Plenary Panels

Plenary Panel 1: Finding a Future for Corals

This panel will debate the various outlooks for corals under climate change with a particular focus on the Great Barrier Reef, a world heritage listed natural wonder that is threatened. Will corals switch and survive and will coral engineering provide solutions? The severe bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 have affected half of the corals in the GBR. Major transformations are underway for coral reefs around the world. What action can be taken to secure corals in the future?

Panelists:

• John Veron, "Godfather of Coral", Corals of the World
• Morgan Pratchett, ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, Australia
• Emily Howells, Southern Cross University, Australia
• Andrew Brooks, Griffith University, Australia

Plenary Panel 2: Transformation to a Sustainable and Desirable Future

This panel will discuss how to make the transformation to a sustainable and desirable future. How do we envision and create a future that is focused on the sustainable wellbeing of humans and the rest of nature? How do we overcome the political, social, and economic barriers that are slowing or preventing movement in a positive direction?  How can we overcome these barriers and create the future we all want?

Panelists:

• Kate Jones, Executive Director for the Tech Council of Australia / Independent Director on the Paralympics Australia Board / Strategic Advisor at Soda 
• Jacqueline McGlade, University College London, UK 
• Jigmi Y. Thinley, Former Prime Minister of Bhutan (2008-2013) / World Leadership Alliance - Club de Madrid / Asian Peace and Reconciliation Council
• Robert Costanza, Institute for Global Prosperity, University College London, UK

Plenary Panel 3: Ecocivilisation

This panel will debate the creation and evolving mechanism of eco-civilization as a means to overcome global climate disruption and social injustices. A civilization based on ecological concepts and principles may lead the path into a more sustainable future. Some countries like China have started initiative aimed at transforming the society into an eco-civilization. But will problems just be transferred or are we able to transform? What can we learn from the current CoVid-19 crisis to make our societies more resilient?

• Robert Costanza, Institute for Global Prosperity, University College London, UK
• Junguo Liu, North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power | Southern University of Science and Technology, China
• Xuehua Liu, Tsinghua University, China
• Yihe Lyu, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China