G8 University Summit conference focused on Global Sustainability, Concrete measures to take, International Co-operation by Academia in this "War"

For first time in history the presidents of major universities in G8 and other countries convened, from 29June to 1July08, at a G8 University Summit conference to discuss pressing international issues from the academic and neutral viewpoints.

Highly significantly, the main focus of the summit was global sustainability; designing concrete measures to address it's challenges, promoting international cooperation from the academic field, and contributing to such activities.

Due to the strong influence university education has, on the future national and international elite, this initiative is potentially one of the most significant actions taken in 2008 in order to help meet the gigantic challenges of climate change and limited resourses. It is fiting too that the natural mineral resource starved Japan housed this first get-together.

In parallel with the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit, the presidents of 35 universities (the presidents of 27 universities including United Nations University, and deputy presidents from 8 universities) from a total of 14 countries participated in this summit.

One can hope that more Universities may be able participate this year 2009 and in the future and that low carbon-footprint initiatives such as virtual labs, and conferences, networks follow say around a backbone of field work.

Reference:

G8 University Summit_Main Page

Results