Najam Discusses Lessons Learned from Climate Crisis and COVID-19
In his appearance on the Summer School for Young Diplomats’ “Time for Diplomacy” podcast, Adil Najam, Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was interviewed on the lessons learned and not learned about COVID-19 and the global climate crisis.
In his remarks, Najam discusses his longstanding proclamation that the world is living in the “Age of Adaptation,” how the change in climate diplomacy requires a focus on development and the impacts of climate change, and the failures of past climate mitigation efforts. He argues that international climate action has to this point been ineffective, and as a result the world – but disproportionately the poorest countries in the world – are dealing with climate impacts. Najam goes on to say that the failures of climate policy can also be seen in how the world managed COVID-19 with the breakdown of multilateralism; however, he did note that the pandemic also showcased the world’s capacity for rapid scientific achievements.
The full podcast can be listened to 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.