Theme Day: UNDERSTAND!

The economic, political, environmental and agricultural crises, which were already discussed at length in 2009 under the title "Elevate the Crisis", have intensified since then, as is generally known. The extent of the destruction has widened: Memorable events are, for example, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the nuclear meltdown of Fukushima. The significant increase of extreme weather events in recent years has lead to devastating floods and forest fires around the world and has been identified by scientists as a direct result of climate change. In the field of agriculture fertile soils are being destroyed at an increasing rate, while approximately one billion people are still starving.

The economic crisis has been dominating the headlines of the mainstream media for a while now. In Europe, one of its current centre stages, rigid austerity policies are threatening important social and democratic achievements of the 20th Century. Unemployment and poverty have increased considerably.

As part of the theme day "Understand!" internationally renowned experts convey their knowledge of these latest developments. An analysis of the common causes and interactions between the different crises will be the focus of the evening's panel discussion. Another important subject of the debate will be the different approaches to these problems and the counter-strategies that have been sought by various protagonists.