1st Announcement + Call for Papers: European + Latin American conference on Climate Change Management (ELAC3M)

EUROPEAN AND LATIN AMERICAN CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE MANAGEMENT (ELAC3M)

- Opportunities and Challenges for the Modernization of High Education Institutions -

Climate change is one of the most important challenges of modern times, and one which affects both industrialised and developing nations in a way seldom seen before.

The impacts of climate change are especially severe in developing countries, since they affect the livelihood of millions of people and often lead to decreases in their quality of life. In regions such as Latin America, characterized by a number of countries which are especially vulnerable to the consequences of climate changes (e.g. draughts, floods and disasters), it is important to identify ways to foster climate change management, i.e. to pursue approaches, methods and initiatives which may lead to an improved capability to better cope with the effects of climate change.

Based on this state of affairs, the project “Network of Climate Change Technology Transfer Centre in Europe and Latin America” (CELA) was initiated. CELA, which is being implemented as part of the ALFA III Programme of the European Commission, and which involves countries from both Latin America (Bolivia, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Peru) and Europe (Germany and Estonia), looks at climate change management and fosters increased cooperation between universities in Latin America and Europe in this important field. Within the framework of the project CELA, the EUROPEAN AND LATIN AMERICAN CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE MANAGEMENT Is being organized.

The importance of the Conference can be understood if one considers the fact that Latin America as a whole-and Central America in particular is affected by recurrent which makes this territory the most vulnerable in the world. The EUROPEAN AND LATIN AMERICAN CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE MANAGEMENT is thus meant to make available the latest scientific and findings and gather interested scientists and discuss the role of education and technology transfer on Europe and Latin America.
The EUROPEAN AND LATIN AMERICAN CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE MANAGEMENT is organized by the Research and Transfer Centre on Climate Change at Galileo University in Guatemala, under the auspices of the CELA Project. It is supported by the Research and Transfer Centre “Applications of Life Sciences” of the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, which coordinates the CELA project.

The language of the conference is English.

The aims of the EUROPEAN AND LATIN AMERICAN CONFERENCE
ON CLIMATE CHANGE MANAGEMENT are as follows:

• to provide universities from Europe and Latin America with an opportunity to display and present their works (i.e. curriculum innovation, research, activities, practical projects) on climate change and climate technologies;
• to foster the exchange of information, ideas and experiences acquired in the execution of projects, from successful initiatives and good practice, highlighting the possibilities of applications and replications;
• to discuss methodological approaches and projects which aim to integrate the topic of climate change in the curriculum of European and Latin American universities;
• to participants and provide a platform explore possibilities for cooperation, Latin American-European efforts in this key area.

The EUROPEAN AND LATIN AMERICAN CONFERENCE ON CLIMATE CHANGE MANAGEMENT will be organized in three main strands:

1. Displays
2. Exchanges Tables
3. Presentations

A set of presentations, divided into four parallel sections will be organized, dealing with issues of strategic value in reviewing the state of art of education for climate change and sustainability today. These are:
Session 1: “State of the art” with regard to the approach explaining how universities, business, government and civil society in general, approach the subject of climate change. The session will concentrate on particular groups as such independent of other sectors.
Session 2: Innovations in the collaboration of universities, business, government and civil society in general, implementing climate change research and technology applications.The session will concentrate on intersections of two or more groups belonging to different sectors.
Session 3: Modernization on Climate Change and sustainability in the university campus.
Session 4: Climate change projects

The preliminary schedule is as follows:

29th August 2013 -
All day: Exhibition and visit to displays and exchanges.
Morning: Session 1, first day.
Afternoon: Session 2, first day

30th August 2013 -
All day: Exhibition and visit to displays and exchanges
Morning: Session 3, last day.
Afternoon: Round-table with key experts Conclusions, last day
Evening: Farewell Dinner

In order to ensure an efficient use of the time, delegates are kindly asked to organize their travel in a way that allows them to arrive in Guatemala in the course of Wednesday the 28th of August and travel back on or after the 31th August 2013.

Find the detailed programme and an online registration tool at: www.cela-project.net

The deadline for submission of abstracts: 30th October 2012