The European Foundation Centre’s European Environmental Funders Group has launched a series of webinars dedicated to exploring environmental issues currently at stake for the philanthropic sector.

Two webinars have already been held: the first, which had 30 participants, focused on the relationship between the environment, health, and social inequities, and the second, attracting 40 participants, looked at the role of healthy ecosystems in preventing future pandemics.

The European Environmental Funders Group has planned to hold a number of gatherings over several months in their climate series, in order to explore specific environmental issues currently at stake for the philanthropic sector.

‘It is a way to keep alive the discussion of the most pressing topics for funders at the moment,’ said EFC Thematic Networks Coordinator Silvia Balmas.

The series’ first webinar was held in the beginning of July, and featured Climate Change Adaptation Expert, European Environment Agency Aleksandra Kazmierczak as speaker. Kazmierczak is the lead author of the report ‘Unequal exposure and unequal impacts: Social vulnerability to air pollution, noise and extreme temperatures in Europe‘, and she shared her expertise on the matter with Matteo Barbato, Programme Officer at Fondazione Cariplo, who acted as the moderator.

The second webinar took place in mid-July and considered how the degradation of ecosystems have been a root cause of emergent infectious diseases. Moderator Tina Lain, Senior Expert Environmental Justice at IUCN Netherlands National Committee, was joined by panellists European Biodiversity Conservation Coordinator at IUCN European Regional Office Catarina Ferreira; Lecturer in Ecological Health, Grantham Institute and School of Public Health at Imperial College London Kris Murray; and Director of Global Health at Wildlife Conservation Society Chris Walzer.

The EEFG will continue its climate webinar series in September. To stay updated on the programme, keep an eye on their calendar or contact Balmas at sbalmas@efc.be for more information.