General

To promote a fruitful dialogue between the scientific community, operational sectors, and civil society, expanding knowledge about climate change and its impacts on biodiversity, water resources, and land use. The objective is to deepen the debate on the threats and opportunities arising from the “dual energy and geopolitical transition,” with an emphasis on disputes over control of land and sea, and the exploitation of their mineral and biological resources. The intensification of anthropogenic activities—such as the extraction of rare earths and the production of critical minerals—tends to exacerbate environmental risks, directly affecting territories and their communities, in addition to intensifying conflicts and geopolitical tensions on multiple scales.

Specific

• Analyze the risks associated with climate change, considering different temporal scales — from past to future — and spatial scales — from global to local;
• Assess, within the scope of the energy transition, how the increased demand for strategic minerals and their geographic concentration can reinforce dependence on raw materials, exacerbate geopolitical tensions, and pose environmental and social challenges with negative impacts on sustainable development;
• Discuss the geopolitical risks arising from territorial conflicts motivated by security concerns or competition for natural resources, analyzing their impacts at local and global levels;
• Focus the analysis on vulnerable populations facing socio-environmental conflicts, with special attention to environmental justice, social vulnerability and the challenges posed to strengthening community resilience;
• Critically reflect on borderless globalization and the resulting increase in demand for natural resources, promoting the strengthening of socio-environmental resilience through the adaptation of processes for the rehabilitation, recovery and reconstruction of territories.

Thematic Panels of the Working Groups:

G1 – National Network for the study of Forest fires and their effects on Soils (NFS)
(Discuss the occurrence of forest fires and their effects on soils and measures to mitigate soil erosion and enhance land value);
G2 – Catastrophe Medicine (MedCat)
(Medical Intervention in Emergency and Disaster Situations. The Importance of Disaster Medicine in Providing Multipurpose Care in Multi-Casualty Scenarios);
G3 – Research Group for Risk Education (RGRE)
(Discuss strategies for Risk Education and educational dynamics and practices, as well as risk communication and other public awareness actions, with a view to promoting active citizenship in risk and disaster reduction).