John has most kindly agreed to keynote the 2008 Boyd Conference, December 6 and 7, at the University of Prince Edward Island. As most visitors to this site are well aware, John is the author of the acclaimed book, Brave New War, which makes a compelling case for increasing resilience at the local level. For more information on the conference and to register, please visit the conference web site, and to get a headstart on the discussion, check out the ning community.

As co host Rob Paterson explains, John is one of the most respected resources on the concept of resilient communities. People have been talking about increasing local resilience for years, although in the past, economies of scale often trumped the need for resilience. With the advent of large-scale non-state conflict, sometimes called “fourth generation warfare,” however, the concept of relying on large and efficient but potentially vulnerable single points of failure must be re-examined.

Some of the most innovative work on local resilience has been done on Prince Edward Island, which is logical, given its geographical location. As our other featured guest, we will have John MacQuarrie, who is the Deputy Minister for Environment, Energy and Forestry for Prince Edward Island.  Rob explains the significance of Mr. MacQuarrie’s background and initiatives for all communities going forward.

The purpose of the conference is to explore the latest concepts on the future of conflict that could affect local communities and to share ideas for and experiences with implementing measures to deal with them.  If you are in any way involved with community resilience efforts, please join us on PEI for this ground-breaking conference.