• The Forum, which will come to Infecar this Thursday and Friday, February 2 and 3, still has tickets on sale on the web www.foro-ecoislas.es, with the option of attending the entire event or one of the two days.
• Manuel Maqueda, Christian Felber, Bernard Fletz and Leen Gorissen make up the panel of international speakers who will lead the plenary sessions.

Gran Canaria will be the international center of reflection on the transition towards a more sustainable socioeconomic model with the first edition of the Ecoislas International Forum, an international event that will take place on Thursday 2 and Friday 3 February at Infecar, with the participation of four international experts and more than 60 speakers from academic, administrative, financial, business and social sectors.

The Ecoislas International Forum was created with the intention of providing a space for discussion, proposals and promotion of measures aimed at promoting the integral transition towards a greener, more profitable, more self-sufficient and environmentally sustainable socioeconomic model with an insular approach.

Promoted and financed by the Cabildo de Gran Canaria and organized by Infecar, Ecoislas will bring together in the same event international, national and local speakers who will present best practices and discuss needs and solutions in each of the major blocks on which the program focuses: the circular and blue economy; energy, water and mobility; adaptation to climate change; and regenerative tourism.

The program of the first Ecoislas International Forum will feature four plenary sessions by Manuel Maqueda, professor of Applied Circular Economy and Regenerative Economics at Harvard University; Bernard Fletz, Belgian biologist and philosopher; Leen Gorissen, biologist specializing in Regenerative Ecology and Design and Bioinspiring Innovation; and Christian Felber, promoter of the Theory of the Common Good. Within these two days, parallel sessions will also be held, case studies will be presented and the annual report of Greening The Islands will be presented, among other proposals.

Tickets to attend either a single session or the two sessions that make up the complete program are already available on the website www.foro-ecoislas.es at a price of 7.50 euros for one day and 15 euros for two, in the case of students; and 15 euros and 30 euros, respectively, in the case of professionals.

Program

With all this, the program of the first Ecoislas International Forum will begin at 9.30 a.m. on Thursday, February 2, with the plenary session by Manuel Maqueda. After him, from 10.30 a.m. three parallel sessions will be held, one dedicated to the block of Energy, water and mobility, which is called ‘Energy communities in islands’; another on the circular economy and the blue economy, entitled ‘The cultivation of algae as an emerging sector in islands’; and finally, a block on Adaptation to climate change, entitled ‘Energy transition agendas in islands’.

At 12.00 pm there will be a presentation of the annual report of Greening The Islands and, after this, from 13.00 pm, different case studies will be presented in parallel sessions.

The morning session will end at 1.30 p.m. with the round table ‘Ecoislas: the challenge of the future’, with the participation of Antonio Morales, president of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, and Aurora Ribot, second vice-president and executive councilor of Sustainability and Environment of the Consell de Mallorca, which will be moderated by Francisco Moreno, sole administrator of RTVC.

In the afternoon of Thursday, February 2nd, from 4:00 p.m., Bernard Fletz will be in charge of the plenary session. At 5 p.m. three other blocks of parallel sessions will be held, in this case on Circular economy and blue economy, under the title ‘Good practices in circular economy in islands’; Adaptation to climate change, called ‘What is the model of urbanizing or deurbanizing the ecological transition’; and finally, the block Energy, water and mobility, with the title ‘Sustainable mobility in islands’.

At the same time, different presentations of European projects will take place, specifically the Circular economy practical training materials for plastic manufacturing industries (CIRCVET); Masdunas; The Green Link Life15 CCA/ES/000125; and PLANCLIMAC.

From 18.00 hours two new blocks of parallel sessions will be held, this time on Energy, water and mobility, one of them on ‘Storage and green hydrogen: a solution to move towards decarbonization’ and another on ‘Present and future implications of sustainability in islands’.

Also, at the same time, the following European Projects will be presented: Remote Sensing Oriented Nature-Based Solutions towards a New Life for Drylands – NewLife4Drylands [LIFE20 PRE/IT/000007]; Life Nieblas; PLANCLIMAC; Mac Clima; and Mac Clima and International Cooperation.

On Friday, February 3, the day will begin with the plenary session at 9:00 a.m., led by Leen Gorissen. After that, from 10 a.m., the parallel sessions will begin, on this occasion on Regenerative tourism, under the name ‘Perspectives and experiences of regenerative tourism in island environments’; Circular economy and blue economy, on ‘Entrepreneurship initiatives in circular economy’; Adaptation to climate change, called ‘Smart technologies for fire prevention and forest management’; and finally, Energy, water and mobility, under the name ‘How the islands will save the planet’.

From 11.30 a.m. onwards, four more parallel sessions will be held on Energy, water and mobility, with the title ‘Climate neutrality in the context of islands: the road to travel’; another of this block on ‘Water and energy: strategic allies’; one of the block Circular economy and blue economy, with the name ‘Barriers to entrepreneurship in circular and blue economy’; and, finally, a block of Adaptation to climate change, on ‘Opportunities for coastal areas’.

At 12.30 p.m., new case studies will be developed and at 1 p.m., Christian Felber will present the last of the plenary sessions. In the afternoon session, Greening the Islands will hold its awards ceremony from 3.30 p.m. onwards.

This I International Ecoislas Forum counts on Cajasiete, as official collaborator; with the participation of Greening the Islands, European Projects and Mac Clima; and with the collaboration of the Insular Council of Energy, Spegc, the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the Maritime Cluster of the Canary Islands, the Insular Council of Waters of Gran Canaria, the Oceanic Platform of the Canary Islands, the Technological Institute of the Canary Islands, Gesplan and the Chamber of Commerce of Gran Canaria.