Professor Jorgen Randers, one of the authors of the famed Club of Rome publication “Limits to Growth” and “2052-A global forecast for the next forty years”, will grace the BIOMIN World Nutrition Forum 2014 as its keynote speaker.
The Bavarian capital of Munich plays host to this year’s Forum from 15 to 18 October, where the unique theme “sustain:ability” is expected to guide and provoke much discussion and exchange on the future of animal nutrition.
In Malthusian-like fashion, Prof. Randers, along with the authors of the 1972 “Limits to Growth” publication, had portrayed rampant economic growth and development as being potential triggers leading to the eventual demise of the earth’s resources and its human population.
While critics have resolutely denounced these findings, the crux of the message in “Limits to Growth” remains keenly pertinent today and into the future—that is, the urgent need for responsible stewardship of our earth’s finite resources. Theories from the book have remained influential in discourses on the dichotomy between ecology and the economy, a theme explored once again in Prof. Randers’ latest book “2052-A global forecast for the next forty years”.
Insights from this latest book, published in 2012, will be shared in Prof. Randers’ keynote Forum address, where he will present his forecast and highlight the consequences for the global industry in general, with a focus on agriculture and food production.
A professor of climate strategy at the Norwegian Business School, Prof. Randers has extensive expertise in climate and energy issues, scenario analysis and system dynamics. He estimates that slower growth towards 2052 will affect efforts to avert a climate crisis, albeit with resource use kept within the earth’s carrying capacity.
Prof. Randers will also share his rationale behind predictions of continuing poverty, stagnating growth in mature economies and more efficient energy use, among other issues, and the socio-economic trends that are continually being shaped and that will define the next 38 years of the life of our planet and its people.
August 11, 2014 - Biomin