Conference Report

The International Biodiversity Conference for Sustainable Development in Papua Land (Jayapura, 11–15 November 2009) gathered inputs and best practices from various sources, and initiated commitments towards conservation and sustainable development in one of the earth's areas of richest biodiversity and bio-cultural heritage. The conference resulted in mandating the establishment of a local working group which will mainstream sustainable development.

This article reports on the Warwick Conference on Humanitarianism, where practitioners and academics shared their experiences of the problems and limitations of humanitarianism, and how they dealt with them.

 

It may not be scientific, but it was interesting to hear journalists passing judgement among themselves on the 2009 World Food Summit organised by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ‘A waste of time and money’, one told this author. ‘What did it achieve? Nothing.’ The BBC and other news crews had already packed up their gear and departed well before the final day because, they said, the story had gone: ‘Our editorial desks have lost interest in it’.

The author participated in the IUCN World Conservation Congress (5-14 October 2008), both the Forum events and pre-selected Learning Sessions, including forest carbon inventory, and multilateral negotiations. The sessions highlighted the importance of multidisciplinary approaches and of treating indigenous knowledge as seriously as rigorous hard science. The gravity of climate change was fully recognised.

The Gender in Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction Congress held in Manila 19–22 October 2008) was the Third Global Congress of Women in Politics and Governance. Its purpose was to provide a forum for decision makers to formulate gender-responsive programmes related to gender in climate change and disaster risk reduction (DRR). Over 200 people participated, including parliamentarians, representatives of environmental and women’s organisations, and donor agencies.

The author reports on this conference, held in Tokyo in 1999, which brought together leading development thinkers and practitioners, and finance experts. The main discussions are summarised, often with reference to the recent Asian financial crisis, and the author states that the IMF's apparent neglect of the link between finance and development was worrying, and evidence of the need for its reform.

In November 1990 the South-North International Conference on Linking For Development was held in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, involving 100 participants from local authorities and NGOs from 21 countries. The representatives unanimously agreed on an Appeal, `From Dependency To Justice', and insisted on greater initiative from agencies and authorities in the South. The conference identified four priorities for future linking initiatives: development education, training, mutual development Cupertino, and working for change.

The author provides an overview of a seminar on the promotion of small enterprises, organised by the Aga Khan Foundation (UK). Representatives from official agencies, the private sector and NGOs discussed barriers to NGOs working effectively in this sector, and how these can be overcome, as well as best practice in the provision of credit and technical assistance, and the potential support role of other public and private institutions.

This Conference Report presents the recommendations taken from a Summary Report of the South Asian Agenda Regional Meeting for South Asia, held in New Delhi, India in 1999. The event was convened by the Disaster Mitigation Institute (DMI) and supported by the Department for International Development (DfID) of the British government. Measures to reduce the disaster vulnerability of poor communities, to improve the standard of, and review public expenditure on, relief, for example, are discussed.

The author reports on this conference held in Tromsö, Norway, in June 1999. Discussion centred on the discourse of `gender' and on the women's movement, and the author considers these themes from the dual viewpoint of the practitioner and the academic.