Challenges for us all 
 
By Marilyn Mehlmann, UIA Vice President, and General Secretary of Global Action Plan International
 
Complex situation. The major threat to humans one hundred years ago, as perceived by UIA founders Otlet and Lafontaine, was war. And indeed, though they could not know it, the world was headed into probably the most war-torn half-century in history.
 
In retrospect it seems incredible that the world has managed nearly 70 years without a ‘world war’. The ongoing armed conflicts are of course a tragedy for those involved – still, it seems as though all those peace conferences bore some fruit.
 
Today, the challenges are much more complex. In the wake of the Second World War, the first alarm about the deep-running effects of environmental degradation was sounded by Rachel Carson, American biologist, with her book Silent Spring (1962). Today, half a century later, we begin to understand that this new threat is far more complex even than questions of war and peace: what Tim Casswell calls ‘a perfect storm’ is brewing.
 
One reason the new situation is more complex is that not only the problems but also the solutions are – need to be – less centralized. War and peace call for bringing together national and international organizations; the current, unsustainable situation calls for bringing together people at all levels of society. And it may well be that the truly transformative solutions are to be found at local or municipal level.
 
At the same time the global perspective needs to be maintained. Fukushima has once again reminded us that we are all connected. Cities dominated by a particular type of industry need to learn from each other; large cities, anywhere in the world, may have more in common with each other than any of them with the towns and villages closest to them. Farmers from across the globe are meeting to develop strategies, just as megacity managers meet to exchange experience – and invite CSOs to join them.
 
Thus, the pattern of meetings, both national and international, is changing. And – as underlined at the UIA centenary celebrations in 2010 – more and more organizers are expecting to be hosted in ways that are sensitive to the growing demands for ‘sustainable development’ and ‘social responsibility’: this is a new challenge; and a new opportunity for the meetings industry to profile itself as part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
 
For this reason we invited to the centenary an expert on calculating negative effects on the environment – the so-called ‘ecological footprint’. An emerging concept is also that of the ‘ecological handprint’: a measure of how much your operations contribute to positive effects on the environment. Let us know if you would like to know how to calculate your ‘prints’.
 
Marilyn Mehlmann has been awarded the Rachel Carson Prize 2011 for her long-term efforts to involve individuals, companies and NGOs in acting sustainably. The Rachel Carson Prize is an award in memory of Rachel Carson, the American marine biologist and author, who is also called the mother of the modern environmental movement. The prize is awarded to a woman who has distinguished herself in outstanding work for the environment. It will be presented in Stavanger on World Environment Day, June 5, 2011.