Pardee Center Director Speaks to UN Ambassadors

Prof. Adil Najam, Director of the Boston University Pardee Center, spoke to a group of Ambassadors to the United Nations on “Climate Change, Development and Security” and then again at an event in the UN on “International Environmental Governance.”

The first event, on the morning of April 24, was held at the European Commission’s UN Mission in New York and attended by around two dozen Ambassadors to the United Nations from European and from developing countries. As the featured speaker, Prof. Najam highlighted the point that while there is a growing interest in global climate change as a policy issue, we will not be able to tackle the challenges associated with this long-term threat unless we view it as a development challenge, and within that as a challenge of human security.

The second event, held in the afternoon at the United Nations headquarters itself, was sponsored by the Switzerland mission to the United Nations and chaired by the Ambassadors of the General Assembly working group on international environmental governance (Mexico and Switzerland). Speaking on “Capacity Building Challenges to International Environmental Governance” the Pardee Center Director highlighted that capacity building is a key to resolving many of the challenges for developing countries in this area, but also that we need to seriously consider “which capacities are needed, where, and by whom” before we devise such programs.