International Conference on Environment, Peace, and the Dialogue among Civilizations and Cultures

9-10 May 2005 | Tehran, Iran

IISD's SUMMARY REPORT is available online in the following formats: 

| HTML | PDF | TEXT |

TUESDAY, 10 MAY

Click here for highlights from Monday, 9 May, including photos of Iranian President Seyed Mohammad Khatami

The International Conference on “Environment, Peace, and the Dialogue among Civilizations and Cultures” continued on Tuesday, 10 May 2005 at the Azadi Grand Hotel in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.

In the morning, participants met in working sessions on: environment and human security; dialogue among civilizations; peace and conflict prevention; and dialogue - what it means and entails.

The conference concluded in the afternoon with an interactive discussion and closing session. The outcomes of the conference include a communiqué to be formally submitted by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the UN Secretary-General as a message to the UN high-level event in September at the commencement of the 60 th session of the UN General Assembly.

 
Parallel Session: Dialogue: What it Means, What it Entails
 
 
Noel Brown, Friends of the UN, US, Hisae Nakanishi, Nagoya University, Japan, Nay Htun, University of Peace, US, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Harvard Forum on Religion and Ecology, US, Hans Kochler, Leopold Franzens University, Innsbruck, Austria, and Ali Paya, National Research Institute of Science Policy of Iran.
 

Hisae Nakanishi, University of Nagoya Graduate School of International Development, discussed the difficulties associated with implementing ‘universal' values such as gender equality in different cultures, drawing on her experience in Afghanistan and Japan. Mary Evelyn Tucker, Harvard Forum on Religion and Ecology, pointed out that the only truly shared human value is the continuation of life on Earth. She said we should move beyond individualism and domination of the environment to emphasize participation and kinship with all life systems. Hans Kochler, Chairman of Leopold Franzens University's Department of Philosophy, Innsbruck, Austria, called for the western world to be more self-critical, and for a balanced international order as a fundamental prerequisite of genuine dialogue. He warned that attempts at dialogue will otherwise lack credibility and could generate further conflict. Ali Paya, National Research Institute of Science Policy of Iran, concluded that the choice facing humanity today is one of dialogue or barbarism.