The United Nations: Working for Global Ecological Stewardship

Speaker: Richard A Shirres, MSc (App.Env.Sc.), MICE, UN Assoc. Menai Secretary

The talk outlines the pragmatic origins of the United Nations. Arising from the post-WWII developing awareness of the need for environmental protection, the UN became the world’s international organisation that went on to develop and systematically lead on the international environmental agenda. Its inherent advocacy for multilateral agreements, especially informed by purposely created scientific bodies, has led it to achieve international consensus around key conventions governing Biodiversity, Climate and Desertification; all now crucial to our enfolding climate and ecological emergency as humanity, through its own paradigm construct, continues to threaten planetary boundaries.