Najam Cited in Rethinking Approaches to Environmental Treaties
Dean Emeritus Adil Najam‘s research on environmental negotiations was cited in an editorial, published October 28, 2025, by the leading science journal, Nature, which posed ideas on how the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and their chair might be able to bridge agreements between countries after a series of explosive and tense talks this August. See here to read the full editorial.
Maria Ivanova, a social scientist at Northeastern University in Boston, looks to history for answers on how to move forward. She references the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, where many countries voiced their divided perspectives but were able to reach agreements. Being the first of many environmental conferences, leaders implemented key methods to sustain respectful debate, including creating informal spaces for representatives could get to know each other as people and bringing in scientific experts that could show concrete findings and offer recommendations.
Other issues arose,
delegates from poorer countries, many of which had gained independence from colonial rule, were threatening to skip the conference. Some considered the idea of protecting the environment a new form of colonization, says Boston University environmental scientist Adil Najam, who studies the involvement of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in international environmental agreements (A. NajamInt. Environ. Agreements5, 303–321; 2005). The representatives argued that, like richer countries, their nations should be allowed to industrialize before going green.
The editorial argues that UNEP and its chair must consider these perspectives in order for these talks to move forward in a healthy, impactful way.
Adil Najam is the dean emeritus at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and the professor of international relations and of earth and environment. An authority on climate action and South Asian politics, he has taught at MIT and Tufts University and is currently serving as the president of WWF International. He was a visiting fellow at the University of Oxford’s Wolfson College and was named the first De Janosi Fellow at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria. A prolific writer, Najam has authored more than 100 academic papers and published eight books including South Asia 2060: Envisioning Regional Futures (2013) and How Immigrants Impact their Homelands (2013). To know more about his work and accomplishments, visit his faculty profile.