Najam Gives Opening Remarks at Biodiversity Revisited Symposium
Adil Najam, Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, delivered the opening remarks at the September 10, 2019 Biodiversity Revisited Symposium hosted in Vienna, Austria.
Najam, who chaired the Biodiversity Revisited steering committee, emphasized that it is the time for action and not just thoughts. He asked how thought leaders can move things forward faster because the world and planet need us to act faster.
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 #BiodiversityRevisited Chair @AdilNajam gives opening remarks for the Symposium. He asks “how can we move things forward faster because the world and planet need us to act faster” pic.twitter.com/w8hy824lDK
— Luc Hoffmann Institute (@LucHoffmannInst) September 11, 2019
The project aims include bringing new awareness and thinking about biodiversity from concept through measurement to implementation; establishing fresh ideas and a five-year research agenda in the context of the 2020 processes for biodiversity, climate and land; and producing more effective and targeted research for the equitable and effective management of the biosphere as the foundation for human development, security and life on Earth.
The Luc Hoffmann Institute provides the role of the secretariat for this project, working with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Nature Sustainability, Future Earth, ETH Zurich Department of Environmental Systems Science, the University of Cambridge Conservation Research Institute (UCCR) and the Centre for Biodiversity and Environment Research at University College London (CBER).
The major part of the work is funded by the NOMIS Foundation with contributions from the MAVA Foundation, WWF-International, ETH Zurich and others.
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.