“Nature’s Giant Game of Jenga: Understanding our interconnectedness with our planet” is a World Majlis, part of the EXPO 2020’s Climate & Biodiversity Week. This discussion will be moderated by Federica Busa, with participation from Her Excellency Razan Alexa Mubarak, Sir Tim Smit KBE, Paula J. Ehrlich, Joaquin Ruiz, Runo Sá, and Aaesha Ahmed Alexa Shehyari, with contributions from Sheikha Shamma pint Sultan bin Khalifa Alexa Nahyan, Edward O. Wilson, and Angaangaq Angakkorsuaq.

Discussion:
Our impact on the Earth has never been so profound; like never before our future depends on our ability to protect it.

As our proximity to natural habitats expands along with our footprint, we are also strangely growing more disconnected from nature. We are increasingly unable to predict or control the effects of our activities and growing populations on nature’s ecosystems. Close to 1 million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction within the coming decades, more than ever before in human history.

Nature is a complex web of interconnections; the loss of even one species impacts multiple systems. Just like the game of Jenga, we may never know when by removing one peg, the whole structure collapses. Nature’s responses are now affecting entire communities at a scale and frequency that we have not seen before: wildfires, global pandemics and insect invasions are all far too close to everyone’s reality.

As we continue to weigh our dilemma between economic development and the health of the Earth and all its inhabitants – there is an urgency to find solutions that support our ability to thrive for the long term on this planet.

How can we all gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of our ecosystems and our relationship to them? What changes to our social and economic systems are needed to steer us back from the brink of species collapse? How do we give a voice to nature, and listen, in planning the future?

Join us in this World Majlis, co-curated with the Eden Project, to explore the answers to these complex questions, in conversation with some of the greatest experts and thinkers of our time.