Officially launching on 18 November, the next World Forum for Democracy will bring together intellectuals, politicians, activists, experts and young people from around the world to discuss responses to the environmental crisis over a whole year leading up to the live Forum event to be held in Strasbourg in November 2021. The world has been tested by an unexpected challenge in 2020, but while the battle against the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences rages on, the planet’s greatest existential threat looms ever larger. Environmental damage and climate change have not gone away.
The 9th edition of the Forum will open with video messages from the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, the French Minister of Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, the President of the Grand Est Region, the President of the Bas-Rhin Département Council, Frédéric Bierry, and the Mayor of Strasbourg, Jeanne Barseghian.
These will be followed by a livestreamed panel discussion led by the journalist Alex Taylor from 2.30 to 3.30 pm (viewable on the Forum’s website), which will kick off the “12 months,1 question” campaign – an ongoing worldwide debate about democracy and the environment with a different theme each month. The campaign can be followed at www.wfdemocracy.org (from 18 November). From 13 to 18 November, Strasbourg City Council, the Grand Est Region, the Bas-Rhin Département and all the Forum’s partners will invite the citizens to take part in a series of online conferences, debates and workshops about this issue (programme, actions by the Bas-Rhin Département, Grand Est Region). Since 2012, the World Forum for Democracy has become an annual opportunity for citizens around the world to reflect on democracy, to analyse its shortcomings and limitations, but also to generate new ideas to respond to the challenges facing democracy.
Press release
World Forum for Democracy 2020/2021 – “Can Democracy Save the Environment?”
