Global Environmental Change – Challenges and Innovations

 

 

 

Department of Applied Geology, University of Madras, India

 

Tue, 21 Feb - Fri, 24 Feb 2012

Human induced impacts especially rapid urbanization and the growth of world population are some of the contributing factors for global environmental change. In addition, the world has been facing a complexity of episodic disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis etc along with climate-induced disasters like cyclones, floods and droughts. Most recently, on the 11th of March 2011, an undersea earthquake of magnitude 9 on Richter Scale, triggered a giant tsunami of about 23 m height, which travelled a distance of about 5 km inland and devastated about nine prefectures along the Northeast coast of Japan. The severity of this natural disaster and its impact on environment, economy and community is yet to be studied and fully understood.

The scientific community needs to look into this challenging task to brainstorm, debate and consolidate research findings towards new policy formulations. In this context, an international event at Chennai is proposed to enable the meeting of scientists and experts of national and international repute to discuss and debate research outcomes to face the new challenges in the wake of disaster induced environmental changes. This gathering will also be an occasion to offer our empathy and salute the brave people of Japan on the occasion of first anniversary of the 2011 tsunami. It is expected that this open science international forum will enable increased focus towards disaster induced environmental issues pertaining to coastal areas of various parts of the world.

Aim
The international conference aims to review and interpret results from new research to enable their effective implementation at various levels, to protect our environment; and to make an appraisal of the challenges to progress in the wake of new episodic and climate-induced disasters.


Participants’ Profile
The three-day open science international conference being multi-disciplinary in nature, will have participants who are subject experts in the field of environmental studies, ecosystem and biodiversity conservation, ecological assessment, climate change, water resources, disaster management, representatives of prominent civil society organizations, senior government officials and representatives of various international/regional agencies. The expectation is to accommodate about 150 key participants from India and abroad apart from about 50 young scholars and students working in the field of environmental studies.

 

Beach Hotel (tbc)
East Coast Road (ECR), Chennai
English