Below you can read about his experiences and find some pictures from his stay in Budapest.
REPORT FROM PARTICIPATING IN THE ERASMUS MUNDUS CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE 2009, BUDAPEST.
The conference was organised by the Erasmus Mundus Students and Alumni Association (EMA), a network for students and alumni of all Erasmus Mundus Masters Course (EMMC). This first Erasmus Mundus conference on the theme “Higher Education and Climate Change” took place on 26th – 27th February 2009 at Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, Hungary.
The purpose of the conference was to bring together experts and Erasmus Mundus students and alumni from a wide spectrum of disciplines to exchange views and experiences on issues related to problems of climate change and also establish an Erasmus Mundus Forum on Climate Change-an informal communication to continue the dialogue among interested members of the EMA and its partners.
It started with a welcome session and plenary session delivered by selected keynote speakers who are distinguished professors from various EMMCs. Among the key note speakers were Dianna Urge-Vorsatz, a professor at CEU and Director of the Center for Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Policy (3CSEP) and a member of the IPCC; Alice Newton, a professor at the University of Algarve, Portugal and Paavo Pelkonen, a professor and vice dean of faculty of Forest Sciences, University of Joensuu, Finland. They presented on various issues linking the EM programmes, higher education and climate change.
Then the conference was divided into four breakout sessions, each focusing on 1) agricultural, ecology, forestry and climate change, 2) energy, technological progress and climate change, 3) public policy and legal response to climate change, and 4) socio-cultural and economic aspects of climate change. I joined the agricultural ecology, forestry and climate change session. There were five presentations in each session for the first day. There was debriefing from each section for all participants to know the presentations for the day.
A social event – dinner and a boat tour on the Danube River was organized on the evening of the first day. This was the best dinner I have ever had. Having a dinner in a boat which was moving across a river dividing Buda and Pest was superb. The dinner offered a great opportunity to interact with other participants and created a platform for networking.
The presentations by EMA members continued on the second day. I was unlucky to be the first presenter for my section after a night of dinner but it went very well. I presented on the topic: Addressing the climate change challenge; what can sustainable agriculture do? It focused on the impacts of climate change on agriculture (both positive and negative) and how sustainable agriculture can help to solve the negative aspect through mitigation and adaptation. There were five presentations in each session.
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There were many interesting presentations delivered by the keynote speakers as well as the EMA members: from the far-reaching implications of the changing climate (its causes and impacts), to the available options that our world may have in order to respond to mitigating and adapting to a changing climate.
We had the debriefing and a take home message from each section. The main conclusions from the agricultural, ecology, forestry and climate change section include:
1. Both agriculture and forestry are vulnerable but can contribute to mitigation.
2. Mitigation and adaptation have to go hand in hand
3. Education is needed to change the mindset of people about climate change
4. Look for solutions from a local level to a global level
5. Re-visit biotechnology
6. Research into solutions
7. Seek multi-sectoral solutions
The conference ended with the establishment of the Erasmus Mundus Climate Change Forum – a communication and networking platform set up for interested EMA members to enhance their life-long networking and interpersonal connections that can lead to a positive collective response to the climate change issue from the EMA community. An Ad Hoc Task Force was set up to facilitate further development and progress of the forum.
The various presentations from EMA members from different disciplines proved that the wide spectrum of disciplines covered by the EM programme can offer a unique multidisciplinary approach to tackling complex issues of climate change. The conference also served as one of the best means to gather EMA members and strengthen the EMA network.
I was very glad for the opportunity to participate in the conference because it offered me the opportunity to make new friends, network and learn a lot. Most of the participants (about 99%) at the conference were alumni and alumnae of various EMMC`s hence I was very lucky to be part of the few students who had the opportunity to attend the conference. I realised from interaction with the participants that all Erasmus Mundus students have a great future after graduation as almost all of the alumni/alumnae are pursuing PhD or working in reputable organizations across the world. I also found that people are not aware of Agris Mundus programme hence there is a need for more promotion of Agris Mundus. I believe we are on course through the creation of the website and participating in various EMA activities.
I will like to urge you all to get involve in EMA. Just log on to http://www.em-a.eu/ register to be a member and also keep updating yourselves with EMA issues and together we can make EMA a better association. By the way please don´t forget to contribute your quota to the debate on climate change and always remember the Chinese proverb that states that ”the person who does not worry about the future will shortly have worries about the present”. I will inform you all if there is any new development on the Erasmus Mundus Climate Change Forum.
I would like to thank the Danish Development Research Network (DDRN) for the opportunity to participate in the first Erasmus Mundus Conference through the covering of my travel expenses.
By: Justice Akpene Tambo
Faculty of Life Sciences,
University of Copenhagen.
12th April, 2009.
The conference was organised by the Erasmus Mundus Students and Alumni Association (EMA), a network for students and alumni of all Erasmus Mundus Masters Course (EMMC). This first Erasmus Mundus conference on the theme “Higher Education and Climate Change” took place on 26th – 27th February 2009 at Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, Hungary.
The purpose of the conference was to bring together experts and Erasmus Mundus students and alumni from a wide spectrum of disciplines to exchange views and experiences on issues related to problems of climate change and also establish an Erasmus Mundus Forum on Climate Change-an informal communication to continue the dialogue among interested members of the EMA and its partners.
It started with a welcome session and plenary session delivered by selected keynote speakers who are distinguished professors from various EMMCs. Among the key note speakers were Dianna Urge-Vorsatz, a professor at CEU and Director of the Center for Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Policy (3CSEP) and a member of the IPCC; Alice Newton, a professor at the University of Algarve, Portugal and Paavo Pelkonen, a professor and vice dean of faculty of Forest Sciences, University of Joensuu, Finland. They presented on various issues linking the EM programmes, higher education and climate change.
Then the conference was divided into four breakout sessions, each focusing on 1) agricultural, ecology, forestry and climate change, 2) energy, technological progress and climate change, 3) public policy and legal response to climate change, and 4) socio-cultural and economic aspects of climate change. I joined the agricultural ecology, forestry and climate change session. There were five presentations in each session for the first day. There was debriefing from each section for all participants to know the presentations for the day.
A social event – dinner and a boat tour on the Danube River was organized on the evening of the first day. This was the best dinner I have ever had. Having a dinner in a boat which was moving across a river dividing Buda and Pest was superb. The dinner offered a great opportunity to interact with other participants and created a platform for networking.
The presentations by EMA members continued on the second day. I was unlucky to be the first presenter for my section after a night of dinner but it went very well. I presented on the topic: Addressing the climate change challenge; what can sustainable agriculture do? It focused on the impacts of climate change on agriculture (both positive and negative) and how sustainable agriculture can help to solve the negative aspect through mitigation and adaptation. There were five presentations in each session.
There were many interesting presentations delivered by the keynote speakers as well as the EMA members: from the far-reaching implications of the changing climate (its causes and impacts), to the available options that our world may have in order to respond to mitigating and adapting to a changing climate.
We had the debriefing and a take home message from each section. The main conclusions from the agricultural, ecology, forestry and climate change section include:
1. Both agriculture and forestry are vulnerable but can contribute to mitigation.
2. Mitigation and adaptation have to go hand in hand
3. Education is needed to change the mindset of people about climate change
4. Look for solutions from a local level to a global level
5. Re-visit biotechnology
6. Research into solutions
7. Seek multi-sectoral solutions
The conference ended with the establishment of the Erasmus Mundus Climate Change Forum – a communication and networking platform set up for interested EMA members to enhance their life-long networking and interpersonal connections that can lead to a positive collective response to the climate change issue from the EMA community. An Ad Hoc Task Force was set up to facilitate further development and progress of the forum.
The various presentations from EMA members from different disciplines proved that the wide spectrum of disciplines covered by the EM programme can offer a unique multidisciplinary approach to tackling complex issues of climate change. The conference also served as one of the best means to gather EMA members and strengthen the EMA network.
I was very glad for the opportunity to participate in the conference because it offered me the opportunity to make new friends, network and learn a lot. Most of the participants (about 99%) at the conference were alumni and alumnae of various EMMC`s hence I was very lucky to be part of the few students who had the opportunity to attend the conference. I realised from interaction with the participants that all Erasmus Mundus students have a great future after graduation as almost all of the alumni/alumnae are pursuing PhD or working in reputable organizations across the world. I also found that people are not aware of Agris Mundus programme hence there is a need for more promotion of Agris Mundus. I believe we are on course through the creation of the website and participating in various EMA activities.
I will like to urge you all to get involve in EMA. Just log on to http://www.em-a.eu/ register to be a member and also keep updating yourselves with EMA issues and together we can make EMA a better association. By the way please don´t forget to contribute your quota to the debate on climate change and always remember the Chinese proverb that states that ”the person who does not worry about the future will shortly have worries about the present”. I will inform you all if there is any new development on the Erasmus Mundus Climate Change Forum.
I would like to thank the Danish Development Research Network (DDRN) for the opportunity to participate in the first Erasmus Mundus Conference through the covering of my travel expenses.
By: Justice Akpene Tambo
Faculty of Life Sciences,
University of Copenhagen.
12th April, 2009.
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