"After Copenhagen" follow-up
On Tuesday January 26th over 120 people made the journey from across Lincolnshire and the East Midlands to the EPIC Centre at Lincolnshire Showground to attend the After Copenhagen conference. The primary objective of the conference was to enlighten critics, address and embrace the issues, challenges and opportunities presented by a changing climate and create a county wide awareness of the risks and promote action to the cause.
The day opened with three keynote speakers
Lord Anthon
y Giddens discussed his experiences of the Copenhagen Climate Summit last December. He stressed how collaboration between national governments and international bodies is fundamental for strong international agreements to limit the impacts of climate change. Lord Giddens identified the failings in the current system and the disappointment at the final outcome of The Copenhagen Accord.
y Giddens discussed his experiences of the Copenhagen Climate Summit last December. He stressed how collaboration between national governments and international bodies is fundamental for strong international agreements to limit the impacts of climate change. Lord Giddens identified the failings in the current system and the disappointment at the final outcome of The Copenhagen Accord.
Hardin Tibbs addressed the socio-economic impacts of climate change. He developed his argument from pre-industrialisation to emphasise the present day impact of human kind and our impact on natural resources especially our dependance on fossil energy. He referenced population explosion, the corresponding stresses on resources and the environment and the real price of industrialisation.
Richard Belfield the Assistant Director of Environmental, Planning and Transport at Lincolnshire County Council examined the local impacts and acknowledged the risks Lincolnshire faces. Richard reviewed Lincolnshire County Council’s agenda on tackling the causes and effects of climate change and progress on local initiatives, such as the Costal Pathfinder project and the energy from waste plant.
The underlying conclusion from the morning was that as the Copenhagen experiment had not delivered strong leadership grass root initiatives involving all parts of the community, are therefore even more vital, not only for their direct effect, but for the message that they transmit upwards nationally and internationally.
During the afternoon the 120 delegates took part in workshops, which focussed on a number of the climate change related projects currently under way in Lincolnshire including low carbon transport, flood protection and sustainable buildings.
Note: A video of Lord Giddens' presentation will be avilable shortly.
After Copenhagen: Sustainable economic development in a low carbon world?
Download PDF (6,981kb)Workshop Downloads
Making the Commitment to Action - 10:10
Speaker: Tracey Todhunter - Unavailable on the day.
Download PDF (690kb)
