Can democracy save the environment? The World Forum for Democracy will bring together intellectuals, politicians, activists, experts and young people from all over the world from 8 to 10 November at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg to answer this question, after a year-long, worldwide, online debate about democracy and the environment.
The participants will discuss the following themes:
- National governments, international organisations or the citizen: who is setting the pace?
- What governing style is best placed to tackle the environmental challenge?
- Public or private: what role for each sector?
- Multilateral organisations tackling global problems with global solutions
Ten labs, designed to address the challenges in different forms and to present some of the measures already being taken, will help to provide a democratic response to the problems raised throughout the Forum. The Council of Europe’s Democratic Innovation Award will be presented by the Council of Europe to the most popular initiative in these labs (Wednesday 10 November at 12 noon, during the closing session).
In parallel, Forum Talks will be organised on: Deliberative democracy for climate, Human Rights for the environment, Threats to environmental defenders, Youth climate activism, Biodiversity, climate change and a healthy environmental: the links, as well as on #EnvironmentRightNow, an initiative by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly.
“Twelve months to answer 1 question”
The campaign, launched in November 2020, covered the following themes: Human rights for the environment (December 2020), Deliberative democracy for climate (January 2021), Disasters, displacement and climate change (February 2021), Inequality, democracy and climate change (March 2021), Environmental action at local level (April 2021), Defending the defenders (May 2021), Children and youth leading the fight against climate change (June 2021), The environment and the economy (July 2021), Technology, the environment and democracy (August 2021), Greening democratic institutions (September 2021), The future of energy (October 2021).
Cycling for Democracy
13 short films show individuals behind environmental and community-based groups’ initiatives around the world, which have been selected for the Forum. These initiatives in France, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, Israel, Indonesia, Kenya or Brazil aim at promoting eco-citizenship, environmental education, legal emancipation of rural populations, participatory democracy or ecology as an instrument of peace.
The Forum is organised by the Council of Europe, in partnership with Strasbourg City Council, the European Collectivity of Alsace, the Grand Est Region and the French Government.
The Forum will be entirely livestreamed.
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