   3 Apr 2014 @ 11:04, by Heiner Benking
EU and African leaders from 80 states are meeting in Brussels. Under the theme "Investing in People, Prosperity and Peace", participants will discuss topics including peace, security, investment, climate change and migration. [link] - this was Africa-EU Summit news in television this morning.
For me it is like a deja-vue, I checked the news channells yesterday to what is the difference to the last Africa Summit here in Berlin, and how does this compares with where we were 20+ years ago with "FUTURES (AFRICA) BEYOND POVERTY" [link] in Nairobi with the World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF). [link] That conference was prepared at the WFSF 1993 in Turku: XIII World Conference of World Futures Studies Federation, COHERENCE AND CHAOS IN OUR UNCOMMON FUTURES - Visions, Means, Actions - see: [link]
This effort has been one of my critical step in my earlier professional life, so I remember it like yesterday. Maybe I should start a new life of "real-stories teller" . We had Bishop Tutu and the Gandhi Society and really the right people there to make a difference, Finland and The netherlands were the forward looking and funding partners, so maybe should review what was at the agenda those days, and where we are now. What was the progress?
Maybe very, very little happened - so we should check why !
Yesterday was also FUTURES in CHINA on the agenda for me. Development as we discussed in 1992 in Beijing, when the Beijing UN conference on development took place and stateplanners around the United Nations discussed pathes for development,
Hualin Guo Beijing Business and Technology transfer Center installed by the Chines Governement were exactly disccing what we discussed 22 years ago: Transportation, insfrastructure, Building insulation, Townplanning and Energy, Water, sectors. Again when we look at how China "developed" since then, how the environmental "condition" of the "Problematique" changed since then, then we might have a better clue on what might be the challenges we are facing today in Africa.
So who is in charge and interested in GLOBAL ISSUES? [link] and will we form a GLOBAL INTEREST GROUP? [link] ***** add ( deep concern in times of so dangerous trends of over-simplification, over-claims, and undercomplex approaches https://www.academia.edu/1818805/Overview_and_Orientation_or_Overclaims_and_Oversimplifications_ Revisit also our group-think and clan-think, covered in this blog below: [link] and read there about link think and spread think !!
With the Mercator Institute for China Studies [link], Wuppertal Institut wupperinst.org and moderated by E3G, Third Generation Environmentalism and a s a guest of the Mercator Foundation. www.stiftung-mercator.de
A very very special top level policy and development gathering ! check it out !!
one afterthought:
A lot of pain and worrying on my side, are denting or aggravating trends? Do we just use fashionable terms like today "sustainability" or "foot-print", or are we ready for a mind-change?? I invite to revisit some work on footprints, handprints, and mindprints at my MINDPRINT.tv website.
|
|
