Reimagining Environmental Revival: How Can #GenerationRestoration Be Put Into Action?

This year’s World Environment Day (June 5) marks the launch of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration - a rallying global call for the protection and revival of ecosystems to benefit nature and people. The 2021 theme, ‘REIMAGINE. RECREATE. RESTORE’ calls for collective action and reiterates that a clean and healthy environment is central to addressing the greatest and most complex challenges of our times. Only by fueling innovative solutions for water-food-energy security, reimagining production-consumption patterns, greening urban planning, protecting water bodies and addressing socioeconomic and sociopolitical complexities within the management of natural resources like land and water, would we be able to truly become #GenerationRestoration. This ambitious, 10-year vision for the future beckons investments in science and information, cross-cutting collaborations, multidimensional discourses, diplomacy backed by evidence, and innovative environmental governance aimed at achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Against this background, join us as we welcome domain experts across diverse geographical contexts and leading organisations on environmental/sustainability research and development to discuss the cross-cutting approaches and implications operating within the greatest environmental challenges of our times.  In doing so, the session will navigate through the interconnectedness between land, water, communities, conflicts, resilience and environmental governance while also decoding the geopolitical and socioeconomic links within natural resource management.

Key questions

The key questions this webinar aims to answer include:

1. How can #GenerationRestoration be put into action?  
2. What role does equity play in building post-disaster resilience?
3. What are the challenges and prospects for effective Environmental Governance?
4. What is the environmental link between cities, communities and vulnerability?
5. How can youth engagement accelerate the pathways for inclusive Environmental Governance? 

Programme

Opening Remarks

• Philippe De Lombaerde, Director Ad Interim, UNU-CRIS 

Programme Overview

Sustainable Futures: UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration - a compelling call!

• Dr. Nidhi Nagabhatla, UNU CRIS

Panel Discussion

Redistributing Resilience: Transformation and Political Capabilities in Post-Disaster Settings

• Ms. Heidi Tuhkanen, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Tallin

Reimagining Green Cities, Restored Landscapes, and Recreated Job Market for Vulnerable Communities in Latin American and Caribbean

• Prof. Dr. Eduardo Mario Mendiondo, Director of Center for Education & Research on Disasters. University of Sao Paulo, Brazil

The Role of Technologies in Transboundary Water Relations 

• Dr. David Katz, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

Turkey's Water Diplomacy Framework and Environmental Governance: Challenges and Prospects

• Prof. Dr. Aysegül Kibaroglu, Chair, Dept. of Political Science, and International Relations. MEF University, Istanbul, Turkey 

Youth Voice: Innovative Engagement Tools for Environmental Governance

• Ms. Makasa Looking Horse, Indigenous Youth Leader (Ohenagnos Project Six Nations, Canada) and McMaster University.

Q & A

Closing Remarks

Panellists