The Embassies of Italy and the UK to Germany invite you to the webinar Biodiversity in Times of Covid-19: Views from Germany, Italy, and the UK with Professor Jürgen Renn, Dame Fiona Claire Reynolds, and Professor Stefano Boeri.

The talk will explore the nexus between biodiversity and human health, ideas of how urban environments could be adapted in response to the current crisis, and the economic case for protecting and enhancing our natural assets. It marks the partnership between the UK and Italy on the road to COP26 in November 2021. The event will be held in English without translation. It will be broadcasted live on the Facebook page and on YouTube channel.

The event also marks the close cooperations between the MPIWG (Department I) and the Italian Embassy in Berlin in 2020–21. These include an upcoming exhibition on Leonardo da Vinci's books and an Anthropocene Campus in Venice.

Program

12:00: Welcoming remarks by Rachel King, EU and Economic Counsellor, UK Embassy & Francesco Leone, First Counsellor, Head of the Department for Cultural and Economic Affairs, Italian Embassy. 

12:05: Discussion 

12:40: Q&A

About the Speakers

Professor Jürgen Renn

Director of the Max-Planck Institute for the History of Science; will introduce the topic with a focus on the concept of “planetary health” and will moderate the subsequent discussion.

Dame Fiona Reynolds

Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, who will reflect on how our relationship with nature needs to change and what impact the current pandemic has in this regard. In her capacity as Advisory Panel member of the independent Dasgupta Review on the Economics of Biodiversity, commissioned by the UK government, she will also shed light on how the report could help re-define our perception of nature.

Professor Stefano Boeri

Full professor, architect, and urban planner, president of Fondazione La Triennale di Milano, who will share his visions on the future of contemporary metropolis under the perspectives of biodiversity and urban forestry. The coexistence between humans and nature, fossil-free mobility, "green" urban planning and health play fundamental roles in the projects he provides with his studio, Stefano Boeri Architetti, based in Milan and with offices in Shanghai and Tirana.