World crises require systems thinking and systems doing

2009 Salzburg Trilogue examines possibilities for promoting a sustainable future

The 2009 Salzburg Trilogue focused both on global challenges and the human potential for addressing them in an adequate way. The lively debate, which will be documented as of September 14 on an Internet micro site (http://www.voices-for-the-future.org), examined the magnitude and systemic nature of the globe's sustainability crises. Jerome Glenn of The Millennium Project identified 15 interdependent challenges requiring global solutions. These 15 global challenges are part of a systems approach. Improving any one of the challenges helps the others; regressing in any one hurts the others. According to Glenn, each challenge must thus be considered of equal importance, something that cannot be ignored in the one- dimensional discussion of the financial and economic crisis, currently omnipresent in the media. We are leaving a legacy much worse than the one we received, acknowledged Prince Turki Al-Faisal. Global challenges, participants at the event agreed, are increasingly calling into question whether civilization can survive over time, and, according to Peter Blom, they thus require systemic answers and global alliances of the leading change agents.

As Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger pointed out, the key paradigm shifts of our time can be witnessed in the globe's new geopolitical realities, the increasing destruction and scarcity of natural resources and the far-reaching social distortions currently taking place worldwide. These issues require a new vision of global coexistence and a willingness to take responsibility on the ground and ensure coming generations will also inhabit a viable world, he said.

Summing up the qualitative interviews he carried out with 15 global sustainability experts, Surendra Munshi noted that we live in a world that lacks global visions and the appropriate strategic solutions. According to Bo Ekman, economic growth per se is not visionary, while a world that works for everyone is - a goal that, unfortunately, our fragmented educational systems do not promote. In the words of Martin Lees, we need to take an integrated approach to the challenges we face, as well as the solutions available to us and the world's overall developmental path. As Alexander Likhotal put it, only once we comprehend the overall contexts will humanity be able to overcome its indifference and change its behavior. According to Karl-Henrik Robert, moreover, if a change of mindset is to occur and we are to begin approaching global challenges in a responsible manner, we must become acquainted with the basic social and ecological sustainability principles and take them into account in all areas. Only once worldwide consensus on such principles exists can a new understanding of global growth and prosperity establish itself across the board, along with an international political order reflective of today's globalized realities. As the Salzburg Trilogue participants agreed, the financial and economic crisis shows that a new manner of thinking and acting is needed around the globe in order to prevent further degradation of our natural resources and additional dislocations in our social systems, and to ensure that quality of life improves for both current and coming generations. The event ended with participants expressing the hope that the pressures for change stemming from the current crisis will not only result in more stable financial flows but also in the implementation of new strategies for social and environmental sustainability. According to Marilyn Mehlmann of the Global Action Plan, the pain of financial and economic crisis has made it possible to begin sowing the seeds of sustainable development for the long term. "Or," she said, "as my midwife once expressed it: You have pain, honey? Wonderful - Don't waste it."

Participants at the 2009 Salzburg Trilogue included HRH Prince Turki Al-Faisal (King Faisal Center), Maestro Daniel Barenboim (Barenboim Said Foundation), Peter Blom (Triodos Bank), Victor Chu (First Eastern Investment), Tom Cummings (Executive Learning Partnership), Vishakha Desai (Asia Society), Aart des Geus (OECD), Bo Ekman (Taellberg Foundation), Jerome C. Glenn (The Millennium Project), Martin Lees (Club of Rome), Jean-Pierre Lehmann (Evian Group), Alexander Likhotal (Green Cross International), Marilyn Mehlmann (Global Action Plan International), Surendra Munshi (Bertelsmann Stiftung), Karl-Henrik Robert (The Natural Step), Petre Roman (Club of Madrid) and Veit Sorger (Austrian Industrial Association).