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Charles McNeill • Earth Month Talks

April 29, 2023 @ 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

This event has passed, but you can view the presentation slides and video below:


Bowen Island Food Resilience Society and the Bowen Island Public Library have collaborated to bring you Earth Month Talks, two talks filled with information, reasons for optimism, and ideas for building a healthy, safe, and resilient world.


Climate Change, Biodiversity, and the Future of Food: A Global Perspective to Inform Local Action

Our unsustainable global food system contributes over a third of the greenhouse gas emissions, driving the current climate crisis. This same food system is the primary driver of biodiversity loss, with agriculture alone being the identified threat to over 80% of species at risk of extinction.

This recognition of the central role of the food system in the climate and biodiversity crises is fortunately finally being recognized in key global environmental forums. With a view to informing local action on Bowen, Charles will update us on the major outcomes and latest information from the recent Climate Conference in Egypt (COP 27) and the December 2022 Biodiversity Conference in Montreal (COP 15). The focus will be on recent initiatives and trends to transform global and local food systems to solve the dual climate and biodiversity crises.

What can we learn of relevance to Bowen Island from this global experience and how can Bowen’s own iagricultural practices that take care of the land and soil be shared with other communities and globally?

Dr. Charles McNeill

Charles’ love of nature, and his commitment to protecting it, began on Bowen at a very early age and for the past 30 years, he has been a leader in the United Nations building innovative multi-sector partnerships to solve global environmental challenges. He is currently the Senior Advisor on Forests & Climate for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and is overseeing the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative, an international alliance bringing faith-based leadership to local and global efforts to end tropical deforestation. Previously, Dr. McNeill managed UNDP’s work on forests, biodiversity, climate change, sustainable energy, stakeholder engagement and public-private partnerships. In that capacity he founded and led catalytic global initiatives, including the UN-REDD Programme, the Equator Initiative, the global coalition that delivered the New York Declaration on Forests at the 2014 UN Climate Summit, and the Indigenous Peoples Initiative for the 2015 Paris Climate Conference. He also served on the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Forests. Dr. McNeill received his Ph.D. in Genetics, with a focus on conservation biology, from the University of California at Davis and his Bachelor of Sciences is in Conservation of Natural Resources & Ecology from the University of California at Berkeley. Charles currently lives on Bowen Island on the property his grandparents acquired in 1918.


two logos: Bowen Island Public Library and Bowen Island Food Resilience Society

Details

Date:
April 29, 2023
Time:
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM

Venue

Bowen Island Library – Annex
430 Bowen Trunk Rd.
Bowen Island, BC V0N1G0 Canada
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