MEDIA ALERT February 3, 2021 Leading sustainability experts examine equity, inclusivity and solidarity in live streamed event The first in a series of live streamed events called SRI Talks will take place on February 18, 2021, bringing together world-leading experts in sustainability science and practice to discuss vital questions around equity, inclusivity and solidarity. The free talk features a panel of globally renowned speakers who will discuss the topic ‘Sustainability for Whom?’: • M. Sanjayan, CEO Conservation International • Yolanda Kakabadse, Former Minister of Environment, Ecuador • Tolullah Oni, Joint lead of the Global Diet and Activity Research Group, University of Cambridge; Honorary Associate Professor, University of Cape Town; Founder & Principal of UrbanBetter • Winona LaDuke, Environmentalist and political activist Global sustainability cannot be realized without achieving sustainability for the most vulnerable and underrepresented communities – many of them in low- and middle-income countries, as well as those increasingly left behind in high-income countries. Yet the framing of sustainability, investment in innovation, and academic analysis has been dominated by processes that give relatively little regard to and participation from these communities, even when they are about them. This bias matters, because decisions on sustainability include important trade-offs, and processes that lack inclusivity and diversity miss many opportunities arising from the different social, cultural and demographic attributes. This SRI Talk theme, ‘Sustainability for Whom?’, is one of the five Congress Pillars of Sustainability Research and Innovation Congress 2021 (SRI2021) which will take place June 12-15, 2021, in Brisbane, Australia and will be live streamed online for registered participants. The upcoming 60-minute SRI Talk will be live streamed through the SRI2021 virtual platform and will include a moderated discussion and live audience Q&A. Panellists throughout the series will engage in forward-looking discussions about the major strategic issues, opportunities, threats, trends and actions that the system of people and institutions must address to enable sustainable development. # # # Speaker bios M. Sanjayan, PhD CEO Conservation International M. Sanjayan is a global conservation scientist whose work spans from genetics to wildlife migration to nature’s impacts on human well-being. He has served as Conservation International’s chief executive officer since 2017. Sanjayan holds a master’s degree from the University of Oregon and a doctorate from the University of California-Santa Cruz, and his peer-reviewed scientific work has been published in journals including Science, Nature and Conservation Biology. He is a visiting researcher at UCLA and a distinguished professor of practice at Arizona State University. He is also a Catto Fellow at the Aspen Institute. Tolullah Oni Joint lead of the Global Diet and Activity Research Group, University of Cambridge; Honorary Associate Professor, University of Cape Town (UCT); Founder & Principal of UrbanBetter | Oni et al. A Public Health Physician and urban epidemiologist, Tolullal Oni’s work supports a coordinated approach between science, policy and societal role players, identifying creative and long-term strategies to address complex urban health challenges in rapidly growing cities. She has served as scientific adviser for several organisations including Future Earth and the International Science Council and is an editorial board member of Lancet Planetary Health, Cities and Health, and the Journal of Urban Health. In recognition of her work, she has been profiled in the Lancet journal, Science magazine, and the British Medical Journal, and is a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, Next Einstein Forum Fellow and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. Yolanda Kakabadse Former Minister of Environment, Ecuador Yolanda Kakabadse was Minister of Environment for Ecuador. She served as NGO Liaison Officer for the United Nations Conference for Environment and Development (the Rio Earth Summit) in 1992 and is Former President of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) (1996 - 2004) and former President of WWF International (2010 – 2017). Ms. Kakabadse was the first Executive Director of Fundacion Natura in Ecuador and in 1993 she founded Fundacion Futuro Latinoamericano. She is a Member of the Board of several national and international organizations of Civil Society and the Private Sector. Winona LaDuke Environmentalist and political activist Winona LaDuke is a rural development economist working on issues of economic, food, and energy sovereignty. She lives and works on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, and leads several organizations including Honor the Earth, Anishinaabe Agriculture Institute, Akiing, and Winona’s Hemp. These organizations develop and model cultural-based sustainable development strategies utilizing renewable energy and sustainable food systems. She is an international thought leader in the areas of climate justice, renewable energy, and environmental justice. She is also a leader in the work of protecting Indigenous plants and heritage foods from patenting and genetic engineering. She has authored six books including; Recovering the Sacred, All our Relations, Last Standing Woman, The Winona LaDuke Chronicles, and her newest work To Be a Water Protector Media enquiries Holly Holmes Cultivate Communications +852 8197 8018 [email protected] .