Najam Discusses Environmental Policy at UN EMG’s Stockholm+50
On November 30, 2021, Adil Najam, Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, joined fellow environmental experts for the United Nations Environmental Group’s (UN EMG) Stockholm+50 roundtable series exploring international climate commitments as well as future opportunities and responsibilities.
The international meeting provides a platform for experts to take stock of the system-wide efforts undertaken by the UN in addressing the environmental agenda since the 1972 Stockholm Conference; reflect on related achievements and results; and develop future perspectives for coordinated action in going beyond planetary crises for the prosperity of a healthy planet. The event was split into two panels, and the portion Najam participated in – titled “Foreseeing the Future of Our Responsibility & Opportunity” – explored specific and actionable plans to accelerate the achievement of the environmental dimension of the sustainable development goals (SDG) to achieve a healthy planet. Panelists included Adnan Amin, former Director-General at the International Renewable Energy Agency and Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center; Arthur Dahl, President of the International Environment Forum; and Paola Deda, Director of the UN Economic Commission for Europe’s Forest, Land, and Housing Division.
Najam argued that the entire global environmental system that we recognize today is a “child of Stockholm.” His remarks focused on what the architects of the original Stockholm meeting might have thought about the state of global environmental policy today and what they might have wished today’s participants would focus on. Najam suggested that, while much has happened because of the Stockholm conference, much of its agenda remains a work in progress and that this fact would have greatly disturbed the architects of the original conference.
A video of Najam’s remarks can be viewed below.
Adil Najam is a global public policy expert who also served as the Vice-Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan. He is the Inaugural Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and was the former Vice-Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). 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. Read more about Dean Najam on his faculty profile.