Nobel laureates and environmental researchers Wednesday resumed discussions on the challenges of climate change and poverty to global sustainability.The 50-strong gathering in Stockholm, in the presence of Swedish King Carl Gustaf, including about 20 Nobel laureates was the third of its kind since 2007.The aim is to influence upcoming international environmental meetings, including next year’s United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The laureates aim to adopt a document, the Stockholm Memorandum, which will be handed over later Wednesday to members of a UN panel on global sustainability visiting Stockholm.The UN panel — co-chaired by the presidents of Finland and South Africa — is preparing a report for the 2012 UN conference, which is a follow-up to the 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro.
The sessions began Tuesday with a mock trial where humanity was put on trial. The verdict was to form part of the memorandum.Also attending, among the many science laureates, was South African writer Nadine Gordimer, winner of the 1991 Nobel Literature Prize.“The dimension of the arts in bringing about human change, human mindset change is very important,” she said. “It’s not just facts.” The meeting with the UN panel was part of the key dialogue between science and decision makers, said John Schellnhuber, head of Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
The Stockholm meeting was co-hosted by the Stockholm Environment Institute, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Potsdam climate institute.It was held at the Academy headquarters where the annual Nobel prizes in chemistry, physics and economics are announced each year.
Courtesy : The Hindu
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