Najam Speaks at MSF Scientific Days in London
Adil Najam, Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School for Global Studies at Boston University, delivered the keynote address at the Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctor’s Without Borders) MSF Scientific Days London held at the Royal Society of Medicine on May 24, 2018.
The MSF Scientific Days is aimed at promoting the effective sharing of relevant scientific research will contribute to the further improvement of MSF’s care. Research and innovation from the frontline of humanitarian action is presented and debated, and is streamed live and free online to a global audience.
Najam’s keynote, entitled “Climate Change, Environmental Health, and Humanitarian Aid,” emphasized that we now live in the age of adaptation and an organization like Doctors Without Borders has to be on the front line of climate change. According to Najam, if MSF isn’t on the front line climate change will itself appear on their front line.
Najam’s keynote address built on his earlier argument that we are already living in the ‘Age of Adaptation’ and, for too many people particularly in poorer countries, climate change impacts are no longer a possibility for the future but a reality of today. He elaborated on how we as a planet and as a species have stumbled into this Age of Adaptation (which, he argues, we were never supposed to live in) and went on to highlight key elements of what this means for the life of the most vulnerable communities.
Following his keynote, Najam also spoke as part of a panel at MSF Scientific Days on climate change, environmental health and humanitarian aid.
Adil Najam is the inaugural dean of the Pardee School and a professor of international relations and also of earth and environment at Boston University. His research focuses on issues of global public policy, especially those related to global climate change, South Asia, Muslim countries, environment and development, and human development. Najam was a co-author for the Third and Fourth Assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); work for which the scientific panel was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for advancing the public understanding of climate change science.