Annual National Conference 2024

FROM ROAR TO REVOLUTION: UNLEASHING THE FUTURE OF IEM

The world is facing a myriad of challenges due to climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental degradation, pollution and waste. Moreover, planetary boundaries such as climate change, biosphere integrity, biogeochemical flows, land system change, freshwater change and novel entities have now exceeded their tipping points increasing the risk of generating large-scale rapid or irreversible environmental changes affecting people and ecosystems. Since these boundaries are interrelated processes within the complex biophysical Earth System, to increase sustainability, the global focus should not be on climate change only but on climate, pollution and biodiversity loss.

The complex nature of these challenges also suggests that we need urgent comprehensive, informed, evidence-based and co-created solutions from multiple stakeholders while acting collaboratively to promote inclusivity, partnerships, and just transformation to reverse environmental degradation and support livelihoods.

Considering that we are in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) era, using artificial intelligence (including ChatGPT), machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT) and big data requires synthesis from practitioners. Thus, integrating all these concepts and tools is necessary as we reimagine the future of Integrated Environmental Management (IEM) in a rapidly transforming world through technology and innovation, sustainable finance, nature-based solutions, and ecosystem-based adaptation.

The 2024 IAIAsa Conference, with its reimagined theme "Roar to Revolution: Unleashing the future of IEM" is poised to promote and create an enabling environment for inclusive dialogue, share experiences and communicate best practices between practitioners, private sector, academics, policymakers and local communities on current scientific research and practices in environmental management.

Abstracts will be collected under the following subthemes;

• Achieving Biodiversity Conservation/Protection beyond the regulatory framework
• Revitalizing Ecosystems, and Restoring Prosperity: Financial Investment in Sustainable Futures
• Public Participation, Land acquisition, Involuntary Resettlement and Livelihood Restoration
• Environmental Legislation: Updates, Application and Compliance
• Meeting the regulatory requirements (checking boxes) or achieving positive outcomes (EIA, Auditing and EAs)
• Just Energy Transition and Energy Expansion
• The Future of Mining and IEM
• Harmony in Innovation: Unleashing the Power of Big Data, AI or Machine Learning, and Space Technology in IEM
• Circular economy through sustainable waste management and IEM
• The role of IEM in navigating towards a pollution-free world
• Towards a Nexus Framework (e.g., Water, Energy and Food nexus)
• Thriving in the era of Climate Change (Risk and Vulnerability, Adaptation, Mitigation and Resilience)
• Connecting the dots: Systems thinking, SDGs, ESG for cross-cutting performance