A fresh Asian perspective on constraints to growth at Davos World Economic Forum 25 to 29 January

A fresh Asian perspective on constraints to growth at Davos World Economic Forum 25 to 29 January 2012

Chandran Nair, the founder and CEO of the Global Institute For Tomorrow (GIFT) will discuss the shifting perspectives on growth with a focus on resource scarcity and the nature of consumption, as economic power shifts from West to East. Chandran Nair’s WEF invitation reflects the increasing interest in Asian perspectives on the inter-related issues of globalisation, resource constraints and economic growth.

“Asian governments will need to wake up to the realities of a resource constrained 21st century. To rely on the market to correct the inefficiencies in the allocation of resources is at best naïve and at worst plain dishonest,” Chandran Nair stressed.

During the Annual Meeting, which will convene under the theme “The Great Transformation: Shaping New Models” for global, national and business decision-making, Chandran Nair will be engaged as a panelist and moderator on the key issues of sustainability, resource scarcity and the implications for a fast growing Asia. He will stress the geo-political consequences of these issues as economic power shifts from the West to the East. He has, in previous global forums such as APEC spoken about the lack of an honest debate about constraints or limits to growth, as the world’s population hit seven billion in October 2011 and is estimated to hit nine billion by 2050. 

He argues that governments in the Asian region must start reshaping capitalism by making resource management, and therefore the pricing of these, the centre of all policy-making. And to do this, we must reject the existing Western economic model which promotes relentless consumption by under-pricing resources.

He will speak at the panel session “The Sustainability Context” on 25 January (1-2.15pm) and will be moderating the “Sustainability Champions” session on 28 January (15.30 – 16.30).