Ecosperity Conversations: Special Edition
Towards a Clean Earth: From Oceans to Cities
Hear from three inspiring speakers about the urgency to conserve and protect our oceans and cities in this special edition of the Ecosperity Conversations series.
As part of the programme, participants will get to go on an exclusive tour of the Ecosperity Showcase, where some of the most innovative technologies in energy, circular economy and food will be on display.
Admission is free. For more information on this special edition of the Ecosperity Conversations, please contact us.
This special edition of the Ecosperity Conversations is part of the line-up of events during Ecosperity Week in June 2019.
Programme
There are two tour options available - one before and one after the talks
Dr Beatrice Crona will introduce the notion of ‘tipping elements’ in the Earth system and provide a short, state-of-the-art review of the scientific knowledge surrounding this rapidly evolving field of enquiry. Dr Crona will show why the lack of consideration of such Earth system tipping points constitute a real and significant risk, and why debates and action strategies to address climate change would benefit from incorporating these insights from scientists who study our planet as a complex system.
Dr Beatrice Crona
Deputy Science Director, Stockholm Resilience Centre
Laurel Chor is a journalist from Hong Kong who takes photos, writes, and makes films. She is also a National Geographic Explorer, Ambassador for the Jane Goodall Institute Hong Kong, and Founder of Hong Kong Exploration Initiative. She is passionate about telling stories that provoke awe about the world around us, and about the power within us to change it. Laurel will share her past and current work and how we can contribute in creating a clean Earth.
Laurel Chor
National Geographic Explorer
The ocean is the largest ecosystem on Earth with a volume of 1.3 billion cubic kilometres and an average depth of 4,200 meters. It regulates temperature, climate and atmospheric gases and is a vital source of food and other natural resources. But vast reaches of the ocean interior have not been explored and more people have stood on the moon than have visited the deepest point in the ocean. Despite its enormous size, the ocean is now changing rapidly as a result of human activities such as overfishing, destructive fishing practices, habitat destruction through coastal development, pollution - including plastic debris - and the introduction of alien species. These impacts are superimposed on the pervasive effects of climate change which are causing warming of the ocean, acidification and a decline in ocean oxygenation. But the ocean has miraculous powers of recovery if pressures are removed from it. If we are to transform the oceans from decline to recovery, we must act quickly and decisively to reduce the pressures it is under and to protect a significant portion of the ocean area from extraction.
Alex Rogers
Science Director, REV Ocean Foundation
There are two tour options available - one before and one after the talks
About the speakers
Dr Beatrice Crona
Deputy Science Director,
Stockholm Resilience Centre
Beatrice is an Associate Professor and Deputy Science Director at the Stockholm Resilience Center, and the Executive Director of the research programme Global Economic Dynamics and the Biosphere at the Royal Swedish Academy of Science. She has a PhD in marine ecology but since her degree, has worked to integrate various social science theories and methods with ecology to improve understanding of complex social-ecological dynamics.
She was involved in the recent EAT-Lancet commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems. Some of her most recent work focuses on identifying opportunities for financial leadership for climate stability by linking Earth system science to ownership and investment patterns.
Laurel Chor
National Geographic Explorer
Laurel is a freelance journalist and National Geographic Explorer from Hong Kong who takes photos, writes, and makes films. She is passionate about telling stories that provoke awe about the world around us, and about the power within us to change it. Her ongoing photo project “Health in Harmony, Planet in Disharmony” looks at traditional Chinese medicine, its users, and the sources of its plant- and animal-based remedies. She hopes that the project can help spark an informed conversation about TCM’s impact on global biodiversity.
Passionate about wildlife conservation, Laurel is the founder of the Hong Kong Explorers Initiative, a project that encourages people to explore and appreciate the city's wild side, and has spoken to thousands about Hong Kong's biodiversity. In 2013, Dr. Jane Goodall appointed her as the ambassador for the Jane Goodall Institute in Hong Kong. She is also on the advisory board of the Hong Kong Shark Foundation.
She has previously worked on western lowland gorilla conservation in the Central African Republic, Chinese white dolphin research in Hong Kong, and on an undercover documentary on the ivory trade in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She is currently investigating how Chinese demand is fueling a new trade in jaguar parts from South America for a feature documentary.
Prof Alex Rogers
Science Director,
REV Ocean Foundation
Alex is a marine ecologist who is interested in how biodiversity is distributed in the ocean, especially in the deep sea and on tropical coral reefs. He is also interested in human impacts on the ocean and how to manage human activities to mitigate or reduce degradation of marine ecosystems. His work has taken him to the Indian and Southern Oceans and to the Caribbean investigating coral reef ecosystems, both in shallow water and the deep sea, seamounts and deep-sea hydrothermal vents.
As part of his work, Alex has published more than 141 peer-reviewed papers, 52 reports and is the author of a new book on the ocean called The Deep. Alex has worked with governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations in publicising human impacts, especially those from deep-sea fishing and climate change, and on the development of policy solutions to such problems. He is Science Director of the REV Ocean Foundation, a new organisation aimed at finding solutions to ocean problems.
