TEACHING CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM
2ND CEE/SEE Regional Colloquium
Capacity Buildung on Global Governance and the UN System
Belgrade, Faculty of Law ,May 17th& 18th, 2010
TEACHING CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM
Date: Monday, May 17th & Tuesday 18th , 2010
Venue: Faculty of Law, Bulevar kralja Aleksandra 76, Belgrade
Chairmans of the conference: Michael Platzer, Ivana Krstic, Milan Škulić, Miroslav Polzer, Ivica Radović, Janez Podobnik
Climate Change is one of the most pressing global issue of our time. For addressing the complex multi-stakeholder and multilevel challenges associated with climate change mitigation and adaptation an appropriate knowledge base is needed not only among public authorities and academia but also among civil society, business sector etc. in order to have problem aware constituencies in the countries of the world supporting with their attitudes and actions governments towards bold future oriented global climate change action.
UN system plays an important role in “Teaching Climate Change” in several ways:
Goals of the Conference:
- Support effective climate change adaptation and mitigation in SEE (in the context of EU integration) by means of improved science communication and targeted educational processes
- Support scientific capacity building and capacity building in Higher education sphere and in diplomatic training on global governance and Climate Change
- Inspire educational system(s) reform/modernisation towards future orientation, problem solving competencies and global citizenship in SEE countries
- Facilitate networking and interaction of conference participants and harness the potentials of ICT for global governance and CC knowledge management and learning with concrete follow-up project initiatives
- Highlight and discuss synergy potentials through policy coherence/interministerial coordination and cooperation on global governance and climate change capacity building
- Feed into coordination and cooperation processes of UN system institutions on CC capacity building
- Raising public awareness on Climate change and the UN (especially also on local/community level)
- Promote Involvement of civil society and business sector
- Involve young researchers/students
The countries in Southeast Europe are facing similar climate change challenges. On the one hand scientific climate change models predict especially serious climate change impacts in SEE but on the other hand SEE countries have also some kind of “window of opportunity” open as they are currently reforming and modernizing their socio-economic systems and governance structures in the context of EU integration processes and there is a chance to adapt relatively early to climate change in a joint effort of mobilizing national, European and official development assistance resources and to foster EU integration of the SEE region through joint climate change action.
ECPD (European Center for Peace and Development)
workshop on
CLIMATE CHANGES AND HUMAN HEALTH
Meeting title:
How to cope with human health respecting current trends in climate change?
Most of panel participant CLIMATE CHANGES AND HUMAN HEALTH (Left to Right): (Johann Mischlinger, Danica Čulafić, Uroš Rakić,Toma Stojanović, Janez Podobnik, Radmila Resanović, Peter Raspor, Olga Zorman-Rojs, Marina Bujko)
Date: Tuesday, May 18th, 09:00 – 12:00, Parallel ECPD thematic workshop
(lead:ECPD Marina Bujko & Janez Podobnik
-Professor Peter Raspor, DD Hc, Phd, Biotechnical faculty, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Environmental and demographic changes as challenge for life long learning in human society: Case food safety and security.
-Professor Peter Raspor, DD Hc, Phd (centar)
-Academician Professor Dragutin A.Djukić, Phd, Faculty of agronomy Čačak, University of Kragujevac, Serbia
Technogenic disturbance of dynamic balance in biogeosphere, climate change, public health and proposed solutions.
-Professor Olga Zorman-Rojs, PhD, Veterinary faculty, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Climate changes and emergence of some zoonotic diseases
-Professor Olga Zorman-Rojs, PhD
-Professor Dragan Katanić, MD, PhD, School of Medicine, Institute for Children and Youth health Care of Vojvodina, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
Effect of weather on human health, behavior and mood
-Professor Dragan Katanić, MD, PhD (left)
-Professor Olga Zorman-Rojs, PhD (right)
-Professor Toma Stojanović, MD, Phd, School of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia
Climate changes and nutritional ecology: Effect on human and health
-Professor Marina Bujko, MD, Phd, ECPD
Can climate change interfere with human behavior: Case of mental health
(Brief report from the literature)
- Professor Marina Bujko, MD, Phd, ECPD
-Danica Čulafić, MD, Clinical centre Zvezdara, Pulmology department, Belgrade, Serbia
Respiratory tract diseases: Climate changes vs allergy
-Uroš Rakić, PhD, ECPD
Capacity building and UN governance: How much can add GIS (Geographic Information System) as a prognostic and comparative tool for climate changes to human and environmental health?
- Uroš Rakić, PhD, ECPD
Nebojša Mihajlović, MD, Municipal Institute for Emergency medical care Belgrade
-REPORT ON EMMERGENCY AMBULANCE SERVICE, BELGRADE, SERBIA
Conclusions
1.Currently the debate is not engaging ordinary people ,so we should do many steps in this direction.
2.We face bombarded by conflicting science and advice for other groups and should to prepare proper playground for this discussion.
3.A crisis is proceeding in slow motion ,but accelerate and we shall be careful about this drift.
4.Education is obvious need and it has to be performed at all levels,but not ignoring bacis knowledge to live with concordance with nature laws.
5.We should design a new food system carefully with creativity ,innovation,knowledge and responsibility of making life better for the present and future generations.
6.Climate change in the way of heating or cooling,increasing of CO2 concentration in the air and greenhouse effect,air pollution,water pollution and soil pollution will influence agriculture and concequently food.
7.It could be expected that there will be a multitude of microorganisms,vector and host resonses to climate change.
8.Climate change are acting directly to human beings or indirectly by acting to the agriculture and animals.
9.Significant impact of weather conditions to health is certified by authorities in this field (CDC Atlanta,USA National Oceanic and Atmospheric administration):influence on morbidity and mortality rate during heat and cold waves.
10.Climate changes has the potential to impact airway diseases by increasing ground ozone level and fine particle concentrations(asthma,chronic bronchitis,premature death in people with hearth and lung diseases).
11.Air pollution and fine particles also contribute to the burden of lung cancers.
12.The most common menthal health conditions associated with extreme climate events ,range from acute traumatic stress to more stress-related conditions: post-traumatic stress disorder, depressia, anxiety disorders, somatic complaints, poor concentration, social avoidance, drug or alcohol abuse etc.
13.Prolonged heat and cold events can create chronic stress situations that may initiate or exacerbate health problems in populations already suffering from menthal diseases.
14.Climate sensitive systems are: human health, agriculture, natural ecosystems, coastal areas, heating and cooling requirements.
15.Geographyc information system (GIS) provides a new sense of public health experts of the UN and goverments to use this technology as a tool,which can integrate a wide range of data sources,from legacy system to image data .
16.GIS represents a prognostic and comparative tool for the impact of climate changes to human end environmental health.
17.Knowledge management and sharing knowledge are giving power to teaching climate changes and their impact on human health.
18.We need to know how climate changes generally affect human and environmental health and WHAT CIVIL SOCIETY CAN DO TO PREVENT OR PREPARE ITSELF FOR THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGES ON ITS HEALTH.
19.EDUCATION ,RESEARCH AND INFORMATION represent the most important way for protecting all parts of nature in the climate changes currently occurring .
20.IT SEEMS THAT IT WOULD BE NECESSARY TO ORGANIZE A CONFERENCE ABOUT ALL ASPECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGES IMPACT ON HUMAN HEALTH
Lead : ECPD Marina Bujko & Janez Podobnik
Having in mind the conclusions, ECPD is going to organize & prepare:
- International conference in Slovenia, about all aspects of climate changes impact on human health in the second part of next year.
- Education seminar & international school about climate changes and their impact on human and environmental health
- New e-review “Sustainable Development” (first issue will be prepared up to the end of this year by ECPD Ljublana & ECPD Belgrade, and all papers which where presented in the ECPD workshop on Climate Change and Human Health are going to be include)
- Coleboration with different media with the aim to inform civil sociaty how to prevent or prepare itself for extreme climate situations and their consequences
- Team of experts from different relevant institutions which will represent a group for monitoring and analyse what’s going on in South East Europe (climat & environmental changes and all kinds of health impacts)
Speech for Teaching Climate Change and the United Nations System (Belgrade 17th-18th May 2010)
Ladies and Gentlemen, dear participants of the conference,
I am honored to welcome you in the name of the ECPD International Institute for Sustainable Development, Urban Planning and Environmental Studies. First I would like to thank Mr. Miroslav Polzer, the director of the Austrian Science and Research Liaison Office in Ljubljana who invited us as the co-organizers of this conference.
The Institute was recently established by the European Centre for Peace and Development (ECPD) which as its headquarters in Belgrade and its Academic Council in Paris. ECPD was established in 1985 as a regional centre of the UN University for Peace. This makes the institute in its origins bound to the ideas of the UN, especially on promoting peace and development.
The Institute welcomes the concept of the conference that is searching for solutions to climate change in the triangle Education-Research-Information. We firmly believe that the only way for development is the sustainable way. The presence of climate change therefore also needs to be included in the solutions of the present global economic and financial crisis. Solutions to both problems – of development and of the economic crisis – can be found in sustainable solutions. These include among others, a change in perception of GDP as the only indicator of countries’ success and solutions leading to use of new sustainable sources of energy. And let me not forget, we have to be clear the sustainable concept of development includes a substantive consumption reduction per individual! To bring sustainable concepts into real life every individual needs to be prepared to change his/her own lifestyle. The title of this conference could be provocatively changed to ‘Teaching Sustainable Development and the United Nations System’. Teaching processes on all levels (local, regional, national, international and global) are essential for bringing up questions that can then be addressed by the organizations such as the UN and/or its bodies (UNEP, UNDP, UNICEF, Unesco).
The ECPD International Institute for Sustainable Development, Urban Planning and Environmental Studies is primarily focusing its activities in the countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe, although its academic network connects it with the whole world. Since the Institute is based in Slovenia, it will be especially active to improve and connections between Slovenia and Serbia. These include cooperation on different interdisciplinary and academic projects from the field of sustainable development. The possibilities for cooperation are beginning to show in the areas of development, transport, water management and touristic projects, all relating to the Sava Danube river basin. These so called ICAM projects – Integrated Coastal Area Management - are being organized in cooperation with the International Centre for Promotion of Enterprises (ICPE), our main international partner from Slovenia. ICAM projects will be presented in Ljubljana as an international conference, with cooperation of ICPE as the co-organizer. I am very happy since I see some of the organizers here among us today.
Our Institute will of course use its extensive connections (human and institutional) it has with all main EU structures in Brussels. We are already actively involved in searching and getting financial help and support from various EU funds. Serbia is of course also entitled to these financial incentives which can be of great use especially in areas of green technologies, sustainable tourism, democratization processes and education processes – especially on bachelor and master programs.
Allow me also to remember the achievements of the ‘UN Environment for Europe’ conference in 2007 where I took part as the Environment Minister. And its conclusions – regional cooperation in education and science fields as a response to climate change – were wisely included in the organization of this conference.
Ladies and gentlemen,
At the end, allow me to remember you that on of the tomorrow’s panels ‘Climate Change and Human Health’ was prepared together in cooperation between ECPD Belgrade and ECPD Ljubljana. The panel is mostly the result of the hard work done by Ms Prof. Marina Bujko, for which I thank her greatly. We will be honored if you would attend the panel. We tend to forget that the effects of climate change on human health. It is important for people of all ages to receive as much information a possible to prepare them for the lives with climate change. And this is also the main message of this panel!
I would like to once again thank the organizers and supporters of this conference and wish you all lots of dynamic and motivational presentations, debates and discussions.
Thank You!