by Xinhua writer Tan Jingjing
LOS ANGELES, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Experts from around the world are calling for stronger joint efforts in environmental reform and ecological civilization cooperation, at an annual international forum on ecological civilization held online from Friday to Sunday.
"No goal is more important for both China and the United States to adopt than the actualization of ecological civilization," said Professor John Cobb, Jr., founder and director of the Cobb Institute for Ecological Civilizations and founding president of the California-based Institute for Postmodern Development of China (IPDC), a U.S. think tank and non-profit organization, on Friday.
The 15th Claremont International Forum on Ecological Civilization is being held online due to the pandemic.
It has brought over 200 panelists and attendees from the United States, China, Britain, South Korea, Japan, India, Hungary, and other nations and regions together to delve into the social, political, agricultural and environmental impact of the tenets of an ecological civilization.
"What the world needs at every level is community. In a community, people may compete about some things, but that competition is, like that in sports, in a larger context of mutual respect, responsibility, and support," Cobb addressed the three-day forum.
High profile attendees include policy makers, advisors, influential professors, economists, educators and scientific leaders in the movements that are transforming ecology, social and public policy, food and agriculture around the globe.
"There is no doubt that everyone in the world is facing all kinds of challenges in their daily life. The world is unstable and people are deeply divided," said Meijun Fan, program director of the IPDC.
While people have to address problems such as viruses, energy crises, food shortages, inflation, wars, hunger, gun violence, among others, the earth is increasingly becoming an un-livable place for humanity, she noted.
"We are all in the same boat with all other living species. We need to immediately take action to save the earth, and prioritize this issue above all others," Fan stressed.
The forum focuses on the theme of building regenerative communities in the post-pandemic era, addressing topics including rural communities, urban communities, and digital communities.
Calling the forum an important platform for international exchange of ideas on addressing complex social and environmental challenges, Andrew Schwartz, executive director of the Center for Process Studies of the United States, said building an ecological civilization involves a deep transformation of human communities for the long-term well-being of people and the planet.
"The new world order is getting focusing on connectivity, complexity and sustainability," said Norbert Csizmadia, president of the advisory board of the Budapest Centre for Long-term Sustainability from Hungary. He added that ecological civilization is of great significance as sustainability has become more and more important since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Claremont International Forum is the earliest and largest forum in the western world focusing on ecological civilization.
Concerned by the escalating problems of climate disruption, social injustice and ecological disasters, the ecological civilization movement is gaining increasing attention and momentum around the world. ■
