Asia Spotlight
Event
Save the date! The SRI2023 Asia Spotlight event will be held virtually as part of the Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress 2023 (SRI2023) from 10-12 July 2023. The event will be hosted by Future Earth Global Secretariat Hubs across Asia (China, Japan, South Asia, and Taipei) in a time zone convenient for the entire Asia region.
The SRI2023 Asia Spotlight event will provide a platform for sustainability experts — policymakers, early-career researchers, students, civil society, and industry leaders – to highlight and showcase regional sustainability challenges and opportunities. The event will feature interactive discussions aimed at promoting more innovative collaborations among different sectors to achieve sustainability in Asia. Capacity-building opportunities for participants, particularly for early-career professionals, will also be included in the program.
This event will showcase the richness of Asian perspectives in sustainability science and innovation. Drawing from the deeply rooted cultural and traditional contexts that value harmonious relationships between humans and nature and the innovations that characterize unprecedented economic growth, the Asian region has a wealth of knowledge and innovation to offer the wider world. SRI2023 is hoping to strengthen regional dialogue and networks by providing an inclusive platform for increased visibility and collaboration.
The call for the SRI2023 Asia Spotlight Event has closed.
Along with the first 3 themes of SRI2023, the 4th theme will focus on Asian Science and Innovation for Sustainability.
1. Turning the Tide for Climate: Collaborative Action for Institutional Transformation
Climate change requires urgent action that engages all sectors of society and transforms fundamental institutions and systems that underpinning our societies. But how to build these new impact coalitions and how to make them fair and effective and equitable? How can these new and diverse collaborations accelerate a rapid, sustainable and positive change that doesn’t deepen but rather reduce existing inequalities? What are the tradeoffs and how do we manage them? SRI2023 will explore pathways to informed and just changes in critical systems, such as political/governance, financial, legal, tax, energy and production, transport, research, education and value systems through the lenses of:
- Environmental and social justice
- New concepts and measurements of wealth, value, merit and well-being
- Sustainable consumption and production (including clean energy)
- Opportunities and ethics of technological innovation, including carbon mitigation and drawdown
- Cohesive legal frameworks for addressing interrelated climate / environmental challenges and disasters and advancing climate action
- Evidence uptake and informed decision-making
- North-north and south-south collaboration for systems change
2. Healthy and Inclusive Communities
Health and well-being are a foundation for thriving and sustainable societies. Yet changes to natural life support systems are already impacting our health, risking recent public health and development gains. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed and deepened health inequalities while highlighting the importance of public health and international cooperation. What were the lessons learned and how does that drive health systems transformation? SRI2023 will explore diverse ways of improving health and well-being around the world. This includes:
- Medical, public health and social research and innovation, including knowledge from traditional medicine practitioners and south-south collaboration
- Mental health and wellness during and after Covid-19, climate anxiety
- Planetary health: adaptation and mitigation responses to triple threat (pollution, biodiversity loss, climate change), such as development of urban blue/green spaces
- Pandemic preparedness and one health
- Water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH)
- Equity and community-led adaptation
- Participatory and citizen science
3. A Peaceful Planetary Mind
Our cultural and social environments play a critical role in shaping the ways we observe the world, behave, set expectations and define priorities. Sustainability transformations will require adapting many behaviors and social conventions, and developing new social narratives and shared visions of the future. Fundamentally, building new bridges and resolving conflicts arising from tradeoffs and inequality will also be needed for achieving a way to live sustainably within the boundaries of a stable Earth system. How can we achieve planetary solidarity and accept the joint stewardship of planet Earth? SRI2023 invites novel perspectives to:
- Environmental peace building
- Science diplomacy
- Culture, heritage, art and spirituality as resources for sustainability transitions
- Indigenous and local leadership
- Futures literacy and leadership
- Access to knowledge and ways to reconcile diverse perspectives in an increasingly polarized world (open science, journalism, media, etc.)
4. Asian Science and Innovation for Sustainability
- Clear and Present Risk and Imminent Risk in Asia
- Vulnerability Hotspots in Asia and Action Needs
- Nature-based Solutions (NbS)
- Solutions to urban heat or Interventions to air quality
- Aging and Long-term Care solutions