The second in the Earth Dialogues series, this event was organized under the high patronage of His Majesty King Juan Carlos I of Spain. It served as a pre-forum to the Universal Forum of Cultures, held in Barcelona a few months later. This event was designed as an interactive forum to facilitate dialogue between a wide range of stakeholders, including official decision-makers, civil society, business and industry, religious and spiritual leaders, as well as representatives from international institutions. Largely sharing the goals of the Barcelona Forum, this meeting addressed the need for a new global agenda for peace and security, grounded in the ethical values of sustainability and diversity. The specific goals of the Barcelona Earth Dialogues included:
• To address the new and emerging roots of instability and insecurity that overwhelm the Mediterranean region, as well as the world at large
• To identify the new ethical imperatives that must be addressed in order to redress these problems
• To examine the critical paths that must be pursued to ensure that the forces of globalization enable humanity to live a life of dignity as well as spiritual and material well-being
• To address the challenges for strengthening multilateralism as well as new models of development cooperation, including implementation of the Millennium Development Goals
• To address the challenges in ensuring the fair and equitable sharing of both global economic opportunities and responsibilities
In this way, the Earth Dialogues examined trends in increasing tensions on the world scene, escalating terrorism, religious intolerance, environmental degradation, and the exclusion of women. Discussion regarding these topics unveiled a need to understand the diverse roots of conflict as well as the links between poverty, environmental deterioration and scarcity, and peace and security.
Conclusions that were drawn focused on the reality that achieving lasting peace prosperity, stability, and sustainability in the Mediterranean region and the world, will require fundamental changes in the way that the international community addresses and responds to the multi-dimensional root causes of instability and insecurity. In today’s world, threats to human and ecological security are just as important as conventional threats to peace and security.
