Conference: Sustainable Development

TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
April 25 - 28, 2000
Music Theatre, Olomouc

Organized by:
> -Society for Sustainable Living Czech Republic
> -Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Palacký University, Olomouc
> -Department of Environmental Studies, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk
> -University Brno
> -Center of Ecological Education of Olomouc Town
> Civic Futurological Society in the Czech republic and Slovakia
> -Josef and Petra Vavroušek Foundation
> -Association for Open Society

Aim of the conference is support, popularization and enforcement of the ideas of sustainable development and sustainable way of living in the current process of globalization.

Sustainable way of living (meaning respect for life, nature and responsibility to future generations) is the core concept that can become the essential idea for co-operation and development of the human society in the 21st century.

*FOREIGN PARTICIPANTS*
Participants from Central and Eastern European countries are kindly invited for participation. Open Society Fund covers their travel expenses, accommodation and per diem.

*MAJOR TOPICS OF THE CONFERENCE*
A) Globalization - threat or challenge
B) Enforcement of sustainable development
C) NGO institutions and activities

*PRELIMINARY PROGRAM*
Opening speech: Global civilization - global responsibility

Block A: Value solutions to the ecological crisis
Introductory papers:
Conscious modesty, or ecological prosperity? - Hana Librova (in negotiation)
Human values compatible with sustainable life - Mikulas Huba
The world does not think the European way - Bohuslav Shnajder

Block B: Globalization - threat or challenge?
Introductory papers:
Hazards of globalization - Ivan Klinec
Opportunities for global control - Pavel Novachek
Aims of the Czech developmet aid - Karel Zhebrakovskě (in negotiation)

Block C: Enforcing sustainable development - political instruments
Introductory papers:
Executive and enforcement of sustainable life - Martin Bursik
Parliamentary institutions and sustainable life - Libor Ambrozek
Communal politics and sustainable development - Ivan Rynda
Indicators of sustainable life - Bedrich Moldan (in negotiation)
Economic instruments in enforcement of sustainable development - Zdenek Shtepanek
Legislative and institutional instruments of sustainable development - Vaclav Mezrickě, Eva Kruzhikova

To this program, papers by foreign participants may be added if their themes correspond with the idea of a subject block.

In the Statute of the Society for Sustainable Living (SSL) its fundamental goals are specified, among others the search for ways directed towards sustainable development, approximation to the ideals of  humanism and the ideal of harmony between Man and Nature, creation and enforcement of conceptions of sustainable life at local, regional, national and world levels.

According to its objectives, the SSL tries to support and popularize the ideas of sustainable life (development) especially in Central and Eastern Europe and define the co-responsibility of this region for  regional as well as global affairs. This conference should in its own small way make a contribution to it.

*COMMENTARY*
The conference with international participation, to be held in April 2000  by the SSL in cooperation with the organizations above, will be,like the 1997 Olomouc conference, focused also on the share of global  responsibility the countries of Central and Eastern Europe have for the condition of the world. The countries from which we intend to choose the  participants are undergoing similar political, economic and social processes as our country. The confrontation of views, the seeking of joint
solutions for the situations in which the society in Central and  Eastern Europe now is, the effect of globalzation in the former Eastern block, the defense against the negative effects of globalization, and the search for and the defining of their positive aspects, those are the reasons which we believe make our project suitable for inclusion in the East-East program.

We also believe that the cooperation of these countries is the prerequisite for their entry with dignity in Europe.

The SSL attempts to create a tradition for these conferences at which the entrants have a chance of encountering the opinions of renowned specialists and discussing the problems with them. We also make an  effort to make the participants carry this information over into their own regions. The conference has intentionally been located not in Prague but in Olomouc - a town that is beautiful, but also quiet so that it allows a full concentration on the issues of the conference.

*SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS*
The participants should be people dealing with ecology and related sciences, economists and lawyers specializing in environment, students and people from practical life. Most of them will come from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The rest of them will be selected in the first place from our directory of associates in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. They are the countries: Ukraine, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Russia, Rumania, possibly others.

Due to the capacity of the hall we count with ca.100-120 participants, of which ca.20 would be from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and 20 from Slovakia.

Under negotiation are several visitors from overseas (e.g. Jerome C.Glenn and Theodore Gordon, director of the Millennium Project in Washington, DC, mediated by the US Information Service).

The final number of foreign entrants can be supplemented with assistance of the coordinators for the East-East program in the respective countries.  Each invited entrant - at least one from each country - is expected to make a contribution to one of the block themes. The extent of the the pre-announced contributions will be limited to 10 minutes, the discussion contributions to 3 minutes.

*LOCATION OF THE CONFERENCE*
The conference is located in a nice university town Olomouc. From Praha - Prague) you can travel there by train (approx. 3 hours). The trains are going many times a day.

*APPLICATION*
An on-line application can be found on their webpage.

*CONTACT INFORMATION*
E-mail: jiri.dlouhy@czp.cuni.cz
Webpage: www.czp.cuni.cz/Olomouc