Poverty, Inequality and Global Climate Change: Connecting the Discussions

Abstract

The conference was a response to an urgent need to bring together communities of scientists who are exploring matters of poverty, inequality and climate change. While there are individual cross overs, this is still happening to a limited and in an ad hoc manner with a continued lack of an integrated framework to address global concerns reflected in the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In particular, there is a need to bring together biophysical and social scientists in a combined effort to jointly address concerns of poverty, inequality and climate change. The conference was a contribution to doing this within the South African context, and was intended as an initiating step towards a process of cross over between traditions and disciplines of research.