This time last year I was organising Day 2 of the Oxford Earth Summit...

The talks + quotes from this day are listed below and concentrate on highlighting what we can do to protect the environment, spend money more wisely, equip poor countries with the skills and people they need to tackle their own problems + why it is important to tackle development + environmental problems together...

DAY 2: Tuesday, April 16th 2002: "Examples of good + bad practice"

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.

* "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."

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."

Dr. Rosie Trevelyan: Tropical Biology Association
Listen to Rosie's talk entitled "Developing human resources in the tropics and building link" as an MP3.

* "Countries rich in biodiversity tend to be 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."

Dr. Brenda Boardman: Oxford University
Link to the Environmental Change Institute.
Link to www.ChangingClimate.org.


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."

Sir Richard Jolly: United Nations Development Programme
Listen to Sir Richard's talk entitled "What will make human development truly sustainable?" as a MP3.
Link to the UN's annual 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."

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."

Ms. Jane Morrice: The Northern Ireland Womens' Coalition.
Listen to Jane's talk entitled "The role of women in democracy and conflict resolution" as a MP3.

* "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."