Latin America 2030 Scenarios Presented in Bogota on November 11th: Global Futurists and Scholars Discuss the 2011 State of the Future in Colombia

(PRWEB) November 07, 2011

The Latin America 2030 Scenarios and the 2011 State of the Future will be presented in Bogota, Colombia, on November 11th during the international conference Prospecta Latinoamerica 2011. This important event is organized by Carlos William Mera of UNAD (Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Distancia) and the speakers will include Jose Cordeiro of the Millennium Project, who will present the 2030 Latin American Scenarios, together with other important global futurists from Latin America, North America, Europe and Japan.

Universidad Nacional Abierta y a Disctancia (http://www.unad.edu.co) is major academic institution with 65,000 students distributed among 8 zones and 60 centers across Colombia. UNAD is dedicated to reach all Colombians through real-presence and virtual programs. It also has its own radio and TV channels, and a campus in Florida, USA.

UNAD will be the setting of Prospecta Latinoamerica 2011, the largest futurist gathering in Latin America, and it will host the presentation of the Latin America 2030 Scenarios and the 2011 State of the Future, from The Millennium Project. Prospecta Latinoamerica 2011 will have hundreds of participants, including global futurists and scholars from Latin America, North America, Europe and Japan.

The Millennium Project (http://www.millennium-project.org) was created in 1996 as the first global think tank, conducting independent futures research through its 40 nodes around the world, connecting local and global perspectives. The nodes are groups of people and institutions that bring together the brains of the region and the feedback from the overall results. It has the support of United Nations organizations, multinational corporations, universities, foundations and governments of Azerbaijan, Kuwait, South Korea and the USA.

The Millennium Project is a global think tank that conducts futures research, consisting of more than three thousand scientists, intellectuals, artists, entrepreneurs, academics, politicians, and journalists They are dedicated to the study of the future and generating ideas for improving the human condition gathered in forty nodes located on every continent.

The Millennium Project has made annual reports since 1996 as a contribution to the better understanding of the global challenges that humanity is facing in building the future. These studies and the development of prospective scenarios allow support in the search for solutions to global challenges.

The 2011 State of the Future finds the world is getting richer, healthier, better educated, living longer, and is more peaceful and better connected; yet half the world is potentially unstable. The food prices are rising, water tables are falling, corruption and organized crime is increasing, environmental viability to sustain life is declining, debt and growing economic insecurity in rising, climate change continues, and the gap between the rich and poor is widening dangerously.

According to Jose Cordeiro, Venezuelan director of the Millennium Project and coordinator of the Latin America 2030 Scenarios, the region has to move forward and look to the future now that is celebrating the bicentennial of its independence. Latin America is currently at a crossroad and a vision of the future is fundamental to improve the living conditions of the expected 700 million Latin Americans alive by 2030. Thus, the Millennium Project devised four possible scenarios to the year 2030 based on the input of over 500 futurists from 60 countries in all continents. Cordeiro said that If Latin America changes its vision of the future, it has the opportunity to join the rank of developed countries by 2030.

The world is in a race between implementing ever-increasing ways to improve the human condition and the seemingly ever-increasing complexity and scale of global problems. The global future can become far more unstable and dangerous if we do not take urgent measures to fight global organized crime, corruption and climate change.

It states that significant improvements are being made in reducing poverty, extending longevity, and limiting conflict. However, the battle against the growth of carbon emissions, rising temperatures, unemployment, corruption and terrorism are being lost. In 2010, 90 percent of global natural disasters, which killed 295,000 people at an approximate cost of 130 billion dollars, were related to climate and climate exchange rates.

The number of unstable states grew from 28 to 37 between 2006 and 2011, even though there are fewer wars, which fell to 10 from 14 the previous year. Half of the world remains vulnerable to social instability and violence. The inequalities are compounded by the rising costs of food, water and energy, which could result in 400 million migrants in 2050. The report also contains a State of the Future Index, based on analysis and evaluation of 700 experts from around the world based on 28 factors, including education, health, wealth, conflict, freedom and the environment. The Index shows a period of 10 years of improvement, but warns that «there is no guarantee of a bright future.

The 2011 State of the Future is a summary of our overall situations, problems, solutions and prospects for the future, from the 15 Global Challenges. These include energy, food, science and technology, ethics, development, water, organized crime, health, decision making, gender relations, demography, war and peace, and others. The recommendations are specifically targeted to senior executives, thought leaders, strategic planners, public policy experts, political advisors, non-profit organizations, teachers / professors and anyone interested in an overview of our prospects for the future. This report analyzes a wide range of policy initiatives geared toward the future, such as: potable water, seawater-based agriculture, environmental safety in the central United States and China, strategic trust, a comprehensive strategy to combat organized crime and collective intelligence.

According to Jerome Glenn, executive director of the Millennium Project and one of the authors of the report, there is room for optimism: «If we can improve our decision making as individuals, groups, nations, and institutions the world will be better than it is today».

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