World Academy of Art and Science: General Assembly 2008

"The Anthropocene Crisis: Perils and Possibilities of the 21^st Century"

(Aalankrita Resort and Conference Center, Hyderabad, India: 17-20 October 2008)

(Programme update 10.3.08)

Thursday, 16 October

• Participants arrival
• 12:00 Board of Trustees Meeting

Friday,17 October

• 09:00 - 11:00 Participants arrival
• 11:30 - 13:30 Lunch and Opening Ceremony (Dining Hall)

Welcoming Remarks: Jeffrey Schwartz, President, WAAS

Pushpa Bhargava and Garry Jacobs, Conference Co-chairs

• 14:00 - 15:30 Plenary (Main Meeting Hall)

"Defining the Anthropocene Epoch"

Walter Truett Anderson, President Emeritus, WAAS, San Francisco

Richard E. Benedick, chief U. S. Negotiator, Montreal Protocols

Sesh Velamoor, Foundation For the Future (Moderator)

• 15:40 - 17:10 Plenary (Main Meeting Hall)

"Dealing with Climate Change: Progress and Stasis"

Jose Furtado, Secretary-General, WAAS (Moderator)

Akio Morishima, Chair, Japan Climate Policy Center, Japan, Special Research Advisor for the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Japan, Professor Emeritus, Nagoya University, Japan

J. Srinivasan, Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Bangalore

• 17:10 - 17:30 Break

• 17:30 - 19:00 Plenary Lecture and Discussion (Main Meeting Hall)

Pushpa Bhargava, Conference Co-chair (Moderator)

"Change and Change Agents"

Y. S. Rajan, authority on global business, technological development, and higher education. Noted poet and writer on social issues. Co-author (with former President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam) "India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium"

• 19:00 - 22:00 Buffet Dinner

Saturday, 18 October

• 09:00 - 10:30 Concurrent Sessions (Meeting rooms to be announced)

"Asia's Role in World Leadership"

Akio Morishima, Chair, Japan Climate Policy Center, Japan, Special Research Advisor for the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Japan, Professor Emeritus, Nagoya University, Japan

Susantha Goonatilake, Sociologist; author of of “Cultural Consequences of the Shift to Asia,” Colombo

Thomas G. Rawski, Professor of Economics and History, University of Pittsburgh

"Earth System Engineering: The State of the Art"

(This session will include a report on the conference “Earth System Engineering: The Art of Dealing Wisely With Planet Earth,” held at Wildbad Kreuth, Germany)

Raoul Weiler, President, EU Chapter, Club of Rome, Brussels (Chair)

Alex Kleidon, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany

• 10:30 - 11:00 Break
• 11:00 - 13:00 Concurrent Sessions

"Darwinism: Dead Wrong?"

Jeffrey H. Schwartz, President of WAAS, University of Pittsburgh

Bruno Maresca, University of Salerno

Sesh Velamoor, Foundation For the Future

"Development Theory - Dynamics of Social Change"

Ashok Natarajan, Secretary, The Mother's Service Society (Pondicherry)

Garry Jacobs, Vice-President, The Mother's Service Society

Ivo Slaus, South Eastern Europe Division, WAAS

"Governance (1): Implications of Climate Change"

Robert Berg, UN expert group on governance implications of climate change, Washington, D. C. (Chair)

Akio Morishima, Chair, Japan Climate Policy Center, Japan, Special Research Advisor for the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Japan, Professor Emeritus, Nagoya University, Japan

Jose Cordeiro, Visiting Research Fellow (from Venezuela), Institute of Developing Economies, Japan 

Discussant: John Cox, Trustee, WAAS, San Francisco 

• 13:00 - 14:30 Lunch
• 14:30 - 16:00 Plenary: "Development and Environment"

Garry Jacobs, chair; The Mother's Service Society, Pondicherry

Ivo Slaus, South Eastern Europe Division, WAAS

• 16:00 - 16:30 Break
• 16:30 - 18:30 Concurrent Sessions

"Limits to Rationality"

Ivo Slaus, Director, South Eastern Europe Division, WAAS, Zagreb

Krunoslav Pisk, Director, Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik

Garry Jacobs, Vice President, The Mother's Service Society, India

Jeffrey Schwartz, President, WAAS

"Biotechnology in the Anthropocene"

Pushpa Bhargava, Anveshna Consultancy, Hyderabad

Geoffrey Hamer, Biofocus Foundation, London/Dubai

Imran Siddiqi, Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad

Ramesh Sonti, Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad

"Governance (2): How and Why We Govern Evolution"

Walter Truett Anderson, President Emeritus, WAAS

JoséCordeiro, Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan

John Cox, Trustee, WAAS, San Francisco

"Ethics and Policy (A): Socio-Economic and Political Globalization"

(Introductory Remarks by Jose Furtado and Anthony Judge, Co-conveners of Ethics and Policy Series)

Susantha Goonatilaka (Consultant, Colombo) – Ideological and Cultural Transitions

Orio Giarini (Risk Institute, Trieste) – The Global Demographic Revolution

M. Zakri Hamid (Institute of Advanced Studies, United Nations University, Tokyo) – Is Human Reproductive Cloning Inevitable? - Future Options for United Nations Governance.

• 19:00 - 22:00 Banquet and Award Ceremony (Main Dining Hall)

HRH Princess Chulabhorn, Founder and President, Chulabhorn Research Institute will receive a Special Award in recognition of her contributions to science and be inducted into the World Academy of Art and Science.

Chair: Jeffrey Schwartz

Plenary Lecture "Planetary Transitions: A New Paradigm"

Sesh Velamoor, Foundation For the Future

Sunday, 19 October

• 09:00 -10:30 Concurrent Sessions

"Ethics and Policy (B): Cultural and Environmental Globalization"

Udipi R. Rao (Indian Space Research Organization, CSIR, Bangalore) – Economics, Energy and Food Security for the World

Ana-Maria Sandi (Consultant, Bucharest) – Ethical Challenges and Responsible Policies in Community Development

Jose I Furtado (Centre of Environmental Policy, Imperial College London) – The Challenge for New Forms of Social Capital: Knowledge, Innovation and Alliances

"Global Security (1): Semi-plenary – Inclusive Concept of Global Security" -- Jasjit Singh & Jonathan Granoff

Professor SD Muni, formerly at JNU

Shri NS Sisodia, Director General, IDSA (Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses)

Air Marshal Vinod Patney, former Vice Chief of Air Staff, former Member of National Security Advisory Board, NSC, former member of NSC Task Force on Global Developments

• 10:30 - 11: 00 Break
• 11:00 - 13:00 Concurrent Sessions

"Ethics and Policy (C): Knowledge and Innovation Globalization"

Ramesh Mashelkar (National Chemical Laboratory, CSIR, Pune) – Getting More from Less for More: The New Innovation Paradigm

N'Drie Assie-Lumumba (Africa Studies & Research Centre, Cornell University, Ithaca) – Higher Knowledge and Global Good: Reconceptualizing and Envisioning Higher Education in Africa for Shared and Enhanced Humanity

Johan P Hattingh (World Commission on Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology, COMEST / UNESCO and Department of Philosophy, Stellenbosch University, South Africa) – Responding to a Perfect Moral Storm: What Kind of Ethics will it Require in an Era of Human Induced Global Warming and Climate Change?

"Global Security (2): Workshops – Emerging Arms Race in Space" — (This session will build on work begun in a meeting at the Global Security Institute to constitute a WAAS-GSI working group on this issue.)

Udipi R. Rao, Indian Space Research Organization, Bangalore - Chair

Jonathan Granoff, President, Global Security Institute

Y. S. Rajan, Co-Author, “India 2020”

Air Marshal (Ret.) Vinod Patney

Manpreet Sethi, Senior Fellow, Center for Air Power Studies, New Delhi

"International Justice: Frontier Issues"

Ivo Josipovic, University of Zagreb:

Winston Nagan, University of Florida

"Money and Global Governance: Financing Sustainable Development"

Bernard Lietaer, economist and author

Abhijit Sen Gupta, World Bank

Garry Jacobs, Vice-President, The Mother's Service Society

• 13:00 - 14:30 Lunch
• 14:30 - 16:00 Concurrent Sessions

"Ethics and Policy (D): Addressing Global Asymmetries"

Anthony J N Judge (formerly Union of International Associations, Brussels) – Topology of Valuing: Dynamics of Collective Engagement with Polyhedral Value Configurations

Winston P Nagan (Institute of Human Rights Peace & Development, University of Florida, Gainesville) – Legal Culture Confronts Science in Search of a New Paradigm of Humane Governance

Concluding Discussions & Remarks

Conveners: Jose I Dos R Furtado / Anthony J N Judge

"Global Security (3): Semi-plenary – Nuclear Disarmament"

Jonathan Granoff, President, Global Security Institute

Dr. Manpreet Sethi, Senior Fellow, Centre for Air Power Studies

Ivo Slaus

Mladen Staničić, Director, IRMO, Croatia

"Asian Cities"

Tay Kheng Soon, Principal partner, Akkitek Tenggara, Singapore

Susantha Goonatilake, Sociologist and Author, Colombo

Ana Maria Sandi, Sociologist, Bucharest

"Communicating Science: The Role of Arts & Media"

Geeta Narayan, Founder, Aditi School, Bangalore

Sharada Srinivasan, National Institute for Advanced Studies, Bangalore

Jon Palfreman, KEZI Distinguished Professor of Broadcast Journalism, University of Oregon (AND President, Palfreman Film Group Inc.)

Anjum Babu Khan, Director-Education, Glendale Academy, Hyderabad

• 16:30 - 18:00 Membership Meeting - Jeff Schwartz, Chair
• 18:30 - 20:00 Dinner
• 20:00 - 22:00 Plenary Lecture

"Was Man Created Before Mother Earth!? -- Rethinking Nature Culture Dichotomy in Sustainable Development"

Amareswar Galla, University of Queensland, Brisbane and Convener, Pacific Asia Observatory for Cultural Diversity in Human Development, Canberra/Apia.

Monday, 20 October

• Site visits and Tours
• Brief follow-up meeting by the Board of Trustees
• Departures (late night)