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Energy-Environment-Development SEMINAR
in remembrance of Gerald A. Leach (1933-2004)
Energy and Sustainable Development: Past Lessons and Future Challenges
Imperial College London (Aston Webb Bldg) - Thursday 28 April 2005
In 1972, world leaders gathered in Stockholm under the auspices of the United Nations for the first world conference on the human environment, which came to be known as the Stockholm Conference (from which SEI takes its name). As the Stockholm Conference marked the entrance of environmental issues onto the world stage in the 1970s, the traditional energy-economic paradigm was being questioned due to concerns over energy security and the environmental impacts attributable to fossil fuels and nuclear power. While the North was focused on its energy crises, oil-importing developing countries were facing their own crises. Higher energy prices, population growth, and exploitation of natural resources exacerbated extreme poverty, threatened fragile political institutions, and constrained future options for growth and development.
The role of energy in relation to environmental and socio-economic objectives has evolved considerably since the 1970s, as new issues have overtaken the global agenda. Climate Change emerged in the 1980s as a major challenge for policy-makers grappling with how to reconcile the aspirations of the South for economic development with the unsustainable energy paradigm that had fuelled rapid economic growth in the North. At the same time, the many social and environmental impacts of increasing energy consumption continue to threaten human health and ecological systems. Today, more than two billion persons lack access to the modern energy services that are necessary for income generation and poverty reduction.
This seminar and roundtable discussion explored some of the basic synergies and conflicts between the role of energy services in poverty reduction and the social and environmental consequences of energy consumption. What is the role of energy in sustainable development and what are the key institutional changes needed to facilitate the global transition to a sustainable energy future? The emphasis in terms of the North-South issues in the seminar was on the EU and sub-Saharan Africa, although the themes and questions were naturally broad in nature.
Seminar Programme
11:00 – 11:30 Welcome and Introductions
Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Imperial College Centre for Energy Policy and Technology (ICCEPT), International Institute for Environment & Development (IIED)
11:30 – 12:00 Keynote Address
Youba Sokona, Executive Secretary, Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS), Tunisia
12:00 – 12:30 Panellists’ Response
Moderator: Andrew Barnett, The Policy Practice Limited, Brighton, UK
12:30 – 13:00 Refreshments (light lunch)
13:00 – 13:50 Roundtable Discussion with Panellists
13:50 – 14:00 Summary and Closing
This conference was followed by a Celebration of the Life, Work and Legacy of Gerald Leach, who died December 2004. This Remembrance Celebration was held by Penny, Melissa, and Matthew Leach, together with the institutes he worked with for so long - IIED and SEI.
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