The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) is holding its Thirteenth Sustainable Development Conference (SDC) from 21-23 December 2010 in Islamabad, Pakistan. This year’s Conference is titled ‘“Peace and Sustainable Development in South Asia: The Way Forward”. Each SDC is designed as a forum for sharing and exchanging dialogue on sustainable development with academia, practitioners, civil society, legislators and policy-makers. The SDC series has been established as a prime Conference in South Asia on development issues attracting leading intellectuals, development practitioners, communities and policy-makers working in or on South Asian issues.
Some 100 delegates from 12 countries participated in the Twelfth Sustainable Development Conference held in December 2009. In the 23 panels spread over three days, an audience of about a 1,200 came to listen to the speakers from Bangladesh, Canada, China, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Turkey, Germany, US, Canada and the UK. The Twelfth SDC was widely praised for providing an important platform for discussions on a wide range of topics around sustainable development, as well as for bringing together academics from a region characterized by disunity and poor regional relations. The conference also received extensive coverage both in print and electronic media within and outside Pakistan.
An anthology (a critical outcome of each conference), based on peer-reviewed papers, titled Peace and Sustainable Development in South Asia: Issues and Challenges of Globalization jointly published by SDPI and Sang-e-Meel was launched at the inaugural of the Twelfth SDC. The next anthology titled Fostering Sustainable Development in South Asia: Responding to Challenges is presently in the publication process.
Major Themes
The three-day Conference shall have panels that will be open to questions on key concerns in the present scenario of social insecurity in South Asia. Another major focus of this Conference will be on post-flood Pakistan. Some panels will specifically deal with issues related to flood preparedness and impact of climate change. Previous conferences provided fertile ground for debate on issues of security, climate change, energy, environmental issues, peace, conflict, education, health, the financial crisis and women empowerment among others. The Twelfth SDC discussed the six Fs crises (food, fuel, fiscal, frontiers, functional democracy, and fragility of climate) facing South Asia in detail. The forthcoming SDC will use that information as a platform, a learning ground, for further discussion on the relation between 6Fs crises vis-à-vis four levels of security, i.e., global, regional, state, and individual securities. The discussions will focus on the importance of individual security through social sector development for a secure state, region, and globe and for sustained peace.
Peace and security will be central to the discussions this year and views will be exchanged on how they can be ensured with the premise that until the basic needs of the people are met, the rest of the issues such as that of conflict in the region cannot possibly be dealt with or improved. Tied in with this there will be deliberations on how economic challenges can be handled with positive results in terms of using natural resources effectively while at the same time increasing the capacity and effectiveness of institutions. The panels will cover themes such as post-flood situation in Pakistan, food insecurity, energy crisis, financial crisis, the issue of land acquisition, trade and financial liberalization, social protection, the eradication of Violence Against Women (VAW) and beyond millennium development goals vis-à-vis militancy and conflict.
The Conference will, however, not be limited to these queries alone but will also be addressing issues of wider interest to the audience, policy makers, civil society and other stakeholders as the panel titles suggest.
Conference Format For The SDC 2010
There will be one main plenary each day in which prominent keynote speakers will be invited to address significant areas of sustainable development such as natural resource management, peace and sustainable development, environment, and gender. The plenary each day will be followed by two to three concurrent sessions / panels on sub-themes covered under the overarching theme. The plenary will last for one hour and 30 minutes while the duration of each panel will be two hours and 30 minutes with three to five presentations.
Both inaugural and concluding sessions would be graced by members of federal cabinet and distinguished lectures by eminent scholars on Peace and Sustainable Development in South Asia: The Way Forward.
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Thirteenth SDC Agenda and Panels: A Quick Glance
