Experts Discuss Global Governance and Development at Pardee House

On Friday, June 5, 2009, The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future held a lunch seminar on ‘Future Challenges: Governance and Sustainability.‘ The seminar featured Hans Hoogeveen, Abid Suleri, and Mukul Sanwal, and moderated by Prof. Adil Najam, Director, Pardee Center.

Hans Hoogeveen is the Director General for International Affairs at the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. He served as chair of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF) and in the 17th UN Commission on Sustainable Development, where the Netherlands held the chairmanship.

Hans Hoogeven addressed issues of forests and governance. He stressed that forests are a very complex issue, with social, politic, economic and environmental implications, and home to millions of people. He explained that over 40 regional and international agreements address on or more aspects of forests and, noting that complex problems require complex solutions, he said a single global forest treaty might not be the best approach to the problem.

Abid Suleri is the Executive Director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Pakistan, and the author of a recent Pardee Center Issues in Brief paper on food and governance.

Abid Suleri discussed issues of food and governance, noting that there is no such thing as a non-political famine. Abid underscored the role of national and sub-national policies in episodes of food scarcity. He noted the limited role of international institutions, mainly limited to food assistance during a crisis.

Mukul Sanwal has been the Senior Policy Adviser at the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and also a negotiator for the Indian Government.

Mukul Sanwal underscored current climate negotiations, and the need to include adaptation on the same footing as mitigation. He emphasized the imbalance in mitigations discussions, as currently framed, demanding developing countries to curtail infrastructure development, while demanding from developed countries, who already have most infrastructure in place, to adjust their consumption practices. He stressed the need for lifestyle changes, noted proposals on individual climate change commitments, and said that from a developing country perspective technology is more relevant than finance..

Following the presentations the public engaged in a lively discussion with the panelists. Some of the issues discussed included how to ensure coherence between global and national governance, the role of public health in forests, food and climate governance, the effects of food policy in local elections and how to address lifestyle changes through governance.

The video of the seminar will be made available at the Pardee Center’s multimedia webpage.