ASRA is proud to announce that Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), will deliver the headline address during the opening plenary session on Sunday, 8 June, at Currents of Change: New Horizons in Systemic Risk, a symposium and retreat hosted by ASRA outside of Paris. A decade after shepherding the historic Paris Agreement—Figueres will explore how today's interconnected global challenges require new paradigms of leadership, imagination, and transformation.
We’re also excited to confirm additional speakers, including:
- Alice Ruhweza, President, Alliance for the Green Revolution (AGRA)
- Ayan Mahamoud, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)
- Jack Denton, Director, TMP
- Laurent Bontoux, Senior Foresight Expert, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission
- Shama Karkal, Domain Specialist, Community Action Collab.
These speakers join poet and novelist Ben Okri; Catalina Jaime (Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre); William Hynes (World Bank); Bryan Bixcul (Maya-Tz'utujil, SIRGE Coalition); and Thomas Homer-Dixon (Cascade Institute).
In addition, superFUTURES, a research-led Master's unit at the Royal College of Art that looks at spatializing futures, is joining us to share works from Nature’s Depot—a work-in-progress. This exhibition of “future artefacts” explores the complex changing relationships between trade, nature and their impacts on space.*
The Currents of Change symposium will convene 200+ world-leading experts from diverse sectors to explore the interconnections driving our polycrisis, what’s working and not working in risk assessment and response, and pathways toward more resilient futures for all living beings. The program integrates inspiring speakers and conversations with hands-on working sessions, and space to discover new possibilities at the intersection of crisis and opportunity.
This event is by invitation-only. To find out more, visit this page or contact Kasia Murphy, Director of Communications, ASRA: kmurphy@asranetwork.org
* Led by Gem Barton, Nature’s Depot is a collaboration with the UK government Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).