Lecture & Discussion

»After the Copenhagen Climate Summit. What is to be done?«

Adil Najam is one of the leading and internationally reknowned experts on environment and climate change. This makes him a highly preferred commentator on the Copenhagen Climate Summit.

In his lecture at Deutsche Welle, Adil Najam commented on the issues discussed at the Copenhagen Climate Summit and talked about the challenges of finding international guidelines and policies to handle climate change. He also offered his analysis of the political consequences the U.S. and other states are facing after the summit.

Professor Najam made it clear that in his opinion, climate policy is not merely an issue of environment or emissions but rather a matter of development and adaptation. He illustrated this rational by pointing out that the poorest people in each country are the ones to suffer most from the consequences of climate change, such as scarcety of agricultural products, drought and floodings. According to Professor Najam, this doesn't merely effect the poor countrioes but also the socuially disadvantegd and poor people in rich and industrialized countries as well. Climate change also brings about a migration of those who can afford to leave, says Adil Najam, and leaves the affected regions with a lack of qualified inhabitants.

Pakistan-born Adil Najam is Professor of Global Public Policy at Boston University and director of the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future as well as Professor of International Relations, Geography and Environment. Being the lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Professor Najam together with Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Price for Peace for their achievement in matters of climate change. In 2008, Ban Ki-moon, UN-Secretary General, appointed him to the "United Nations Committee on Development Policy" and one year later Adil Najam received one of the highest Pakistani decorations: the Sitara-i-Imtiaz-Medaille (star of excellence).

Moderation: Dr. Irene Quaile-Kersken, Deutsche Welle