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Event

Systems approaches to long-term decision-making for sustainability

SEI joined the conversation at the Summit of the Future Action Days by hosting this side event focused on science-based, practical approaches to enhancing long-term perspectives in decision-making on sustainable development.

Watch event recording

20 September 2024 at 16:45 EDT

ending at 18:00 EDT

Accounting for the interests of future generations in decision-making requires strengthening the ability to envision and evaluate future development trajectories, as well as institutionalizing a long-term perspective in decision-making.

This side event will explore various science-based and practical approaches available for governments and intergovernmental organizations to use systems thinking to enhance long-term perspectives in decision-making for sustainable development. Systems thinking is a powerful methodological approach for analyzing synergies and trade-offs over different time horizons. With a longer-term perspective in decision-making, there is the potential to transform trade-offs into synergies, and identifying such opportunities can motivate and strengthen long-term thinking in decision-making.

What to expect

We will bring together organizations committed to embracing long-term thinking in decision-making, including UNEP’s recently launched Foresight Report on Planetary Health and the work of the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales. The focus will be on institutional perspectives on methods from systems thinking:

  • What institutional arrangements are needed to implement certain methods for long-term decision-making?
  • Do current institutions limit the adoption of these methods?

Speakers:

  • Henrik Carlsen, Senior Research Fellow at Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)
  • Jacob Ellis, Director of External Relations and Culture at the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales
  • Andrea Hinwood, Chief Scientist of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
  • Maria Ivanova, Fellow of the International Science Council (ISC) and Director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University in Boston
  • Claudette Salinas Levya, Project Assistant Declaration on Future Generations, Future of Climate Cooperation

The event is moderated by Senior Research Fellow, Nina Weitz, SEI.

This seminar is hosted by SEI, ISC, UNEP, the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, and The Future of Climate Cooperation. It is part of the official side event programme at the 2024 Summit of the Future Action Days. The event will be held in person at the UN Headquarters (UNHQ) in New York, in Conference Room 11.

This side event will be broadcast live on UN WebTV. View recording

Only attendees with a valid UN Grounds Pass for the UNHQ, or those registered to attend the Action Days, can participate on-site.

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