Dialogues on Sustainability, Leadership and Resilience
Addressing root causes of global challenges - Tällberg Foundation
Hello,
Time runs fast, and we are now a few weeks down the line after the Tällberg Forum 2009. We who were there have now had the time to reflect on important meetings, experiences and insights created. It continues to be a learning journey for all of us. 480 selected leaders from 80 countries, representing governments, business, academia, NGO’s engaged in dialogues regarding our most pressing global issues. The environment is surreal. The program is very open-ended. And magic starts to happen. The diversity of people, opinions and knowledge creates the fertile ground for new thinking and actions.
This year, some of the questions in focus were environmental degradation, including climate change, global inequality as well as growing youth unemployment in the global financial crisis. The forum went from creating a broad understanding of the issues and how they are interconnected, to solutions and concrete actions. Leaders from 80 nations were represented.
The forum is hard to describe in words. I would recommend you to take a look at http://www.tallbergfoundation.org were a lot of material from the forum are collected.
The unavoidable main conclusion: we are in a state of planetary crisis.
It is time to stop pretending that it will go away like a bad dream if we think of something else. It won’t. The financial crisis is only the icing on the cake. Despite our efforts, climate change is accelerating and going faster than experts have predicted (currently on a path towards 6 degrees temperature rise this century). Large portions of human settlements are rapidly losing access to fresh water due to diminishing glaciers and the warming climate (more than a billion people may be without fresh water in Asia 2050 according to the IPCC with current trends) . The breakdown of ecosystems is also accelerating, due to overexploitation, with disastrous consequences on fish stocks, deforestation, extinction of species required for a stable world and our own food production (we now have, for the first time, more than a billion starving people in the world and the curve is pointing dramatically upwards since 10 years). Natural resources are running out while the garbage dumps and slums are expanding, and poisoning land and water on the way. Political tension over land and resources is increasing. Conflicts will follow, as well as refugee streams of unprecedented scale.
Many good things are being made to address the issues. Organisations and individuals are increasingly taking on greater commitments and contribute with positive initatives. This is a fact, but unfortunately it is not enough.
What we have to face is that what is currently being done by governments, companies, NGO’s and people everywhere is not leading where we want. Not even close, if we want to maintain a planet pleasant to live on. The reason is twofold; firstly, because we are simply not doing enough, but secondly, and more importantly, because we are doing the wrong things. Our priorities are very schewed towards tangible projects with visible results. Typically, this means that we address symptoms rather than reasons. When the patient’s temperature reaches 41 we desperately need to try to lower the fever. Lowering the fever is necessary, but not the same as curing the disease.
WHAT is going in the wrong direction around the world is more focused but less important than WHY. We have a number of severe systems issues that will continue to drive us into accelerating global problems concerning environment, resources, food and living conditions until we fix them.
The transformations ahead will involve every organization. The changes to come are very fundamental and will change the playing field for business and governments everywhere. We invite you to be part of this dialogue. We need your help, and we may also support you in finding your organisations direction for the future. We are looking for organizations and individuals that wish to engage, but also for knowledge partners and investors for different projects.
If these are questions that concern you, please let me know, and we can discuss what we can do together.
Time runs fast, and we are now a few weeks down the line after the Tällberg Forum 2009. We who were there have now had the time to reflect on important meetings, experiences and insights created. It continues to be a learning journey for all of us. 480 selected leaders from 80 countries, representing governments, business, academia, NGO’s engaged in dialogues regarding our most pressing global issues. The environment is surreal. The program is very open-ended. And magic starts to happen. The diversity of people, opinions and knowledge creates the fertile ground for new thinking and actions.
This year, some of the questions in focus were environmental degradation, including climate change, global inequality as well as growing youth unemployment in the global financial crisis. The forum went from creating a broad understanding of the issues and how they are interconnected, to solutions and concrete actions. Leaders from 80 nations were represented.
The forum is hard to describe in words. I would recommend you to take a look at http://www.tallbergfoundation.org were a lot of material from the forum are collected.
The unavoidable main conclusion: we are in a state of planetary crisis.
It is time to stop pretending that it will go away like a bad dream if we think of something else. It won’t. The financial crisis is only the icing on the cake. Despite our efforts, climate change is accelerating and going faster than experts have predicted (currently on a path towards 6 degrees temperature rise this century). Large portions of human settlements are rapidly losing access to fresh water due to diminishing glaciers and the warming climate (more than a billion people may be without fresh water in Asia 2050 according to the IPCC with current trends) . The breakdown of ecosystems is also accelerating, due to overexploitation, with disastrous consequences on fish stocks, deforestation, extinction of species required for a stable world and our own food production (we now have, for the first time, more than a billion starving people in the world and the curve is pointing dramatically upwards since 10 years). Natural resources are running out while the garbage dumps and slums are expanding, and poisoning land and water on the way. Political tension over land and resources is increasing. Conflicts will follow, as well as refugee streams of unprecedented scale.
Many good things are being made to address the issues. Organisations and individuals are increasingly taking on greater commitments and contribute with positive initatives. This is a fact, but unfortunately it is not enough.
What we have to face is that what is currently being done by governments, companies, NGO’s and people everywhere is not leading where we want. Not even close, if we want to maintain a planet pleasant to live on. The reason is twofold; firstly, because we are simply not doing enough, but secondly, and more importantly, because we are doing the wrong things. Our priorities are very schewed towards tangible projects with visible results. Typically, this means that we address symptoms rather than reasons. When the patient’s temperature reaches 41 we desperately need to try to lower the fever. Lowering the fever is necessary, but not the same as curing the disease.
WHAT is going in the wrong direction around the world is more focused but less important than WHY. We have a number of severe systems issues that will continue to drive us into accelerating global problems concerning environment, resources, food and living conditions until we fix them.
The transformations ahead will involve every organization. The changes to come are very fundamental and will change the playing field for business and governments everywhere. We invite you to be part of this dialogue. We need your help, and we may also support you in finding your organisations direction for the future. We are looking for organizations and individuals that wish to engage, but also for knowledge partners and investors for different projects.
If these are questions that concern you, please let me know, and we can discuss what we can do together.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Christer Soderberg on -
Dear Burghard, I invite you to create a group here on the community to pursue these goals, through discussions, blogs, events, and most of all, through activities, to help us include these questions in the projects we develop. I am referring of course to our "Replanting a Rainforest" project, where we invite business, government and institutional representatives to participate in the physical act of planting trees and helping create the conditions for a rain forest to recuperate itself.
As you say, it's learning by doing, developing relationships in tandem with nature, and at risk of being repetitive; learn to Stop, Reflect, and Listen.
As Niclas puts it so very well, "It is time to stop pretending that it will go away like a bad dream if we think of something else. It won’t."
"Replanting a Rainforest" is in many ways a small project, comprising in this first phase of planting just under 300 hectares with hundreds of species of native trees (after having planted the "pioneer trees" to prepare the way). But it´s not the number of trees we plant, but rather the number of individuals we attract to share in this work, individuals, people, human beings from many corners of the globe who will share in the learning and the teaching provided by the exuberant nature in the Atlantic Rainforest region of southern Brazil.
And there we can continue to develop the list you have begun Burghard, and test the ideas with real tangible activities.
To make this a reality we need the sponsors, preferably companies yet unaware of how their activities could be affecting the natural environment and natures ability to heal itself.
Check out the details of the project, visit the "Rainforest Ambassadors" Group, and if you are in the Stockholm region, come by at Open World Café to discuss how we can help each other make this and other projects like it a reality in a big way.
Thank you,
Christer - Attachments:
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Permalink Reply by Niclas Ihrén on -
Dear Burghard,
Thank you for your well formulated relections! I subscribe to your list and also to your affinity to action, visible results and, not to forget, the many small initiatives.
However, one word of caution or nuance: We have on a global scale put more and more resources and money into projects for the benefit of mankind over the last thirty years, whether they are focused on environment, diseases, poverty etc. Yet, despite all these efforts, problems relating to poverty, enivronment and natural resource are escalating rather than shrinking. This is a clear indication that we are not prioritizing our efforts right. It is not sufficient to do more good things if they are not by any means helping us solve the problems.
This is the reason why I think we are too obsessed with action and visible results. They make us feel as if we are about to solve the problem, when the reality may be the opposite. This is also the reason why I believe far mor systems understanding is needed.
Your list was very good, because it does, to a large degree, address root causes. Although, admitted, many of the items on the list are extremely complex to implement on a global (or very big) scale.
Niclas
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Permalink Reply by Burghard on -
Niclas
excellent observation. Shows that you obviously have been dealing with initiatives and experiencing some learnings over the years. Part of the process.
I am still more than convinced that too much discussing and search for the "close to perfect, all resolving and sustainable solution" is not good either. Many of the solutions and actions needed are pretty clear and should simply be put in place. Shying away from them because of apparent difficulties to achieve wide acceptance and implementation barriers are non favorable arguments. Especially when solutions are urgently needed. And many are, otherwise we run into an unmanageable escalations and complexity of problems. Some of which already are.
I love you work !!
Saludos
Burghard
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Permalink Reply by Hans Wigholm on -
Hello,
As a meber of Sw Brazilian Assn. and also visitor to OpenWorld Cafe´ I fully subscribe to the tought and views of Niclas Ihre´n.
The Tällberg Forum has such high profile and should be able to rock the boat a little bit, and increase the awareness of the Enviroment.
Today I go an envelope from the land lord of the block of flats where I live, AB Sollentunahem. They are increasing the awareness of the enviroment, anything from putting the right waste in the right box/container. The project is called to "safe the Froggs".
Just a short message from a concerned citizien of the World and the "Kingdom of Sweden".
Hans Wigholm
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