Keynote Speech 2

[DAY1] 20 Nov, 10:00 - 11:00 (Grand Ballroom A+B)

The second keynote speaker at World Health City Forum 2023 was Dr. Jeremy Rifkin, President of the Foundation on Economic Trends. In his keynote, titled "Great Transformation from The Age of Progress to The Age of Resilience," Rifkin highlighted the greatest crises facing humanity as "the emergence of more pandemics" and "climate change." He pointed to “development” and “urbanization” as the underlying causes of the rise in infectious diseases and the climate crisis. "In the early 1900s, 84% of life on Earth was wild and untouched by human development, but 100 years later, only 24% of wildlife remain. Rifkin predicted that if current levels of development persisted, "all species would disappear from the earth," emphasizing that excessive development and urbanization are bringing viruses closer to human civilization by destroying the wild habitats where they reside. He warned that humanity would face more pandemics in the future as a result. "As global warming accelerates due to development, urbanization and the resulting overuse of fossil fuels, the amount of water vapor absorbed from the atmosphere increases by 7% for every degree Celsius increase in global temperatures, altering and distorting the water cycle and circulation," he added, "resulting in an explosion of water-related natural disasters such as heavy rains, floods, typhoons, droughts, and snowstorms. We must address this issue because changing water cycles could lead us to extinction," he said.

"The era of so-called 'globalization' and 'progress' aimed at unlimited growth and development on a planet with finite resources such as air, water, and energy are reaching the end of its life," he said. "With more epidemics predicted and the climate crisis becoming more severe by the day, it is urgent that we shift from efficiency to adaptability, from financial capital to ecological capital, from productivity to regeneration, from growth to prosperity, from ownership to access, and from globalization to glocalization to ensure a sustainable future."

[Day1] 20 Nov.

10:00 - 11:00 (Grand Ballroom A+B)

The second keynote speaker at World Health City Forum 2023 was Dr. Jeremy Rifkin, President of the Foundation on Economic Trends. In his keynote, titled "Great Transformation from The Age of Progress to The Age of Resilience," Rifkin highlighted the greatest crises facing humanity as "the emergence of more pandemics" and "climate change." He pointed to “development” and “urbanization” as the underlying causes of the rise in infectious diseases and the climate crisis. "In the early 1900s, 84% of life on Earth was wild and untouched by human development, but 100 years later, only 24% of wildlife remain. Rifkin predicted that if current levels of development persisted, "all species would disappear from the earth," emphasizing that excessive development and urbanization are bringing viruses closer to human civilization by destroying the wild habitats where they reside. He warned that humanity would face more pandemics in the future as a result. "As global warming accelerates due to development, urbanization and the resulting overuse of fossil fuels, the amount of water vapor absorbed from the atmosphere increases by 7% for every degree Celsius increase in global temperatures, altering and distorting the water cycle and circulation," he added, "resulting in an explosion of water-related natural disasters such as heavy rains, floods, typhoons, droughts, and snowstorms. We must address this issue because changing water cycles could lead us to extinction," he said.

"The era of so-called 'globalization' and 'progress' aimed at unlimited growth and development on a planet with finite resources such as air, water, and energy are reaching the end of its life," he said. "With more epidemics predicted and the climate crisis becoming more severe by the day, it is urgent that we shift from efficiency to adaptability, from financial capital to ecological capital, from productivity to regeneration, from growth to prosperity, from ownership to access, and from globalization to glocalization to ensure a sustainable future."

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