Reminder: Post Paris - A path to progress on climate

***Please note the later than usual time***

There is still a lot of work to do, a need keep the issues and education in the forefront of the public mind and to campaign with skill and unity to protect the plant. Sadly, New Zealand is not playing its part and we need to step up. There is scope for new approaches, clear policy and renewed unity.

Consider these provocative pieces:

• Radio NZ (b).  Dec 14 2015. “New Zealand has played 'accounting tricks' at Paris talks” and
• Sir Geoffrey Palmer on ‘The Paris Climate Change Agreement and the Law’

Panelists include:

Barry Coates - Royal Oak/Epsom, Auckland. BComm (Economics), Masters in Public and Private Management (Yale University). Former Executive Director of Oxfam New Zealand - focus on the Pacific, climate change, trade justice and arms control; developed campaigns and coalitions on trade justice, international investment, corporate accountability and debt relief, involving extensive media, public talks and debates; Former Board Member: Fairtrade Australia NZ, Global Campaign for Climate Action , Chair of Make Poverty History Aotearoa and active in Sustainable Business Network. Experience includes leadership on climate change, global affairs, environment, economics, sustainable business and social policy.

Klaus Bosselmann, PhD, is Professor of Law at the University of Auckland. He is the founding director of the New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law and teaches in the areas of international environmental law, global governance, European environmental law and comparative constitutional law. He has been a visiting professor at leading universities in Europe, North America and Australia and is the current Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law Ethics Specialist Group and Co-Chair of the Global Ecological Integrity Group. Professor Bosselmann has authored 14 books, edited or co-edited 12 books and written over 120 book chapters and articles. For his pioneering work on ecological approaches to law, policy and governance he received numerous awards including the Inaugural Senior Scholarship Prize of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, the global professional organization of environmental law scholars.

Steve Abel is a musician and long-time environmental activist.  He was part of the Native Forest Action campaign in the late 90s which succeed in getting 137,000 ha of native forest saved from logging and gazetted as conservation estate. He has worked on various campaigns in Greenpeace including oceans, climate change and the stopping of Marsden B coal-fired power station, the GE free campaign, the anti-mining march of 2010, the ongoing campaign to stop deep sea oil drilling, and Climate Voter.

Zoe Lenzie-Smith. At 23, Zoe is the generation we need to listen to. She has a BSc in Biology and Environmental Science from the University of Auckland and is a former member of the Devonport-Takapuna Youth Local Board. She has a Permaculture Design Certificate (PDC) and co-ordinates a team of waste minimisation educators, is a core member of Generation Zero and has been involved in campaigns around climate policy, urban planning, public transport and youth voting, + co-ordinated multiple events empowering young people in the climate movement. Zoe is one of the nine New Zealand Youth Delegates for the 2015 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris. She believes for New Zealand to move beyond fossil fuels, we need system change on all levels.