Time to register side events, for the Nexus Conference and to register

The last twenty plus years since the original Rio Earth Summit governments have tried to address interlinkage issue without a huge level of success. In the meantime we have an increase in food insecurity, water insecurity and energy provision. These have become increasingly linked as the pressures of population growth; urbanization and increased prosperity in the emerging economies have and are requiring more of each.  

The 2008 economic crisis put into clear focus the link between energy and food as energy costs went up so did food costs.

Any new set of goals must take a Nexus approach and ensure they reflect each other under the goals. We use 70% of water for agriculture any goal on water must reflect reducing this as a target and this needs to also be reflected in the agriculture goal as a target. The need for integrated thinking is critical. The work on planetary boundaries which acted as a backdrop to Rio+20 shows we now have some clear limits and so  achieving universal access to food, drinking water and modern energy within the planetary boundaries needs to the challenge of this generation.

The conference in March next year will consider the interconnections,  address the vulnerability and the finiteness of natural resources while developing policy guidance and suggesting regulatory frameworks, the governmental planning mechanisms.

The Water Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will host the Nexus 2014: Water, Food, Climate and Energy Conference on March 3-7, 2014. The Nexus Conference will bring together leaders in business, government, NGOs and research to discuss innovative and sustainable solutions that address the intersection of the world’s water, food, and energy needs and use in a changing climate.

Proposals for side events, such as meetings, workshops, networking sessions, training courses or open forums, are now accepted online at http://nexusconference.web.unc.edu/side-events/. The duration of each session will be 1.5 hours.  Full details on proposal requirements and available time slots are online.

1. Nexus Perspectives: Water, Food and Climate
2. Nexus Perspectives: Water, Energy and Climate
3. Entrepreneurial Environmentalism and Development
4. Nexus Corporate Stewardship: How Business Is Improving Resource Use
5. Natural Resource Security for People: Water, Food and Energy
6. Urban Challenges of the Nexus: Local and Global Perspectives
7. Financing the Nexus: Policy and Practice

Confirmed speakers and chairs include:

• Adnan Z. Amin: Director General, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)
• Dr. Jamie Bartram: Director, The Water Institute at UNC
• Anders Berntell: Executive Director, 2030 Water Resources Group
• Jeremy Bird: Director General, International Water Management Institute
• Zak Bleicher: Partnership Officer, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
• Lidia Brito: Director of Science Policy and Capacity Building for Natural Sciences, UNESCO
• Joachim von Braun: Director of the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn
• Albert Butare: Former Energy Minister of Rwanda and Co-Chair of the 2011 Bonn Nexus Conference
• Maruxa Cardama:  Executive Project Coordinator Communitas Coalition for Sustainable Cities and Regions in the new UN Development Agenda
• Felix Dodds: Fellow at the Global Research Institute
• Lyle Estill: Co-founder of Piedmont Biofuels
• Paula Caballero Gomez: Director  Directorate for Economic, Social and Environmental Affairs Ministry of Foreign Affairs , Colombia
• Dr Ania Grobicki: Executive Secretary of the Global Water Partnership
• Hans Herren: President and CEO Millennium Institute and 2013 Right Livelihood winner
• Gary Lawrence: AECOM Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer
• Sylvia Lee: Water: Manager, Skoll Global Threats Fund
• Johan Kuylenstierna: Executive Director for the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)
• Geoffrey Lipman: Former Assistant Secretary General, UN World Tourism Organization
• Jonas Monast: Director of Climate and Energy Program at the Nicolas Institute Duke
• Stuart Orr: Head of Water Stewardship at WWF International
• Aneri Patel: Senior Associate, Energy Access at the United Nations Foundation
• Janos Pasztor: Director, Policy and Science at WWF
• Diego Rodriguez: Program Manager for the World Bank
• David Rothschild: Principal, Portfolio Team Skoll Foundation
• Michael Schmitz: Executive Director of ICLEI US
• Hannah Stoddart: Head of Oxfam Head of Economic Justice Policy Team
• Joshua Tewksbury: Director, Luc Hoffmann Institute
• Elizabeth Thompson: Former UN Assistant Secretary General and Coordinator for Rio+20
• Markus Wilhelm: Founder and CEO
• Steve Waygood: Chief Responsible Investment Officer, Aviva Investors