Explore Challenges
- 3 March 2010 - Not In My Back Yard
- 25 May 2010 - Natural disasters: how can we improve?
- Importing goods, exporting drought?
- Digital Divide in the UK?
- The challenges and opportunities of an ageing society
- Engineering our climate
- The future shape of Capitalism
- Migration: skills and the job market
- Razing the Rainforest
- London under water
- Concreting the countryside
- Future of low carbon energy
- Africa in the 21st Century
Credit Crunch, Housing, Economic Growth, Housing Expansion, virtual water, geoengineering, Rainforests, IT, digital inclusion, rainforest, 21st Century, Iraq, pollution, China, digital divide, Trade, COP15, India, jobs, Low Carbon Energy
Challenges of the 21st Century
3 March 2010 - Not In My Back Yard
Britain is a small densely populated island. For centuries, it has had to carefully balance the social and environmental benefits and consequences of development.
With pressure on the UK’s ageing energy and transport infrastructures mounting, is it time to put projects of national importance ahead of local concerns? Or does this bypass our democratic right to object?
25 May 2010 - Natural disasters: how can we improve?
The earth is a hazardous place; natural disasters will continue to happen.
But how can we improve our response to them and ensure this benefits vulnerable communities worldwide in the long-term?
Tickets for this event will go on sale shortly
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Importing goods, exporting drought?
October 2009
George Alagiah chairs a discussion with Robin Farrington, WWF and Andy Wales, SAB Miller on the scale of global water consumption needed to produce what we use and consume and the dramatic impact it has around the world.
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Digital Divide in the UK?
December 2009
Martha Lane Fox, government's Digital Inclusion Champion, author and broadcaster Professor Tanya Byron and BBC Technology Correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones discuss the digital divide in Britain and the risks and benefits of a digital society.
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The challenges and opportunities of an ageing society
June 2009
Our expert panel including Angela Eagle MP, George Magnus and Samira Ahmed discuss the changing nature of retirement; the importance of older people in the workforce; the increasing pressures on public services; and how Britain is adapting to an ageing society.
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Engineering our climate
May 2009
Geo-engineering is not a solution to climate change but can it be an effective means to delay its impact?
An international expert panel, including Professor David Keith, Dr Paul Johnston and Tom Clarke discuss whether we should be researching geoengineering seriously as Plan B?
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The future shape of Capitalism
March 2009
An expert panel, including Vince Cable MP, John Micklethwait and Evan Davis, discuss whether the current financial crisis and the downturn in the global economy will change the shape of capitalism as we know it today.
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Migration: skills and the job market
November 2008
Our expert panel including Sir Andrew Green, Philippe Legrain and Khalid Koser explore some of the issues and misconceptions around changing European workforce patterns in the 21st Century.
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Razing the Rainforest
October 2008
How can we best conserve the world's rainforests in the face of enormous challenges from palm oil, timber trade, green colonialism and biofuels?
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London under water
June 2008
What is the threat of flooding to London’s people and infrastructure? How will current defences cope with enhanced flood risk to the capital over the next 30 years?
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Concreting the countryside
May 2008
How should we accommodate the housing expansion in London and SE England? Should we be building on greenfield or brownfield land?
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Future of low carbon energy
March 2008
A discussion on how global investment can be encouraged to forward low carbon technologies.
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Africa in the 21st Century
November 2007
The 21st Century Challenges series was launched in 2007 with Sir Bob Geldof & Kofi Annan discussing the major challenges facing Africa in the 21st century
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