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Events : ACSI Sustainability Summit

ACSI Regional Sustainability Summit

April 17-18, 2008 : White Point Beach Resort, White Point Beach, Nova Scotia

A full report on the Summit (118k pdf) is now complete. All workshop presentations and other materials are also available on the resources page.

The Atlantic Canada Sustainability Initiative's regional Sustainability Summit will take place at White Point Beach Resort on April 17-18, 2008. This is the final event in the first year of the Atlantic Canada Sustainability Initiative (ACSI) project.

The Sustainability Summit is intended to celebrate the successes of ACSI Sustainability Partners over the last year; to provide further learning in areas of interest identified by our partners; and to promote the ACSI as a network and encourage new participants to join. Anyone working on or interested in sustainability issues would benefit from attending this Summit. The Summit will also help determine the next steps for ACSI as the first year of this project comes to a close.

The ACSI Summit is being organized by the Centre for Rural Sustainability, in collaboration with The Natural Step Canada.

Thank you to the Summit sponsors:

Registration

Registration is now open! Please register using our online form..

Note that the registration fee does not include accommodations. Please book your accommodations directly with White Point Beach Resort by calling 1-800-565-5068.

Program

A draft program is now available (280k pdf). Please note that this program is subject to change.

We are excited to have several speakers sharing their experience with us at the Summit:

Bart Robinson

Bart Robinson is the Program Director of the Bow Valley Sustainability Hub in Canmore, Alberta. He served as the coordinator for The Natural Step to a Sustainable Canmore in 2005 and 2006, and has subsequently become a Senior Sustainability Associate with the Natural Step Canada.   In former years, he was an award-winning journalist, one of the founding editors of Equinox Magazine, the Executive Director of the Yellowstone to

Yukon Conservation Initiative, and a consultant with Business Design Associates. He recently completed two years as a Research Associate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and his interests encompass large-scale conservation, sustainability, and community stewardship. Bart will be speaking about implementing a community sustainability project in Canmore.

Karen Beazley

Karen Beazley is Director and Associate Professor at the School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS. She is a Board Member of the Canadian Council on Ecological Areas, the Science and Management of Protected Areas Association, and Two Countries, One Forest. She is co-editor with Robert Boardman of Politics of the Wild: Canada and Endangered Species (Oxford University Press), and author of peer-reviewed papers in international journals, including Ecological Applications, Environmental Conservation, Aquatic Conservation, Regional Environmental Change, and Journal of Environmental Management. Karen will be speaking about taking a collaborative approach to sustainability.

Sofie Adolfsson

Sofie Adolfsson Jörby, PhD Environmental Science, works as environmental coordinator at the Swedish Board of Housing, Building and Planning (Boverket). She is responsible for coordinating all environmental issues at the Board and also for its cooperation with other national and regional authorities in environmental issues. She has more than 20 years of experience of working with environmental and developmental issues at local, regional and national levels in Sweden, and also in projects and within the EU, as well as of research. During the fall of 2008 she will have a working stint at the Sustainable Environment Management Office in the Halifax Regional Municipality. Sofie will be speaking about the Swedish experience and some of their approaches to sustainability, both nationally and locally.

Karen Miner

Karen Miner was born and raised in Nova Scotia , moved to the West Coast of Canada and a few other places in between, and returned to Nova Scotia in 2004. At the present time, Karen splits the bulk of her professional time between two core activities. She works for the National Parks Conservation Association's Center for Park Management and sits on the Board of Directors for Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC). Other interests include outdoor recreation, land conservation, fair trade, corporate sustainability, governance, and leadership. Karen will be speaking on governance for sustainability at MEC.

In addition, the Summit will include sessions on the “how to” of implementing sustainability, including topics such as organizational change, governance for sustainability, and strategically prioritizing sustainability actions.

Objectives

There are a number of key objectives that the ACSI Summit plans to achieve:

• Celebrate and share the successes of project partners over the last year and encourage peer learning through this sharing.
• Evaluate progress and determine next steps.
• Continue to build the ACSI network by bringing in new organizations and encouraging participants to meet each other, share ideas and information, and create connections, partnerships and joint ventures between the partners.
• Increase partner comfort and knowledge in specific, identified areas through inspiring and experienced presenters.

Target Audience

The target audience for this event includes participants from ACSI partner organizations, as well as participants from federal and provincial government, from NGOs, and from private businesses that are interested in sharing information about sustainability, and in joining the ACSI network. We expect approximately 100 participants.

Main Features

• Conference sessions will focus on the “how to” of implementing sustainability, including topics such as organizational change, governance for sustainability, and strategically prioritizing sustainability actions
• ACSI Partner organizations will present their work over the last year and share ideas and resources
• New partners will participate and join the ACSI network
• Wednesday evening reception with invited guests
• Summit proceedings will be captured and provided to participants afterwards
• Summit will be a “green” event

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