Global Issues Series

The Centre for Continuing Education, in association with the United Nations Association of New Zealand, brings you three lectures looking at global issues.

You may choose to attend individual lectures or register for the series. The fee is $35 per lecture or $75 for the series. A concession of $20 per lecture or $45 for the series is available to students and unwaged. There will be an opportunity at the end of each lecture for questions and discussion.

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Kate Bukowski, MPH
Anita Lacey, BA (Hons), PhD

The HIV/AIDS pandemic affects our global security and this lecture will consider the relationships between health and national and international security and the work of international organizations and NGOs to counter its impacts.

We will discuss the place of the well-being of individuals and communities in security discourses and policies and possible future scenarios for this global pandemic. On a more local level we will discuss HIV statistics, treatment, prevention and policy issues in New Zealand. We will examine the need for an updated Sexual and Reproduction Health Strategy and the issue of blood donation deferral for high risk groups and address the challenge of managing the small group of people with HIV who place others at risk. 

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Archer Davis, BSc, MBA
Basil Sharp, PhD

The growth of petroleum consumption is very closely correlated with economic growth in all modern economies. Yet crude oil, from which petroleum is derived, is a limited and non-renewable mineral resource which will eventually be depleted. Recently it has become apparent that production of the easy-to-reach sources of oil may have levelled off and that most future sources will be much more expensive and risky to develop and produce. This situation is sometimes referred to as Peak Oil. Yet what are the alternatives? Biofuels is one but it comes with its own challenges - the depletion of rainforests for palm oil, fuel crops competing with food crops and the dependency on water, a depleting resource. The latter part of this lecture will describe and discuss the water-energy-food nexus and outline the emerging problems associated with climate change and the diversion of land into crops for bio-fuel production.

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Veronica Strang, BA (Hons), MPhil, DPhil
Maggie Lawton, PhD

This lecture will explore a number of themes including whether water should be privatised or considered a ‘common good’ and how technologies and a change of attitude can conserve this valuable resource. Key areas of conflict are emerging globally in an increasingly intense competition for limited freshwater and marine resources. These conflicts are played out at different levels, with minority and indigenous groups attempting to negotiate water ownership and control with national and international interests; nations embarking on internal tugs-of-war about public versus private ownership, and international tensions over the ownership and use of trans-boundary waters. Which raises the issue - can, or should water be considered as a ‘common good’ or as a commodity? The second part of the lecture will discuss the combined impact of an increasing global population and climate change, accelerating the need to consider a paradigm shift in the way we use water, whether for agriculture or urban supply. It will demonstrate how a change in our mindset, combined with more efficient technologies can help us to adjust to a world where diminishing water supplies seem inevitable.

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