BACKGROUND

Lives and livelihoods of millions of people worldwide, especially in the Global South, are being severely threatened by numerous global environmental/climate, economic, geopolitical, societal and technological risks whose impacts reveal our shared vulnerabilities and heighten the recognition that insecurities are widespread, cross-cutting, and increasingly associated to intractable and interrelated crises. Also, it’s being gradually perceived that these impacts will be felt not just in the immediate region and by affected generations, but also across the international community and by future generations. HES2015 — as the 4th edition of a science-policy forum bi-annually organized by the Environment & Security Program (ESP) of the NRCS with many national and international partners — is an opportunity to deepen the debate about the security implications of global risks. The approach consists of questioning the ability of existing concepts, technologies and regulatory frameworks to accurately deal with emerging risks to human and environmental securities and help acting in the direction of effectively managing their impacts. Speakers from different perspectives will be provided with the opportunity to share their relevant research, insights, and successful practices, and furthermore explore innovative options to guide future processes of change. In addition to networking opportunities, the Conference key topics are multidisciplinary and highly relevant to policy-making processes in all governance levels and spheres.

HES2015 KEY THEMES

The structure of the HES2015 consists of the following four thematic approaches across which different sessions will be formed to addressing related topics in an innovative and interdisciplinary manner:

- Understanding the vulnerability of human and environmental securities to emerging global risks
- Identification of constraints and opportunities in addressing global risks' impacts on environmental and human securities
- Shifts to be made to deal with global risks from a security perspective while fostering the co-viability of human-ecological systems
- Governance and policy innovations to manage global risks from a human-environmental security perspective

TIMELINE & DEADLINES
June 30 Deadline for session proposals
July 15 Notification of accepted sessions
July 30 Deadline for abstract submission
August 15 Notification of accepted abstracts
August 15 Early-bird registration open
October 30 Deadline for early-bird registration
November 10 Sharing of provisional program
October 30 Deadline for full paper submission
November 25-27 Conference dates