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Sir David King to give 2010 Sir Peter Kent Lecture

Sir David King

Climate Change as a Global Shifting Force by Sir David King

  • Burlington House Thursday 7 January 2010. 18.00 Tea / Coffee 18.30 Talk 19.20 Q&A 19.50 Reception.
The 21st Century will be dominated by the challenges posed by a mid-century population of around nine billion people. Ecosystem services are already under threat as our need for food, fresh water, energy sources, minerals etc. grows to meet unfettered demand. Climate change provides the biggest challenge of all, since it requires a collective response of the global population, to mitigate the effect and to manage the growing impacts upon our societies.

The socio-political challenges in directing such a collective response are beyond anything previously managed. This may well lead to a mid-century slide into conflict on a scale not previously experienced. Meeting these challenges will require a global cultural and technological transformation on much the same scale as the Renaissance or the Industrial Revolution, and a clear understanding of the need to adapt and strengthen global governance procedures.

Sir David King is the Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment at the University of Oxford. He was the UK Government's Chief Scientific Adviser and Head of the Government Office of Science from October 2000 to December 2007.

The Sir Peter Kent Lecture is the Geological Society's flagship annual lecture on science policy matters.