:
• Former Deputy Prime Minister and MP Lord John Prescott, UK, is also on my ‘Top 3’ list of Best Speeches of the summit:
• Quebec’s minister of international relations Jean-Francois Lisee gave us what I experienced as, quite simply, a pleasantly good and honest speech:
Guyana’s government has a Low Carbon Development Strategy. The country’s president Mr Donald Ramotar spoke well about how his government aims to tackle social issues along with the ecological and carbon-related issues:
• The Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh opened the conference with a speech in front of 1,000 delegates and 25 tv-cameras which gave important political signals to fellow politicians, policy-makers and bureaucrats in the “sustainability-industry”. He said that India is committed to meeting its domestic mitigation goal of reducing the emissions intensity of India’s GDP by 20-25 per cent by year 2020 compared with 2005 levels:
• I had not expected to hear a representative from one of the world’s main CO2/oil-producing countries, United Arab Emirates, ask to address the challenge of finding unifying solutions in a comprehensive, holistic, and inclusive manner. But Dr Sultan Ahmad Al Jaber, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and Special Envoy for Energy and Climate Change in the UAE, did just that. “The planet by 2030 will need 40 percent more energy. What are we seriously – and in a very action-oriented way – doing to address this very big challenge?”, he asked.
• Norway’s representative, Mr Arvinn Eikeland Gadgil, who is Deputy Minister for International Development, gave what I considered a rather sharp, fresh and intelligent speech – about the need for ‘fair governance’:
• Denmarks’s story was presented by General-Secretary of the Danish Cultural Institute, Mr Finn Andersen:
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Session at DSDS: Employment and Growth Benefits of a Green Economy
Speakers:
• Mr Martin Hiller, Director General, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP), Austria
• Ms Lise Grande, UN Resident Coordinator & UNDP Resident Representative, India
• Mr Dirk Fransaer, Managing Director, VITO, Belgium
• Mr Heherson T. Alvarez, Commissioner, Climate Change Commission, Office of the President, Philippines
• Dr Bindu N. Lohani, Vice President, Knowledge Management and Sustainable Development, Asian Development Bank, Philippines
• His Excellency Mr Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, Former President, United Nations General Assembly, USA
• Dr Richard L. Sandor, Chairman & CEO, Environmental Financial Products LLC, USA
(Click to see a video recording of each presentation.)
UPDATE: Here is a link to the webcast of the entire 75 minutes session: 24framesdigital.com/teri/webcast/dsds2013/employment.html
My first sustainability links
At the lunch table, I was introduced to Wahidullah Waissi, who runs:
• Green Club in Kabul, Afghanistan:
www.greenclub.com.af
I had an inspiring morning-taxi-chat with the very well-formulated Drew Kodjak, Executive Director of:
• The International Council on Clean Transportation
www.theicct.org
And during the day also stumbled over this blog on sustainability:
• Refreshed (The Family at Holstee’s blog):
refreshed.is/category/sustainability
Thanks Mik for putting me on your blog! You’ve done a great job in compiling all the info in one place. Let’s stay in touch and take a step forward…and… my name is Pankaj…not Panjak…thanks!