All the info about Wo-Co 2012 Belgium-Germany

on a dedicated web-site

Live Broadcasting the 54th General Assembly from Skopje

here

Hello everybody!

 

Our annual World Congresss (WoCo) of Students in Agricultural and Related Science is coming and we still have places available! (venue 17.07-07.08)

 

Don´t miss this unique chance! Check out the program below,

 

Having read this info, YOU’re saying to yourself/friends/family, I want to be there!

 

YES, YOU CAN!!!

Come to meet us and have a magnificent summer with us! ;)

(Deadline for application is 7^th of July, click here to apply.

You also can just join parts of the program.

 

Some additional info to Woco:

It is our biggest event.

For three weeks every year we explore a different country, our science, make new friends and see the old ones, experience IAAS through workshops and trainings and elect our new International Board at the General Assembly.

This year, world congress will be hosted by IAAS Macedonia! :)

Program: click here: 

Feel free to mail us for any questions you may have at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

Give yourself the chance to experience IAAS Spirit and have an unforgettable summer!!

CU all at IAAS World Congress!

Hello everybody!

 

Our annual World Congresss (WoCo) of Students in Agricultural and Related Science is coming and we still have places available! (venue 17.07-07.08)

 

Don´t miss this unique chance! Check out the program below,

 

Having read this info, YOU’re saying to yourself/friends/family, I want to be there!

 

YES, YOU CAN!!!

Come to meet us and have a magnificent summer with us! ;)

(Deadline for application is 7^th of July, click here to apply.

You also can just join parts of the program.

Some additional info to Woco:

It is our biggest event.

For three weeks every year we explore a different country, our science, make new friends and see the old ones, experience IAAS through workshops and trainings and elect our new International Board at the General Assembly.

This year, world congress will be hosted by IAAS Macedonia! :)

 

Program , click here http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10985095/Info%20sheet%20Woco.pdf

Feel free to mail us for any questions you may have at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Give yourself the chance to experience IAAS Spirit and have an unforgettable summer!!

CU all at IAAS World Congress!

 

 

 

APPLY now for the IAAS World Congress!!! Don´t miss this unique chance!

DEADLINE by this Sunday 15th of May,

for Appplicatoin form press here, for more information check out the Woco Macedonia Blog section on this  webpage!

Wednesday morning marked the start of the High Level Segment of CSD-19, with high level government ministers taking over the CSD negotiations. The morning session began with keynote speakers, including Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, and Dr. Ashok Khosla, President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). You can watch the speeches online, with Dr. Sachs's presentation beginning around 26 minutes.

Dr. Sachs said we have passed beyond the ecological tipping point we have anticipated for decades. He said we are in a “global ethics crisis,” with governments unable or unwilling to address environmental crises or to address the “juggernaut” that is the global pace of resource consumption. While he criticized the United States for inaction and “going backwards, scrambling for resources,” he commended Europe as the only region that has made progress toward a sustainable economy. For more on Dr. Sachs’ speech, visit The Grow Blog.

Dr. Khosla focused on sustainable consumption and production as a means to reduce the “multi-pronged squeeze on humanity.” This “squeeze” includes inequities in human well-being, degradation of ecosystems, effects of climate change and susceptibility to “unknown unknowns,” the crises we cannot foresee. Looking toward Rio+20, Dr. Khosla recommended adopting indicators of well-being other than Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which he called “a way of not knowing what is happening to us.” Part of his solution rested with recognizing the value of ecosystem services. Pollination of food crops, biological pest control and environmentally-derived pharmacological products are a few examples that provide hundreds of billions of dollars in services. Dr. Khosla believes we “need to invest in nature” and recognize it as central to the global economy. This will require a shift away from the current prevailing view that “we must lose something to get a green economy.”

Hello IAASers!

Our activities on Monday included “Kicking off a Green Economy (GE) and Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP),” a side event organized by governments from southeast Europe. It was a useful session to compare and contrast two overlapping concepts in sustainable development: SCP (a focus of this year’s CSD) and Green Economy (one of two themes of next year’s CSD). A representative from the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) described SCP as focusing on regulation of consumption and production, whereas Green Economy focuses on the reformulation of our economic system to account for environmental services and costs of pollution. The 10-Year Framework of Programmes on SCP, which is being negotiated this week, provides tools and policy frameworks that are of critical importance for the transition to Green Economy, making it relevant beyond this year’s CSD.

On Tuesday we attended a side event called “Delivering a Programme on Sustainable Food Systems,” an update from the Agri-Food Task Force on SCP.  The goal of the Agri-Food Task Force is to set the agenda in CSD for sustainable agriculture as well as focus efforts on promoting concrete programs for agriculture within the 10-year Framework on SCP.  Although today we have enough food to “feed everyone easily, we still have a problem with it,” according to Ms. Aida Tunovic of the Netherlands Ministry of Environment and Infrastructure. Ms. Tunovic suggested we need to focus on cross-ministerial cooperation on projects (including ministries of health), make sustainable agriculture a top priority of governments (as have some European countries), and reflect the true cost of food in the price.  Mr. Luis Flores, a representative from Consumers International, also pointed out that many parts of the food system are currently not part of regulatory framework, notably street markets, although they play an important role in employment and consumption.

More updates soon to come!

Sam and Sagar

Friday’s side event, “Vision for Rio+20: Global Consensus for System Change towards Green Economy and Poverty Reduction,” discussed Green Economy, one of two themes for next year’s CSD. The speaker was Rae Kwon Chung, Division Chief of the Environment and Development Division United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). 

Mr. Chung contrasted the current “Brown Economy,” in which we do not pay for ecosystem services, with the vision for a “Green Economy.” He argues the Brown Economy cannot continue because it leads to global climate change and higher oil and food prices. These outcomes have a disproportionate effect on the poor; resolving these problems creates a win-win synergy between poverty reduction and the Green Economy. In spite of this, many less developed countries resist sustainable development as conditions on their development rather than embrace it as a method to reduce vulnerabilities for the poor.

“Roadmap for Green Growth” is an upcoming UNESCAP report outlining how to transition toward a Green Economy. Mr. Chung shared the five main points of the report: shifting emphasis from quantity to quality of economic growth; internalizing ecosystem services in market prices; investing in sustainable infrastructure; greening the economy through tax reform; and creating incentives for low carbon economies. Such initiatives could close the Green Economy “price gap” by internalizing the costs of environmental externalities and the “time gap” for achieving “green growth” by investing in the Green Economy today, but perhaps the most pertinent question for Rio+20 is how to close the political gap preventing governments from adopting these policies in the first place. Mr. Chung said the UNESCAP report contains case studies of countries shifting to a Green Economy; such concrete examples of success may be a first step in closing the political gap.