Najam Speaks at Boston Biodiversity Talks
Adil Najam, Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, spoke as part of the Boston Biodiversity Talks organized by the Luc Hoffman Institute and held at Boston University on May 30, 2019.
The Boston Biodiversity Talks brought together global thought leaders from diverse sectors and backgrounds for a unique event to engage in an initial dialogue underpinning the Biodiversity Revisited initiative. The event gave participants a chance to participate in the early reframing of biodiversity. The biosphere – the film of life that envelops our planet and sustains humanity – is being severely degraded by human action.
With the Boston Biodiversity Talks, participants worked to incubate a new framework for biodiversity in order to better protect nature and people. The talks delved into and considered how themes such as concepts, narratives, science, governance, systems and future thinking could shape societal notions of nature.
Najam spoke as part of a discussion on “The Global Landscape and ‘Biodiversity Revisited’,” with Jon Hutton, of the Luc Hoffmann Institute, and Jaboury Ghazoul, of ETH Zurich. The discussion was led by Melanie Ryan of the Luc Hoffmann Institute. Najam also delivered the closing remarks of the talks.
Prior to the Boston Biodiversity Talks, the Luc Hoffman Institute hosted a May 29, 2019 steering committee meeting for a major project entitled “Biodiversity Revisited: Sparking A New Approach To Research For The Biosphere.”
Najam chaired the meeting which convened interdisciplinary experts for an intensive collaborative research process to critically evaluate what has come before – and to think creatively about the future of the science and policy that underpin biodiversity conservation. Biodiversity Revisited will create a new research agenda for society to effectively sustain the biosphere.
The goal of Biodiversity Revisited is to critically examine the biodiversity narrative and consider what it would take to move closer to a new, innovative agenda around sustaining the biosphere. The committee will explore what such a framing would look like and what its new science would encompass.
The Luc Hoffman Institute was created by WWF and the MAVA Foundation in 2011 to create stronger links between biodiversity science and conservation action. At this event the Institute unveiled its new research strategy to launch the second phase of its activities. The focus will shift from a project base to developing solutions through convening, providing thought leadership for new conservation approaches, incubating emerging ideas, providing insights into new challenges and conducting rapid-response dialogues.
Adil Najam is the inaugural dean of the Pardee School and was a former Vice Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Lahore Pakistan. Learn more about him here.