2014: Sustainable Futures in a Changing Climate

11-12 June 2014, Helsinki, Finland

How does climate change influence our understanding of the future? How can we contribute to creating desirable but possible futures in the era of climate change? The Finland Futures Research Centre’s 16th Annual International Conference ‘Sustainable Futures in a Changing Climate’ focused on presenting current future-oriented research on different aspects of climate change, and thus, the conference contributed to the global field of knowledge sharing concerning climate change.

This conference gathered together 140 participants from 21 different countries. During the two days, altogether 67 presentations were held in 11 thematic working groups dealing with various topics. Conference proceedings collects some of the full conference papers presented in the thematic working groups.

About the Theme

The United Nations Rio +20 summit in 2012 and the commitments of governments to create universal Sustainable Development Goals have generated new and fresh debate on sustainability challenges and how to best pursue environmental sustainability with social equity. At the same time it has become globally acknowledged that sustainable development cannot be thought of without reference to climate change – and vice versa.

Sustainable development and climate change are themes which operate on local, regional and global scales and require multi-disciplinary and cross-sectoral research and cooperation. Environmentally, socially and economically sustainable development as well as successful climate change adaptation and mitigation can be achieved only by encouraging knowledge sharing and cooperation between various sectors and decision-makers. The methods of futures studies include tools for describing possible, probable and desirable variations of the present and drafting possible images of the future. By looking at the variety of different possibilities, we can come closer to shaping the future – rather than predicting it. Future studies offer valuable tools to understand and shape the development of our societies.

Keynote Speakers:

  • Dr. R.K. Pachauri, Chairman of IPCC
  • Prof. Ying Chen, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
  • Prof. Joyeeta Gupta, Governance and Inclusive Development (GID), Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research, University of Amsterdam
  • Dr. Louis Lebel, Unit for Social and Environmental Research, Chiang Mai University
  • Prof. Sohail Inayatullah, Tamkang University & University of Sunshine Coast
  • President Tarja Halonen, co-chaired the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability

Conference Publications: