Participants in the Forum for Sustainability held at the University of Navarra. PHOTO:

The Forum for the Sustainability of Navarre demands a strategic political and social pact for the region in a discussion that gathered 180 people at the School of Sciences of the University of Navarre.

In the meeting, promoted by CRANA, the two universities of Navarre, the high school Official Sociologists of Navarre and Chair UNESCO, the creation of a strategic political and social pact to design a new orientation for the region was proposed.

Specifically, the experts called for a new consideration of citizenship, "that goes beyond being a consumer and demander of services to play an essential role as a member of a community. The Forum also called for an active demographic policy "that takes on issues of birth rate and migration and includes concepts of sustainability in basic areas for social cohesion, such as health, Education or development".

At the level of the public management and the territory, the specialists and those attending the discussion called for overcoming a short-sighted vision and a comprehensive approach , where the most appropriate city model and mobility are studied. In this sense, they also demanded the contemplation of natural resources and biodiversity, energy sustainability, food and water management , with the goal to preserve the values of water ecosystems.

work and innovation = social cohesion
On the labor aspect, the Forum highlighted the role of work as a fundamental agent of social and economic cohesion, and suggested a more ambitious strategy for management of knowledge, including investments in technical and social innovation, improvement of language skills in the general population and new models of teaching adapted to future needs.

The meeting was inaugurated by the Dean of the School of Sciences, Ignacio López-Goñi, with the participation of the experts Mario Gaviria Labarta, urban sociologist and award National Environment; Miguel Laparra Navarro, professor at the Public University of Navarra and director of research center for Equality and Social Integration; Guillermo Herrero Maté, doctor in Geography and History and former general director of Education; Luis Gabilondo Pujol, director of the Service of research, Innovation and Health training of the Government of Navarra; and Jordi Puig Baguer, professor of Zoology and Ecology of the University of Navarra and moderator of discussion.