Ground-breaking international conference ‘Resources for Future Generations’ (#RFG2018) to be held in Vancouver, BC

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 17, 2018 -- Resources for Future Generations (#RFG2018) will bring International, Canadian and Indigenous peoples to Vancouver for a collaborative and exciting conference dedicated to the availability of resources. The conference will be held on June 16-21, 2018 at the Vancouver Convention Center. RFG2018 will examine three critical resources – energy, minerals and water – in the context of the Earth, environment, society, and the needs and roles of future generations. A community of scientists and professionals from several Canadian Associations, working together, created this new and exciting conference.

The RFG2018 program will explore six vital themes: Earth, energy, minerals, water, resources & society, and education & knowledge. The daily schedule will include a wide range of innovative and provocative special sessions and events including panels, debates, thematic keynotes, public lectures and events for early career professionals. The sessions are specially designed to engage participants, provoking new ideas and conversations, and connecting the big thinkers with practical matters and real-world situations. Ultimately, the aim is to further our understanding of the relationship between minerals, energy, water and the impact they have on the sustainability of humans. Over the course of four days, there will be 140 technical sessions, and almost 1,500 oral and poster presentations. From Sea to Sky natural hazards to porphyry copper deposits in BC, RFG2018 will offer 15 pre and post-conference field trips. There will also be 26 one and two day short courses such as using drones in geoscience and integrating corporate social responsibility in exploration.

Hear from the experts on why #RFG2018 is an important conference:

John Thompson, Chair, RFG2018 Steering Committee
“It’s never been more important to discuss how we’ll provide critical natural resources responsibly in the future.  RFG2018 will be the place for this conversation.”

Merran Smith, Executive Director, Clean Energy Canada
“Metals and minerals are key ingredients for solar panels, wind turbines and electric cars. Miners have an opportunity to play a major role in the global transition to clean energy, but if we’re going to capitalize on this opportunity, we need to ensure mining practices are as clean as possible, that they have the support and confidence of communities.”

Jay Famiglietti, Canada 150 Chair, Saskatchewan
"Conversations regarding how food, water and energy supplies are changing can be uncomfortable, but they are essential because planning for those changes must begin now.  Conferences like RFG2018 provide a much-needed forum for these discussions and are often catalysts for action in resilience and sustainability.”

Lana Eagle, Consultant and Co-chair Program RFG2018
"This event is a tremendous opportunity to talk about the issues around sustainability for future generations and who better to encapsulate what some of those issues are than Indigenous people - in a format where they are being listened to and heard."

#RFG2018 highlights - http://www.rfg2018.org/en/RFG/2018/Technical-Program/Plenaries

Opening Forum - Resources Sources and Constraints
Tzeporah Berman, Ross Beaty, Gavin Mudd and Richard Chucla take on the big thinking required to assess the availability of resources.

Public Lectures

• ‘Earth:  the power of the planet’ by Iain Stewart, Director of the Sustainable Earth Institute at Plymouth University
• ‘Can we end the global water crisis?’  by Jay Famiglietti, incoming Canada 150 Research Chair, University of Saskatchewan

Dialogues

• Future of Energy- Scott Tinker and Merran Smith discuss how best to supply energy to meet global human needs.
• Who owns Resources?  Jessica Bratty, Tony Hodge, Ian Gill and Cynthia Callison will dig deep into this fundamental question.

Closing Forum – The Future of Resources
Join Megan Leslie, Robert Armstrong, Tamlyn Botel and John Ludden in assessing what the future holds in a rapidly developing and technological world.

Quick facts
#RFG2018 will bring together a diverse range of several thousand participants including Indigenous and Government leaders, policymakers, business leaders, students, young leaders, researchers, scientists, and local communities to discuss the most pressing challenges concerning resources and related sustainability issues.

#RFG2018 takes place under the auspices of the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) and is delivered by the Canadian Federation of Earth Sciences (CFES), the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), the Geological Association of Canada (GAC), and the Mineralogical Association of Canada (MAC).

For more information, visit www.rfg2018.org and watch the video Why RFG?.

Find us on –

Twitter: @RFG2018,  #RFG2018
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rfg2018/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RFG2018/

Media contact
Kamran Shaikh
PR Associates
[email protected]
778.846.5406 (Mobile)