Water and light for Colombia

27 August 2012. The event of 3 and 4 September will bring together researchers and practitioners from Colombia and Switzerland. They will discuss the ways in which socially and economically sustainable projects in the emerging South American countries will be able to develop from niche products into mass products.

Student initiative in Bogotá

In a slum area in Colombia’s capital Bogotá, students integrated PET bottles into the roofs of windowless slum huts. This is a simple principle with which up to 55 Watts can be generated and the dark huts can be lit even without electricity. The used plastic bottles are filled with water – with a “Liter of Light”, as the initiative calls itself. What influence can such a project have on the local community, their culture, the environment and the economy? What new technologies will improve the supply of drinking water? This and other questions will be debated at the two-day conference at the University of St.Gallen.

Public two-day event

Speakers will include Colombia’s former Minister of Culture, Paula Marcela Moreno, the HSG professors Rolf Wüstenhagen, Günter Müller-Stewens and Yvette Sánchez, as well as a number of Colombian and Swiss experts in the fields of sustainability and development. The conference is funded by the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER). The detailed programme and information about the speakers are enclosed. The event is open to the general public and will be held in English. Anyone who would like to participate should register through cls-hsg@unisg.ch.

photo: Photocase / daniel.schoenen