Fireside Chat, Interview, Presentation
Dr. Cristián Samper, President & CEO of the WCS: Talks at GS Session Highlights
- Private partnerships and public-private ventures are expected to become increasingly utilized for conservation, driven by business models such as carbon deals and preceded by successful carbon credit sales in Madagascar.
- The Wildlife Conservation Society operates in 65 countries across Africa, Latin America, Asia, and North America, maintaining a 20-year history in Myanmar while planning to preserve large ecosystems and charismatic species resilient to climate change.
- Sustainable development is predicted to remain a global priority, with science increasingly informing natural ecosystem and carbon cycle functions, and successful models from Brazil to be replicated worldwide.
- New UN sustainable development goals are anticipated for adoption the year following 2015, coinciding with positive trends in Brazil's deforestation rates.
- China is predicted to shift energy production away from coal as a national survival necessity and is expected to collaborate with international partners to ensure African investments alleviate poverty without environmental destruction.
- Natural disasters are forecasted to increase in frequency and magnitude, with Hurricane Sandy cited as a preamble to future conditions.
- A $250 million investment is planned to rebuild and expand the New York Aquarium, with a world-class facility expected to be completed in 2016.