Vatican Climate Resilience Summit
Lecturer：Kongjian Yu
The Global Forum on Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience will be held in Vatican City from May 15 to 17, 2024. The summit aims to propose solutions to enhance human and ecosystem resilience through an in-depth understanding of scientific and societal challenges. The summit is divided into two parts: first, an interdisciplinary expert summit will explore the impacts of climate change on water, air, food, and energy; second, an exemplary cross-sector summit, featuring roundtable discussions with global mayors and governors, will discuss how cities and provinces can improve climate resilience through best practices and urgent needs.
Ultimately, the summit plans to draft a document titled the "Planetary Climate Resilience Accord," with all participants as signatories. This accord will be submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to promote global implementation. The summit will not only focus on climate change but also address biodiversity loss and global inequality, aiming to propose solutions to these interconnected issues.
Professor Kongjian Yu, Chair of the Climate Change Branch of the Chinese Society of Landscape Architecture and professor at the School of Architecture and Landscape Design at Peking University, will present a report titled "Sponge Planet: A Unified Water-Based Solution to the Climate Emergency." He will discuss the shortcomings of current climate crisis response strategies, particularly the over-reliance on carbon reduction and grey infrastructure, and propose the concept of a "Sponge Planet." This concept redefines our relationship with the environment, emphasizing water-centric nature-based solutions that not only effectively address the climate crisis holistically but also restore and enhance biodiversity and natural habitats, providing the Earth with a resilient and sustainable future.
