Can the path to a sustainable future be found in the past? Global experts on water policy and management in the Pacific will gather on Tuesday night (7 February) at The Piano in Christchurch for Tauhere UC Connect public talk The Path to a Sustainable Future.

Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu and Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | the University of Canterbury (UC) Office of Treaty Partnership, Kā Waimaero | the Ngāi Tahu Centre are co-hosting a free Tauhere UC Connect panel discussion by international thought-leaders in the fields of ecosystems, water science and the sustainability of the Pacific Islands: Professors Peter Vitousek and Barton “Buzz” Thompson from Stanford University, United States, and Dr Mike Joy of Victoria University Wellington, chaired by University of Canterbury Professor Bronwyn Hayward, and introduced by Professor Te Maire Tau, Kā Waimaero | Ngāi Tahu Centre, University of Canterbury.

The year 2023 marks the University of Canterbury’s sesquicentenary and the 150th anniversary theme is: Ka titiro whakamuri, ki te anga whakamua | Guided by the Past, Shaping the Future.

Topics for discussion in The Path to a Sustainable Future event include:

How and why Polynesia Island societies approached sustainability

How we got our deadly addiction to nitrogen

How our food went from energy positive to energy negative

How producing food became industrialised and fossil fuel dependent

How we lost our connection to water

Do courts have a role to play in promoting sustainability?

Does the world need a trustee? and

What does history teach us about how best to achieve sustainability?