Oxford Earth Summit 

Listen to talks by...

1. Prof. Norman Myers: OXFORD UNIVERSITY
2. Mr. Alfredo Sfeir-Younis: WORLD BANK
3. Mr. Matt Prescott: SUMMIT ORGANISER
4. Mr. Nigel Cross: IIED
5. Mr Charles Secrett FRIENDS OF THE EARTH
6. Ms. Romilly Greenhill: JUBILEE RESEARCH
7. Mr. Ravi Narayanan: WATER AID
8. Mr. Tony Vaux: HUMANITARIAN AID EXPERT
9. Dr. Kate Oddie: MONGOLIAN ECOLOGY
10. Prof. Norman Myers: OXFORD UNIVERSITY
11. Dr. Rosie Trevelyan: TROP. BIOL. ASSOC.
12. Dr. Brenda Boardman: E.C.I. Oxford Uni.
13. Mr. Matt Prescott: SUMMIT ORGANISER
14. Sir Richard Jolly: UNDP
15. Dr. Peter Henderson: FISH ECOLOGIST
16. Ms. Jane Morrice: N.I. WOMENS COALITION
17. Dr. David Macdonald: WILDCRU Oxford Uni
18. Mr. Mike Woodin: GREEN PARTY
19. Dr. Malcolm Coe: EAST AFRICAN ECOLOGY
20. Dr. Ashley Leiman: ORANGUTAN ECOLOGY
21. Rt. Hon. Sue Doughty M.P.: LIB. DEM.
22. Dr. Nigel Collar: BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL
23. Dr. David Nussbaum: OXFAM
24. Prof. Steve Rayner: SAID BUS. SCH. Oxford
25. Dr. Gideon Middleton: ORANGE
26. Dr. Richard Jones: THE MET OFFICE
27. Dr. Tom Woollard: ERM CONSULTANTS
28. Ms. Belen Vasquez: ACTION AID
29. Mr. John Bird: BIG ISSUE
30. Dr. Robert Barrington: EARTHWATCH
31. Lord (Robert) May: ROYAL SOCIETY + Oxford Uni.

Introduction

LISTEN TO OXFORD EARTH SUMMIT TALKS

Using this webpage you can download and listen to up to 30 talks from the archive of the Oxford Earth Summit.

This student-led summit took place in April 2002 and aimed to stimulate a constructive and balanced debate in the UK BEFORE the UN's World Summit on Sustainable Development took place in Johannesburg in August 2002.

The summit's talks were given by a mixture of humanitarian, environmental, political and business speakers and were geared to inform and entertain a general public audience.

Amongst others you can listen to 20-40 minute talks from representatives of Oxfam, The World Bank, Oxford University, The Met Office, Water Aid, The Royal Society, The UN, WWF-UK, UK politics and even a ecologist working in Inner Mongolia!!!!

These free talks provide accessible and rigorous summaries of some of the key social and environmental challenges, choices and change we face at the beginning of the 21st century and should help you to form a rounded view of what you, and others, can do to make a positive difference for our shared society and environment.

If you would like to find out more about sustainable development or the environment please visit the www.earthsummit.info homepage which now has over 600 annotated useful-links to a wide range of high-quality and useful websites. Links will continue to be updated and added to at regular intervals.

Please email Matt Prescott if you have any comments, wish to suggest a link or sponsor our work.

Special thanks to Erica Moret for her skilled assistance and the invaluable loan of her sound and video recording equipment during the summit. It is only thanks to her careful capturing of the summit's high-calibre talks that this web archive is possible.

Thanks also to Oliver Tickell for modifying his user-friendly links page format so that these talks could be made available over the web.

Advice on how to listen to mp3 audio files

HARDWARE

In order to listen to a talk you will need a computer with a sound card and ideally a broadband internet connection. The presence of a sound card is normally indicated by loudspeakers or a headphone socket on or near your computer. If you can listen to music cds or the radio using you computer you can almost certainly listen to these talks!

When downloading the audio files the faster your internet connection the better. Audio files are large and if you have the option it is likely to be worth downloading the talks while you are at school, university or work as all of these places usually have faster, broadband connections which are much better suited to the downloading of large files than home phone lines.

SOFTWARE

As the audio files have been saved as .MP3 files you will need a computer program that allows you to open this sort of file. The chances are that you already have such a program somewhere on your computer. However, if a talk file does not open automatically once it has been downloaded a suitable programme can easily be downloaded for free from either of these two links www.winamp.com or www.mp3.com.

If you need more advice please visit this help site which should be able to answer any questions you might have.

MP3 files compress sound files so that they require much less memory space than such files in their uncompressed state. The talks have been stored in this way so that they are quick to download and also offer good sound quality. Thanks to all of this whizzy-whizz technology each talk is likely to take only 3-4 minutes to download - internet connection permitting! The longer talks might take a bit more time to download but please be patient as there are some real gems waiting for you.

SOUND QUALITY

Although every effort has been made to provide you with good quality sound recordings these talks were not professionally recorded. This means it may occassionally be necessary for you to adjust the volume especially during the applause found at the beginning and end of talks. Sound quality may also be poor on the 2-3 sound recordings taken from videos (Ravi Narayanan, Romilly Greenhill + Charles Secrett). All of the talks should be perfectly audible but please let us know if you have any problems.

A detailed SUMMIT PROGRAMME is now available HERE.

1. Prof. Norman Myers: OXFORD UNIVERSITY

• Listen to Norman's opening address entitled "Sharing our Earth" as an MP3.
• "We face environmental problems of unprecedented scale and scope." "It will not cost the Earth to save the Earth." "What is missing for the most part is the political will."

2. Mr. Alfredo Sfeir-Younis: WORLD BANK

• Listen to Alfredo's talk entitiled "The political, economy and human dimensionsof sustainable development" as an MP3.
• Link to The World Bank.
• "The 12 richest individuals have the same wealth as India + Bangladesh." "We need a mainstreaming of sustainable development issues and shifts in empowerment + governance."

3. Mr. Matt Prescott: SUMMIT ORGANISER

• Listen to Matt's talk entitled "Is it possible for you to make a difference?" as an MP3.
• "Little things do matter." "We need to develop a long-term agenda based on knowledge, accountability, fairness and action."

4. Mr. Nigel Cross: IIED

• Link to IIED (International Institute for Environment + Development).
• The IIED's WSSD briefing page.
• "25% of the world pop consumes 75% of the world's resources." "At Rio a global aid budget target of $125 billion was set. However in 1992 the budget was $69 billion and by 2002 had been reduced to $53 billion." "Most US aid goes to Israel + Egypt. The remainder, given to the rest of the world, amounts to the same sum given by Denmark."

5. Mr Charles Secrett FRIENDS OF THE EARTH

• Link to Friends of the Earth (England, Wales + Northern Ireland).

6. Ms. Romilly Greenhill: JUBILEE RESEARCH

• Listen to Romilly's talk entitled "Third World Debt alleviation and international insolvency laws" as a MP3.
• Link to Jubilee Research.
• "Debt repayments severely undermine development." "The debt problem has NOT been solved." "Of the 42 most heavily indebted countries only 4 countries have had significant debt cancellation after 3 years." "Solutions will not work (for debtor nations) if designed by creditor nations in their own interest."

7. Mr. Ravi Narayanan: WATER AID

• Listen to Ravi's talk entitled "The importance of clean water and good hygiene in development" as an MP3.
• Link to Water Aid.
• Link to www.givewater.org. One of the UK's most successful fundraising websites.
• "There are 1.2 billion people without access to clean water and 2.4 billion without adequate sanitation." "Every day 6000 children die of diarrhoreal diseases." "80% of the disease load in developing countries is caused by water- borne diseases." "It would cost £11 billion per year (the same amount as is spent of petfood in the US and EU each year), for 10 years, to halve the number of people with poor sanitation."

8. Mr. Tony Vaux: HUMANITARIAN AID EXPERT

• Listen to Tony's talk "Selfish altruism and non-economic development" as a MP3.
• Link to a book review of the Selfish Altruist.
• "Are our humanitarian involvements really altruistic or selfish?" "We don't expect locals to have the necessary resources but to be reliant on international aid." "The poor can and do take the initiative and understand issues in a way we don't." "We need democratisation of the aid apparatus."

9. Dr. Kate Oddie: MONGOLIAN ECOLOGY

• Listen to Kate's talk entitled "Baseline data and the practicalities of field research + funding. A Mongolian case study" as a MP3.
• Link to Montpellier University.
• "Many species in much of Mongolia have never been described." "Mongolia's national conservation budget (for a country 3x the area of France) is $70,000 per year." "There is an opportunity to act now and conserve the Mongolian environment."

10. Prof. Norman Myers: OXFORD UNIVERSITY

• Listen to Norman's talkentitled "Perverse subsidies and other crazy policies" as an MP3.
• "Subsidies for agriculture foster over-loading of croplands, leading to erosion of topsoil, pollution from synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and release of greenhouse gases among other adverse effects." "Subsidies for fossil fuels aggravate pollution effects such as acid rain, urban smog and global warming." "Perverse subsides amount to at least $2 trillion a year. This total is bigger than the economies of all but the three largest nations." "The reduction of perverse subsidies would generally do more for both our environments and our economies than through any other single measure."

11. Dr. Rosie Trevelyan: TROP. BIOL. ASSOC.

• Listen to Rosie's talk entitled "Developing human resources in the tropics and building link as an MP3.
• Link to the Tropical Biology Association.
• "Countries rich in biodiversity tend to poor in the resources necessary for describing, assessing and managing it." "We need to strengthen and support scientific expertise in tropical countries to ensure the future of their ecosystems." "Students and academics from Africa and Europe in equal numbers... share ideas and learn from each others’ experiences and helps build links for future collaboration." "A low cost model that is open for other organisations to adopt or to join."

12. Dr. Brenda Boardman: E.C.I. Oxford Uni.

• Link to the Environmental Change Institute.
• Link to www.ChangingClimate.org.

13. Mr. Matt Prescott: SUMMIT ORGANISER

• Listen to Matt's talk entitled "Why Australia is more interesting than the Moon" as an MP3.
• "Thousands of Australian plants have been given names but we do not understand how most of them reproduce." "Without an ecological understanding it is difficult to decide whether any land-management will be good or bad." "Many seedbanks remain viable but are unlikely to be replenished due to the loss of pollinators." "A lot of positive things are within are grasp but we need to hear the alarm bells and to decide to act."

14. Sir Richard Jolly: UNDP

• Listen to Sir Richard's talk entitled "What will make human development truly sustainable?" as a MP3.
• Link to the UNDP.
• Link to the UN's Human Development Reports.
• "Sustainable development is defined as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." "How do we mobilise talk into action?" "Tackling poverty in an environmentally sustainable way is part of the solution... we need to do this by listening more." "Environment and development MUST be tackled together." "We need improved global governance with regard to representation."

15. Dr. Peter Henderson: FISH ECOLOGIST

• Listen to Peter's talk entitled "Managing natural resources sustainably:Examples of successes and failures" as an MP3.
• Link to Pisces Conservation.
• "Fisheries can collapse because of over-fishing, habitat damage + changes in the climate." "There are examples of over-fishing in freshwater and marine environments. The North Sea has some particularly clear examples, e.g. Herring" "Habitat damage.... For example, in 1957 a 70km stretch of the River Thames was fishless due to pollution." "The effects of climate need to be monitored and landings adjusted accordingly." "Careful control of the level of exploitation has allowed the Icelandic fishing industry to maintain large commercially important catches." "A precautionary approach must be taken. Present practise is to believe that in compensatory responses and aim for maximum possible catch - this approach has repeated failed."

16. Ms. Jane Morrice: N.I. WOMENS COALITION

• Listen to Jane's talk entitled "The role of women in democracy and conflict resolution" as a MP3.
• Link to the Northern Ireland Womens' Coalition.
• Link to the Northen Ireland Assembly.
• "A society which strives for, or achieves, gender balance in political and religious systems is one less likely to accept inequality in other sectors of society."

17. Dr. David Macdonald: WILDCRU Oxford Uni

• Listen to David's talk entitled "British mammals - conservation begins at home" as a MP3.
• Link to the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU), University of Oxford
• "Many of the UK's terrestrial mammals have been declining over the course of the 20th century." "Nobody knows quite how many species, or which ones, can be lost, before the functioning of particular ecosystems is distorted or even collapses." "There is currently no single co-ordinated, national, systematic and enduring scheme for monitoring Britain's mammals." "The basis for resolving all mammals issues must be sound facts, and without a strong and well-funded science base these will not be available."

18. Mr. Mike Woodin: GREEN PARTY

• Listen to Mike's talk entitled "Greening globalisation" as a MP3.
• Link to the Green Party (UK).
• "In 1961 the income of the richest fifth of the world's population was 30 times greater than the poorest fifth, by 1991 it was 60 times greater and by 1998, 78 times greater." "Compared to 1950s/1970s we are 3-4 times as wealthy (vs 1950), there is 400% more traffic (vs 1950), we're no happier (US), we're more depressed (globally), fatter (UK), underemployed (globally) + there is greater inequality." "A Tobin Tax of 0.25% on international currency speculation would generate $250bn per annum (for the UN or development.)"

19. Dr. Malcolm Coe: EAST AFRICAN ECOLOGY

• Listen to Malcom's talk entitled "The importance of biodiversity in the natural world. An East African perspective" as a MP3.
• Link to St. Peter's College.
• "Since the dawn of of time of in Africa there have been changes and environmental changes." "In 1972-1973 there were 5000 - 6000 black rhino in Tsavo (National Park) there are now approximately 40 animals." "We need to devise other ways in which people can use the savannahs of Africa and we need to devise other ways in which we can help the economies of these people."

20. Dr. Ashley Leiman: ORANGUTAN ECOLOGY

• Listen to Ashley's talk entitled "The biology and politics of Indonesia’s Orangutans" as a MP3
• Link to the Orangutan Foundation.
• "In 1900 there were approximately 315,000 orangutan today it is estimated that between 15,000 and 20,000 survive in the wild." "Indonesia occupies 1.3% of the world's land area yet it possesses 10% of the world's flowering plants, 12% of all mammal species, 17% of all reptiles and amphibian species and 17% of all bird species." "Indonesia has some of the best legislation, it is all there, it's just not enforced."

21. Rt. Hon. Sue Doughty M.P.: LIB. DEM.

• Listen to Sue's talk entitled "Rubbish in, rubbish out" as a MP3.
• Link to the UK's Liberal Democrat Party.

22. Dr. Nigel Collar: BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL

• Listen to Nigel's talk entitled "Birds, biodiversity and sustainability" as a MP3.
• Link to Birdlife International.
• "...the use of science to promote conservation...we use an interest in birds to deal with matters of biodiversity at the larger scale and of sustainability." "1 in 8 of all bird species is threatened with extinction." "Some areas do not have any big charasmatic mammals but have an awful lot of biological diversity, some birds but of course thousands of plants and other life forms and thorough the use of birds we got new parks in this region (near Indonesia)." "Birds have good indicator qualities... as they appear across a broad range of habitats, reflect changes in other plants and animals, are responsive themselves to change, a lot of good data exists in the developing world, they are easily understood and explained and they are popular." "Birds can contribute to the general and greater well-being of everybody."

23. Dr. David Nussbaum: OXFAM

• Listen to David's talk entitled "Tackling poverty in a trading world" as a MP3.
• Link to OXFAM (UK).
• Link to www.maketradefair.com.
• Oxfam is calling for: "Rich countries to remove barriers to imports for all low-income countries." "A comprehensive ban on agricultural export subsidies, which would end the cycle of over-production and export dumping by rich countries." "An end to the practice of attaching conditions to IMF-World Bank loans, which force poor countries to open their markets regardless of the impact on poor people." "Action to stabilise prices for primary commodities at higher levels, and pay more to small farmers." "A more democratic World Trade Organisation which gives poor countries a stronger voice." "Governments in the developing world to adopt national and regional policies that help poor people to access markets and benefit from trade."

24. Prof. Steve Rayner: SAID BUS. SCH. Oxford

• Listen to Steve's talk entitled "The impacts of consumer choice" as a MP3.
• Link to Oxford University's Said Business School.
• "Why do people consume in the way that they do?" "What kinds of policy interventions one might make to change the impacts of consumer behaviour on the environment." "Consumption is very difficult to change in a directed, non-coercive fashion." "Four types of family structure: hierachical, competitive, individualistic and fatalistic... hierachical has sunday roast, set places at the dinner table... shampoos fewer but separated by age or gender...seperate laundry." "Need to find means which allow people to maintain patterns of consumption with less environmental impact."

25. Dr. Gideon Middleton: ORANGE

• Listen to Gideon's talk entitled "Environmental initiatives in the commerical sector" as a MP3.
• Link to Orange (the mobile phone company).
• "The Orange network in the UK now covers 99% of the population, 80% of the area... 13 million customers and 15,000 staff." "Once we can measure them (our environmental impacts) we can set ourselves objectives and targets." "Green energy has been cheaper than brown energy." "87% of our offices are on renewable power, 100% of our retails shops and 44% of our network."

26. Dr. Richard Jones: THE MET OFFICE

• Listen to Richard's talk entitled "The science of climate change" as a MP3.
• Link to the Met Office.
• Link to the Met Office's Hadley Centre (which specialises in the study of climate change).
• "A global surface temperature increase of 0.7°C has taken place over the past 100 years. Most of the increase has been due to human activities." "A 3°C increase (in global temperature) is likely by the end of this century (4x the last century)." "There will be substantial impacts in many if not all sectors." "There is large uncertainty in (model) predictions but also good consistency in large-scale patterns." "Enormous cuts in emissions would be required to stabilise the climate at that of the present day."

27. Dr. Tom Woollard: ERM CONSULTANTS

• Listen to Tom's talk entitled "Understanding how business thinks" as a MP3.
• Link to environmental consultants ERM.
• "274 of FTSE 350 do NOT produce a stand-alone environmental report." "The generation and use of ‘value reporting’/socio-economic data is sparse." "Most management systems focus only on operational compliance, ignoring up- and down stream issues and impacts... much environmental management is ad-hoc and sporadic ."

28. Ms. Belen Vasquez: ACTION AID

• Listen to Belen's talk entitled "Enhancing the quality and volume of international aid" as a MP3.
• Link to Action Aid.
• "1.2 billion people or 20% of the world’s population lives on less than a dollar a day. Additional 1.6 billion live on less than a 2 dollars a day." "EU-US aid announcements are modest responses that will generate merely a quarter of what is required. Monterrey has not solved the question of long-term aid funding nor has it set a timeframe for reaching the 0.7% target." "Donors have put a strong emphasis on aid conditionality or the set of conditions that recipient countries must have in place in order for aid to work and so for them to receive support." "Public pressure is essential. We need to tell world leaders that we do not want another document reflecting vague commitments. We want a plan of action setting timeframes for increasing aid to developing countries."

29. Mr. John Bird: BIG ISSUE

• Listen to John's talk entitled "Self-help and society" as a MP3.
• Link to the Big Issue.
• "I was astonished at the lack of opportunity for them to get out of poverty and stand on their own two feet." "A hand up not a hand out." "A business response to a social crisis." "We are interested in you winning control of your lives rather than relying, like pigeons, on being fed by others." "We have to change the way in which we give, we have to change the way in which we connect with society." "It's about mutual self-interest."

30. Dr. Robert Barrington: EARTHWATCH

• Listen to Robert's talk entitled "Business and biodiversity" as a MP3
• Link to Earthwatch (Europe).
• "The sustainable use of biodiversity, the conservation of biodiversity and the equitable sharing of benefits... what has business got to do with this?" "Businesses like things spelled out in back and white." "It takes businesses out of their comfort zone to have to take biodiversity seriously... the expertise lies in NGOs, universities and local communities." "Biodiversity as a business issue." "Companies need to mainstream biodiversity in all their operations." "Unilever are promising that all of its fish will be sourced from sustainable sources by 2006."

31. Lord (Robert) May: ROYAL SOCIETY + Oxford Uni.

• Listen to Lord May's talk entitled "The role and limits of science."
• Link to the Royal Society (the UK's national science academy).
• "Some of the limits to science are uncertainty." "Science is their to constrain the discourse, to make sure it is not taking place in cloud-cuckoo land, beyond that it leaves it up to democratic processes in open societies." "Globally 56% of the cash that flows through NGOs annually comes from governments." "Our activities today rival the scale and scope of natural processes and that is truly unique in the history of life on this planet." "Small actions now are much more important, leveraged by non-linear effects, than the activities that clearer evidence will force in 50 years, but it is hard to act now in the interests of a distant future." "Consult widely, embrace dissent, engage people even if they don't come forward voluntarily who are likely to disagree with you, expose the argument and expose uncertainty."