31st Aurelio Peccei Lecture in Brussels on Microfinance

March 29th, 2006: The prerequisite of attaining sustainable societies is that large scale poverty, more than one third of mankind lives with less than 2$/day, is eradicated. Since a few decades microfinance has enabled numerous poor families to get out of their situation, providing them a better life. Reaching a 100 million people and helping them out of their situation is the objective for the coming years of microfinance endeavours.
The lecture is organized in co-operation with PlanetFinance and the Solvay Business School. A list of speakers and further details are available for download.

CACOR: Workshop on Foresight

March 30th-31st, 2006: A two-day workshop on foresight is announced on the website of the Canadian Association for the Club of Rome. The programme is presented by Foresight Canada, an Alberta based company lead by the well-known futurist Ruben Nelson. For further information please have a look at the CACOR Website

Conference of the European National Associations of the Club of Rome in Valencia

March 31st - April 2nd, 2006: The Valencian Group of the Spanish Chapter of the Club of Rome will be hosting a conference for the European National Associations of the Club of Rome from March 31st to April 2nd, 2006. Members of the non-European Associations and Members of the Club of Rome and tt30 are also invited to participate.

The conference which is organized in co-operation with the European Support Centre (ESC) will have the title

"Europe and the New Dimensions of Sustainability. Multiculturalism and Human Quality".

The event will be opened by Rafael Blasco, Coordinator of the Valencian Group and Esko Kalimo, Chair of the Board of the ESC. It will include a presentation by Dennis Meadows with an introduction by Ricardo Díez-Hochleitner, Honorary President of the Club of Rome, and statements by Teresa Mendizábal and José Manuel Moran, Vice Presidents of the Spanish Chapter. Representatives of the National Associations are invited to present their work during the conference. For further information please visit the Conference Website.

Symposium
on the EU Strategy for Sustainable Development
in Co-operation with the Austrian EU Presidency

April 5th, 2006: During the Austrian EU Presidency, a revised EU Strategy for Sustainable Development will be decided upon. The Brussels-EU Chapter and the European Support Centre of the Club of Rome are organizing in co-operation with the Austrian EU Presidency a symposium "Civil Society Monitoring the EU Strategy for Sustainable Development - from Commenting to Shared Ownership" in Brussels. In the event, the involvement of civil society in the monitoring and implementation of the EU Strategy for Sustainable Development will be discussed. More information on the event is available on the Symposium Website .

Joint meeting of the Slovenian and the Croatian Association

April 6th, 2006: A joint meeting of the Slovenian and the Croatian Association of the Club of Rome will be held in Ljubljana. Part of the event will be a lecture by CoR Member Ivo Slaus. For further information please contact Mr. Aleksander Zidansek.

"The Limits – Looking Back and Beyond"

April 20th, 2006: At the occasion of Wouter van Dieren’s 35 years involvement with Limits to Growth as well as his 65th birthday a symposium "The Limits - Looking Back and Beyond" is being organized in Amsterdam. For further information please visit the IMSA Website.

Activities in the Spanish Chapter January/February

March 1st, 2006: An overview on the activities in the Basque Group, the Catalan Group, the Madrid Group and the Valencia Group of the Spanish Chapter is available for download.

30th Aurelio Peccei Lecture in Brussels by Ivo Slaus

March 14th, 2006: "Building Knowledge Society – the Role of Pugwash and the World Academy of Art and Science" was the title of the presentation by Ivo Slaus, Member of the Club of Rome. What is knowledge society, why should it be built and how – these were some of the questions addressed in this talk. Pugwash conferences have been initiated following the famous Russell-Einstein Manifesto and Pugwash and its founder Sir Joseph Rotblat received in 1995 the Nobel Prize for peace.
Details are available for download.

Network for Sustainability Strategies, Monitoring and Management in Southern Eastern Europe

February 23rd-25th: The Kick-off conference of the Network for Sustainability Strategies, Monitoring and Management in Southern Eastern Europe (NESEE 06) took place in Alba Iulia, Romania at the University "1 Decembrie 1918". Members from the Club of Rome and its Romanian, Croatian, Bulgarian and German Association as well as from tt30 discussed Sustainability Strategies in the region.

For further information please visit the Conference Site.
If you wish to register for the conference, please contact Ms. Ildiko Tulbure

29th Aurelio Peccei Lecture in Brussels
by Jérôme Bindé

February 22nd, 2006: Jérôme Bindé, Member of the Club of Rome, presented information on the UNESCO World Report "Towards Knowledge Societies" in Brussels. The report was prepared under the his direction and is prefaced by the UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura, Honorary Member of the Club. The international press gave wide attention to the World Report, which was a major document at the WSIS in Tunis.

The report is available for download on the UNESCO Website

tt30 Poland Went Online

February 25th, 2006: The Young Think Tank of the Polish Association of the Club of Rome has established a Website. tt30 Polska has been founded in the end of 2004. The group is working on the topics of environment, development, new technologies and innovations, world economic and financial order. Once a month they have a meeting and a discussion on the latest events in the world and Poland. In 2005 they started two projects "Challenges of the future" and "Observatory". "Challenges of the future" is the title of cycle of lectures which are held at the Warsaw University. "Observatory" is a project in which members of tt30 Poland are observing the work of the main international organizations, especially concerning global issues and Poland. From the beginning the tt30 Polska members are also taking part in the work of the Polish Association for The Club of Rome

The "Beyond Oil Era" in the Oil Producing Countries

March 19th, 2006: A group of members of tt30, the young think tank of the Club of Rome, is working on a study which will determine the readiness of the economies of oil producing countries for the time when oil is no longer available as their main income generator. They analyze the economies of no less than 26 countries using at least 15 different criterias. A study of the 26 countries for the Beyond Oil era will be supplemented with a league table which will rank all 26 surveyed countries. The project has already now raised interest from the media and it is expected that upon its release, the governments of the countries surveyed will be involved in the findings, as it is a useful yardstick for their forecasts. For further information please contact the project co-ordinator, Mr. Meir Javedanfar.

Contributions to the "European Papers for New Welfare"

February 28th, 2006: In the 4th edition of "European Papers for New Welfare, the counter-ageing society", includes several articles by members of the Club of Rome and tt30. The edition includes an editorial by Orio Giarini, Honorary Member of the Club of Rome. The publication is available for download.