The Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Sydney hosted an important symposium on the future of world environmental and economic systems.
Over the next 25 years, the global community will need to balance its increasing demand on natural resources, while managing environmental sustainability. Understanding the links between resilience and the stability of social, financial and ecological systems will be of universal importance. In particular, the resilience of managed systems, such as those used for food production, are of crucial importance to issues of food, water and energy security.
Speakers provided a fresh perspective on sustainable development, and explored how to manage environmental disturbance and enhancement. Will understanding economic and environmental resilience better prepare us for an uncertain future?
Keynote speakers:
Professor Mary O'Kane, NSW Chief Scientist
Professor R. Quentin Grafton, Director, Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy (CWEEP); Convenor, Environmental and Resource Economics (GDERE & MERE) degrees, The Australian National University
Professor Karl-Göran Mäler, The Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Dr Jayne Belnap, Research Ecologist, United States Geological Survey, President-Elect of the Soil Ecology Society