The World Resources Forum (WRF) is a non-profit organisation for sharing knowledge about the economic, political, social and environmental implications of global resource use. WRF promotes resource productivity among researchers, policymakers, business, NGOs and the public. The WRF Conference is a series of conferences on global resources issues, formerly known as R-conferences (Recycling, Reducing, Re-using), organised since 1993. The WRF provides information about natural resources, trends and limitations in use and production, and serves as a platform on which to discuss their economic and political implications. The WRF is directed at academics, politicians, research-oriented practitioners, entrepreneurs, consultants and other professionals in the areas of sustainable development.
Contents
- About
- WRF 2015
- Topics WRF 2015
- WRF Asia Pacific 2015
- Topics WRF Asia Pacific 2015
- Plenary Sessions
- Workshops
- WRF 2014
- Topics of WRF 2014
- Plenary Sessions at WRF 2014
- Workshops at WRF 2014
- WRF 2013
- Topics of WRF 2013
- Plenary Sessions at WRF 2013
- Workshops WRF 2013
- WRF 2012
- Topics of WRF 2012
- Workshops WRF 2012
- WRF 2011
- Topics of Interest
- WRF 2009
- References
About
The WRF brings the issues of global resource consumption and resource productivity higher on the agenda of policymakers and business leaders. Aspects covered by the WRF include the scarcity and security of supply as well as the price risks of key resources. The issues of pollution and energy use over the life-cycle of certain resources but also their social impact – in particular in developing countries – are topics examined by the WRF as well.
The WRF is set up as an association, with a General Assembly and Board. The WRF Secretariat, based in St. Gallen, Switzerland, is responsible for the coordination and organisation of the following activities:
Founding members are the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) the Swiss interdisciplinary research institution and service provider for materials science and technology (Empa) the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) International Resource Panel, Hewlett-Packard (HP), and the city of St. Gallen.
Other members include the German Federal Environment Agency, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences (A+)., the Rhomberg Group, the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), the Mercator Foundation Switzerland, the Association for Quality and Management Systems (SQS) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
WRF 2015
World Resources Forum 2015 was held in Davos, Switzerland, from 11–14 October 2015, and had over 600 participants coming from 108 countries.
Topics WRF 2015
- Circular Economy and Decoupling
- Technological innovation, business and finance
- Targets, indicators, and benchmarks for resource use
- Lifestyles and education
WRF Asia-Pacific 2015
World Resources Forum Asia-Pacific was held in Sydney, Australia, from 1–3 June 2015, and attracted close to 300 participants.
Topics WRF Asia-Pacific 2015
- Resource Productivity in the Asia-Pacific
- Transition Pathways and Radical Innovation
- International Sustainability
Plenary Sessions
- The Resource Revolution
- Trends in Australia and the Asia Pacific
- Dimensions of Resource Productivity
- Transition Pathways
- Radical Innovations
Workshops
- Industrial Symbiosis in the Asia-Pacific
- Zero Waste and Community Benefits
- Business Models for a Circular World
- Key Enablers - Technology and Financing
- Future Earth; Resourcing Future Generations
- Is Australia ready for the Circular Economy
- Investment Decision Making for an Energy Productive Australia
- Resource Governance, Geopolitics & Social Responsibility: the case of Phosphorus
- Wealth from Waste: Transition Pathways for unlocking the Value of Urban Ores
- Future Metals
- Transition Pathways for Carbon-Based Energy and Materials
- The Case for Material Efficiency
- De-Growth
- New Business Models in Waste with the Rise of Social Enterprise
- Circular Thinking
WRF 2014
World Resources Forum 2014 was held in Arequipa, Peru, from 19–22 October 2014 and attracted over 1,000 participants coming from 40 countries and international organisations. The meeting report was published in April 2015.
Topics of WRF 2014
- Innovation for Resource Efficiency
- Policies and Stakeholders Participation
- Decoupling Economic Growth and Natural Resource Use
- Recycling Industries and Cities
- Measuring Progress - Targets and Indicators
- Lifestyle and Education
- Forestry, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaption
Plenary Sessions at WRF 2014
- WRF Parade
- Connecting Brilliant Ideas to People with Power
- Doing Business with Less
- Consuming for More
Workshops at WRF 2014
- UBA (German Federal Environment Agency) & SERI (European Research Institute)- where is a Safe Operating Space?
- SATW (Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences)- Circular Economy- Improving the Management of Natural Resources
- UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization) - Eco Industrial Parks: Taking Industrial Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Production to Scale
- Libélula - Towards a Low-Carbon Development in Peru to 2050: Lessons learnt from PlanCC project
- SITRA (The Finnish Innovation Fund) - Showcasing Resource Wisdom in Cities
- MINAM (Ministry of Environment Peru), IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) & JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) - Solid Waste Program
- SRI (Sustainable Recycling Industries) & UNIDO - Sustainable Recycling Industries for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment in Latin American Countries
- MINAM - Agriculture of the Future
- Zero Waste - Zero Waste Approach to Managing Resources
- UBA, Arlene & SERI - Common Goods- to Whom do our Natural Resources Belong?
- MINAM & BGI (Better Gold Initiative) - Responsible Gold Mining
- OAS (Organization of American States) - Transitioning toward Circular Economy through the Application of Closed Looped Cycle Production: Methods and Principles
- UNIDO & UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) - Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production for Climate Action in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises: examples from Latin America
- ELECTROPERU & Petrames - Renewable Energies: Success Stories from Peru
- SAGW (Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences), CDE (Centre of Development and Environment) & University of Bern - The Social Dimension of Sustainability - Environmental Justice and the Governance of Global Resources
- UNEP - A Dialogue on Decoupling Strategies for Sustainable Development: How to make it happen?
- OVI (Observatorio Vulcanologico INGEMMET) - Studies of Climate Change on Glaciers of Coropuna Volcano- Arequipa an the Project Cryoperu
WRF 2013
World Resources Forum 2013 was held in Davos, Switzerland, October 6–9, 2013 and attracted over 400 participants from 53 countries and international organisations. The meeting report WRF 2013 was published in April 2014.
Topics of WRF 2013
- Resource Efficiency and Governance
- Sustainable Business and Industry
- Sustainable Cities and Infrastructure
- Lifestyles and Education
Plenary Sessions at WRF 2013
- The WRF Parade
- Resource Governance Panel
- Sustainable Innovation Business Panel
- Lifestyle and Education Panel
Workshops WRF 2013
- Club of Rome and Global Footprint Network- Plundering the Planet with Ernst-Ulrich von Weizsäcker, Anders Wijkman, Ugo Bardi and Alessandro Galli
- UBA (German Federal Agency on Environment)- Global targets for a sustainable resource use (1); Resource Efficiency in Europe (2)
- Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI)- Biofuels from Algae
- Empa- Sustainable Recycling Industries
- Technopolis, SERI, Wuppertal Institute- Eco-Innovation Observatory
- FOEN, SOFIES, ERA NET ECO-INNOVERA- Tools and software for eco-industrial development and sustainable resource management
- SAGW, University of Basel- Governance of Transition to Sustainable Growth
- TNO, Wuppertal Institute, UCL-ISR -New concepts, indicators and policies for RE
- UNEPInternational Resource Panel- Sustainable Management of Metal Resources
- Foundation Rare Metals/Council for Less Common Elements- Metallic Based Resources and Energy Applications
- Koli Forum- Towards Resource Wisdom
- Student Reporters- Journalism and media strategies for environmental sustainability
- Liter of Light
- oikos Consulting - Sustainability for SMEs
- SAGW, SAGUF- Role of Social Science
- Zero Waste International Alliance- Zero Waste Approach to Managing Resources
- IGES, GRF-SPAC, Tellus Institute- Reductions Project
- We-Act and South Pole Carbon- Using gamification for tackling sustainability issues
WRF 2012
World Resources Forum 2012 was held from October 21–23 at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, China, and attracted over 700 participants. Main theme of this forum, co-organised with the Chinese Academy of Sciences/Institute of Process Engineering, was Resources and Green Economy. The meeting report was published in April 2013.
Topics of WRF 2012
- Green and Circular Economy
- National and Regional Approaches
- Metal and Mineral Resources
- Crude Oil and Natural Gas
- Clean Coal Technologies
- Renewable Energy (Solar, Wind, Tide, Geothermal etc.)
- Food and Biomass
- Green Process Engineering and Technologies
- Waste/Material Recovery and Recycling
- Alternative Business Models and Socio-Economic Issues
- Policy and Education
- Nano Green Energy
Workshops WRF 2012
- Sustainable Industry - Sustainable Management of Forest Resources and Wood Constructions (Koli Forum, Finland)
- Resource Efficiency Strategies in Europe – EU Roadmap and National Implementation (German Federal Environmental Agency, Germany)
- Urban Eco-Efficiency Lab - Cities, Biodiversity and Ecosystems (WRF/Convention on Biological Diversity)
- Special Briefing on UNEP‘s latest findings in Resource Efficiency (UNEP)
- Upscaling Mechanisms for Sustainable Consumption and Production – Achievements and Lessons learnt in the SWITCH-Asia Programme (UNEP/Wuppertal Institute Collaborating Centre for Sustainable Consumption and Production, Germany)
- Urban Mining, Challenges and Opportunities (Empa, Switzerland)
- Circular Economy (CAS)
- When will they start listening to us? (Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences/WRF, Switzerland)
- Balancing Poverty Eradication and Sustainable Consumption and Production in Asia and the Pacific – Challenges for Policy, Research and Practice (Global Research Forum on Sustainable Production and Consumption, USA)
WRF 2011
More than 400 participants from over 40 countries and international organisations attended the World Resources Forum 2011 in Davos, Switzerland, from 19–21 September 2011, and exchanged their views and perspectives on best practices, policy options and research on natural resource management and promoting and implementing a Green Economy. Results were documented in a chairman's summary, meeting report [2] and were submitted to the Rio+20 Earth Summit's compilation document, as well as other stakeholders, such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Swiss government adopted the recommendations and integrated these in their statements in Rio.
Topics of Interest
WRF 2009
The R'09 conference on resource management and technology for material and energy efficiency was run simultaneously in Davos and Nagoya from 14 to 16 September 2009. The main goal of the ninth event in the R' World Congress series was to promote technologies and frameworks for enhancing the material and energy efficiency of products, services and processes (from production and use to recycling), including developing sustainable solutions for tackling the growing mountain of e-waste. The conference was organized by Empa in cooperation with the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW), the EcoTopia Science Institute of the University of Nagoya, and the Factor 10 Institute. For the first time, that year's conference was followed by the World Resource Forum (WRF), where politicians and scientists had the opportunity to discuss new economic frameworks promoting the sustainable use of resources. The innovative two site conference concept saved considerable amounts of CO2, so the conclusion of a scientific paper, published in Elsevier's Telematics and Informatics Journal
At the Davos meeting, WRF attendees adopted a declaration that calls for western economies to massively reduce their material inputs and for the world to dramatically increase resource productivity. They also agreed that, because the price of natural resources is low compared to that of labour, industry will not purposely drive those changes. Only governments can provide the necessary framework and incentives.