Issue 7: February – March 2001

Forum tackles
challenge
of global
sustainability

UNU and the World Bank jointly organized a public forum entitled Global Sustainability – Challenges and Responses for the New Millennium at UN House in Tokyo Feb. 22. The forum focused on two dimensions of development, natural capital and social capital, and addressed the main concern of global sustainability.  

Current projections point to a massive depletion of natural resources in the coming decades, while growing poverty raises complex challenges for natural resource management.  Forum themes included:

• Natural disaster management in light of the long-term effects of climate change;

• Agricultural research and food security;

• Work on social capital, as a complementary issue to natural capital;

• Understanding the role of civil society in sustainable development, particularly in the context of globalization;

• Global public policy for sustainable development.

For further information, please contact the UNU Public Affairs Section.