Global Gathering on Climate, Environmental Health, and Justice
Nexus 2014
Nexus 2014: Global Gathering on Climate, Environmental Health & Justice was a high-level convening of leaders of grassroots non-governmental organizations focused on strengthening collaboration and strategies in global environmental health and justice advocacy. The convening focused on the nexus of environmental health and justice work with efforts on climate justice, adaptation and mitigation.
Nexus included training and strategy sessions at the University of California, Irvine from October 6 – 8, 2014, followed by funder briefings and network meetings in northern California on October 9-10. While the gathering was limited to invited participants only, some sessions were free and open to the public. Over 120 participants from the campus and the community attended the public events, which included panel discussions on Healthy Energy & Clean Air, Community Engagement for Climate Action, Advocacy Strategies Connecting the Local and Global and Health Impacts for Climate Change.
See video here
Community leaders and scholars also had an opportunity to explore research collaboration, out of which collaborative projects are currently being developed.
Click here to see a 7 minute video from the global leaders gathered at Nexus 2014
Nexus drew its participants from among community-based organizations involved in an environmental health and justice initiative founded in 2005. The initiative provides support to develop new national and international environmental health policies, ensure proper enforcement of existing regulations, develop scientific research and expert opinions on the effects of harmful substances and pollution to inform government and international organizations’ decision-making processes, and work with communities that experience harsh environmental health conditions to mitigate adverse effects and enable them to exercise their rights to healthy and sustainable living conditions.
The conveners of Nexus 2014 included:
Pesticide Action Network (PAN)
Health Care Without Harm (HCWH)
Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA)
In addition to the conveners above, Nexus 2014 was hosted by UCI's Towards a Sustainable 21st Century Initiative with planning support and facilitation by the UCI Sustainability Initiative.