People, Policy, Trends, Technology, Leadership, Foresight, Innovation, Design: UK to host "Planet under Pressure" conference 2012

The UK will host the conference, Planet Under Pressure: new knowledge, new solutions, expected to attract 2,500 of the world's leading thinkers in global change research, in London, in 2012. The four-day conference will be hosted by the UK's Royal Society, the Living with Environmental Change (LWEC) programme and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), together with the International Council for Science's (ICSU) four global environmental change research programmes.

The conference, provisionally booked for 7-10 May 2012, will take place prior to the next UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, also scheduled for that year. Presenting the latest research findings, the London conference is anticipated to provide a solid scientific foundation for the summit.

Professor Lorna Casselton, Foreign Secretary and Vice-President of the Royal Society, said, "It is a tribute to the quality of UK science that London has been chosen as a venue for the conference. The Royal Society is dedicated to building international links within the science community and is therefore delighted to be hosting an event that will bring together such a wide range of specialists from around the globe to address many of the big challenges of our time."

The sponsors aim to discuss the world's most pressing environmental issues - such as ensuring we have a sustainable supply of food and water, providing resilient infrastructures in our towns and cities that will withstand the pressures environmental changes will bring, and protecting people, animals and plants from hazards and diseases.

Director of Living with Environmental Change, Professor Andrew Watkinson, said, "An overarching aim of the conference will be to discuss solutions to the environmental challenges we face. We need to find ways to increase the speed with which we move to a low carbon society and ensure food, water and energy security for the billions of people across the globe in a changing world. The Living with Environmental Change partners are already addressing these critical issues, so I am very pleased that we are co-hosting the 2012 conference, which I am sure will become a catalyst for more innovative research collaborations to address the needs of society."

The conference will bring together natural, physical and social scientists, economists, engineers, health specialists and many other disciplines, along with national and international policy makers, NGOs, industry representatives, technologists, and development experts. It will offer an important forum to consolidate these relationships and discuss the future.

The conference has been initiated by ICSU's International Geosphere Biosphere Programme (IGBP). Executive Director, Professor Sybil Seitzinger, said, "We need to set research priorities that fully integrate the information needs of diverse groups of people. We need to communicate a comprehensive picture of the state of the planet and its future to the institutions charged with global environmental stewardship. We will work with these institutions to help develop a planetary management approach that tackles all the challenges in a truly integrated way."

The final day of the conference will be dedicated to communicating with policymakers, industry and the public so as to help the international global (glocal) change research community connect with society at large.

Further information

NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411727 or 411561
Mob: 07917 086369 or 557215

Alice Henchley
Senior Press Officer
Royal Society
Tel: 020 7451 2514

Ruth Welters
Communications Specialist
Living with Environmental Change
Tel: 01603 593906
Mob: 07780 993084

Owen Gaffney
Director of communications
International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme
Tel: +46 86739556
Mob: +46 730208418
Skype: owengaffneyigbp

Notes

1. The Royal Society is an independent academy promoting the natural and applied sciences. Founded in 1660, the Society has three roles, as the UK academy of science, as a learned Society, and as a funding agency. It responds to individual demand with selection by merit, not by field. They celebrated their 350th anniversary in 2010, and are working to achieve five strategic priorities, to:

Invest in future scientific leaders and in innovation
Influence policymaking with the best scientific advice
Invigorate science and mathematics education
Increase access to the best science internationally
Inspire an interest in the joy, wonder and excitement of scientific discovery

2. The Living with Environmental Change programme is a partnership of 20 UK organisations that fund, carry out and use environmental research, including the research councils, government departments, devolved administrations and delivery agencies. For more details of the partner organisations and accredited activities, see the LWEC website.

3. The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is the UK's main agency for funding and managing world-class research, training and knowledge exchange in the environmental sciences. It co-ordinates some of the world's most exciting research projects, tackling major issues such as climate change, environmental influences on human health, the genetic make-up of life on earth, and much more. NERC science is delivered under seven themes, namely climate system; biodiversity; sustainable use of natural resources; Earth system science; natural hazards; environment, pollution & human health; and technologies.

4. The International Council for Science (ICSU) is a non-governmental organisation representing a global membership that includes both national scientific bodies (117 members) and international scientific unions (30 members). ICSU sponsors the four leading international global environmental-change programmes: