The conference was opened by the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Tom Hartley, and chaired by Mrs Hilary Sloan, Chairperson of UNA-NI and N I representative on the UNA-UK Board of Directors. The keynote address, ‘Desperately Seeking Carbon: Strategies, Policies and Players’ was given by Dr Bernard Bulkin, Commissioner for Energy and Transport at the UK Sustainable Development Commission.
During the day, presentations were given by the following speakers on a range of issues relating to Climate Change:
- Mr Alex Evans - Fellow at the Center on International Cooperation, New York University on ‘Climate, Scarcity and Multilateralism’;
- Ms Claire Hanna - Challenge Europe’s Northern Ireland Youth Advocate on ‘Challenging Europe to Tackle Climate Change’;
- Ms Polly Higgins - Environmentalist, lawyer and UK associate of EnAct International on ‘Time Now for an International Declaration of Planetary Rights?’
- Mr Trewin Restorick - Founder and Director of Global Action Plan and one of Al Gore’s UK climate change ambassadors on ‘Inspiring Individual Action’.
The Conference concluded with a discussion on climate change in Northern Ireland, by local panellists: Mr Malachy Campbell, Policy Officer, WWF N I; Professor Sue Christie, Director, N I Environment Link; Dr Tim Walker, Head of Waste Management, Belfast City Council, and Mr Declan Allison, Friends of the Earth N I.