SGI Joins Club of Rome Earth–Humanity Reconciliation Conference

From November 5 to 7, SGI (Soka Gakkai International) representatives participated in the International Conference on Earth-Humanity Reconciliation in Suzhou, China, organized by The Club of Rome. The event, part of the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (2024–2033), explored how humanity can thrive within the ecological limits of the planet and was hosted by the Shanghai University of Engineering Science. 

On November 7, Joan Anderson, senior coordinator for Peace and Global Issues of the SGI, served as moderator for a parallel session titled “Water-Food-Environment Nexus.” Keynote speakers were Professor Luo Yufeng, UNESCO Chair of Asia-Pacific Water-Food-Environment Nexus at Wuhan University, who presented on sustaining biodiversity in water-saving irrigated rice fields, and Professor Pan Yingji of the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Professor Pan spoke on promoting migratory bird conservation and food security from the perspective of the lessons from land sparing versus land sharing. Other speakers were Martin Frick, director of the World Food Programme (WFP) Global Office Berlin, and Professor Fred Dubee of the Beijing Genomics Institute. The panel discussion that followed introduced positive approaches to ecosystem management that benefit both humans and the environment.