Environment at the Crossroads

"Environment at the Crossroads", the theme of the 2009 Gulbenkian Conference, addresses the most urgent crisis confronting the world today, in its four essential aspects: How deeply is the current economic malaise rooted in failing systems? Do we have the global capacity to provide ecological services, or the institutional capacity to reduce poverty and promote stability and peace? How critical is the state of the global environment? What are the implications of new scientific insights into the decline of biodiversity, the possible breakdown of major ecosystems, and the likelihood of dramatic changes caused by ecological tipping points? How can we reshape the economic system in order to renew the social fabric and move towards a more environmentally friendly way of life? How can we develop new policies to mobilise creativity and ingenuity? What institutions are needed to tackle global problems, to encourage co-operation and promote long-term synergies and strategic goals?

As individuals and as societies, we are living in dangerous and challenging times. The 2009 Gulbenkian Conference in Lisbon, "Environmentat the Crossroads: Aiming for a Sustainable Future", was designed to address the crucial issues we face, from the current international economic malaise tothe state of the global environment. Anticipating the 2009 United Nations Copenhagen Conference, the conference papers collected in Environment at the Crossroads engage with climate change, biodiversity, environmental policy and the ethics of consumption. The writers are leaders in the fields of science, politics, economics and environmental studies whose intellectual clarity offers authoritative responses to the crisis we face.

Incorporating a range of disciplines and international perspectives, "Environment at the Crossroads" is an ambitious survey of the state of our planet today, and the urgent necessity to work towards a fair and strong international climate agreement.Only then will humanity be able to harness the creativity and ingenuity necessary to make the transition towards sustainability. What is at stake is nothing less than the quest for survival.

Drawing on a range of disciplines, the authors explore the issues within a wide framework encompassing social, ethical and scientific issues.