The inaugural SLOW LIFE Symposium took place on the island of Soneva Fushi in 2008. To read about the 2010 Symposium in full, click here.
Now in its third year, the Symposium invites the very best thinkers and industry experts to join forces with heads of state from some of the world’s most idyllic locations. Attendees will explore the principle challenges facing the travel and tourism industry, including low-carbon infrastructure, transportation, resort management and threatened biodiversity.
Attendees will share insights, projections and plans. This is where connections are made that could ultimately influence the future direction of the tourism industry.
‘This is not just any old symposium on eco-tourism, but a symposium where walking the talk about eco-tourism comes naturally and where proven leadership is all around us. I suspect we all believe that the very idea of a sustainable future for humankind may well depend more on this industry than on any other.’
Jonathon Porritt, Founder and Director, Forum for the Future, SLOW LIFE Symposium 2010
Symposium attendees will engage in three days and three evenings of intimate conversations, insightful presentations and robust panel discussions. Attendees will discuss ways that the tourism industry and small island and tropical states can join forces to mutually secure prosperous and sustainable economic futures.
Attendees will be invited to view the stars from the island observatory and to consider ways to preserve our own planet. Fine dining will demonstrate that Soneva Fushi’s sustainable dining policy makes no compromise on taste. Accompanied snorkelling trips will give attendees a first-hand view of the reefs that must and can be saved.
Discussions topics will include the potential for energy autonomy for small island states; the low-carbon development targets of the Cartagena Dialogue group of progressive countries and the impact this may have on international policy; protecting marine bio-diversity; engaging local communities in ambitious carbon reduction targets; the financial returns of investing in sustainable technologies and the challenge of adapting transportation in a low carbon economy.
‘We recognise that we cannot solve the problem of aviation fuel on our own. Our key objective is that the whole industry can play its part in the global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.’
Jonathon Counsell, Head of Environment, BA, SLOW LIFE Symposium 2010
