Resource Conference Vienna: “Prosperity without Growth of Natural Resource Use”
The conference will put its focus on the patterns and trends of resource use. Results and analysis of recently published studies of the UNEP International Resource Panel and the European Environment Agency in this context will be presented. Another issue of the conference will be the progress and current challenges of resource politics – also in relation to climate politics.
Two national examples of resource politics will be dealt with. At the closure panel of the conference future challenges and possibilities for implementing hands-on-measures will be discussed.
INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES AND regions achieved their high level of wealth to a large extent based on resource intensive consumption and production patterns.
This development cannot be applied to other world regions without risking ecological collapse. Thus, decoupling resource use and the associated environmental impacts from economic growth
is crucial to ensure wellbeing for all humans in a healthy environment.
EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FOR global patterns and trends in resource use is provided by a study of the UNEP International Resource Panel (IRP) that was launched in July 2016 in New York. Representatives from the UNEP IRP will now present detailed analysis and results from this study in Vienna.
NEXT TO THE UNEP representatives, high-level experts and policy makers from Austria, Czech Republic as well as the European Union will add their perspectives on resource
use and resource efficiency.
‐– Janez Potočnik, Co-Chair of the UNEP International Resource Panel (IRP), will present the various activities of the IRP in the area of resource use.
‐– Heinz Schandl from the CSIRO in Australia and Marina Fischer-Kowalski from the Institute of Social Ecology, Alpen-Adria-University, are both members of the UNEP IRP expert panel and authors of the recently published reports on resource use. They will present the main results of the reports focussing on decoupling and the role of international trade in resources.
‐– Paweł Kaźmierczyk from the European Environment Agency (EEA) will analyse the different approaches to material resource efficiency and circular economy in thirty-two European countries, based on the recently published EEA report “More from less”.
‐– Tomáš Hák from the Environment Center at the Charles University in Prague will present the progress and challenges of resource politics in the Czech Republic.
‐– The Austrian activities in this particular field will be introduced by Stephan Lutter and Stefan Giljum from the Vienna University of Economics and Business as well as Martina
Schuster and Andreas Tschulik from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Environment.
‐– In two panels the international experts will discuss future challenges and possibilities for implementing hands-on measures.
Monday, 21 November 2016, 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Kommunalkredit Public Consulting, 1090 Vienna, Türkenstraße 9
To register please send an e-mail until 11 November 2016 to: alfred [dot] lenauer [at] bmlfuw [dot] gv [dot] at
