Pardee Fellow Presents at GeoEngineering Event

Pardee Visiting Scholar, Dr. Pablo Suarez, participated in the Asilomar International Conference on Climate Intervention Technologies from March 22-26, 2010 in California. His presentation to the more than 175 experts from 15 countries was titled “Questions on Humanitarian Work in a Geoengineered World”, and highlighted issues regarding vulnerable people in the context of decision making and potential adverse effects of geoengineering (i.e. the deliberate modification of our climate system, for example through injecting sulfur dioxide in the upper atmosphere to reverse global warming). The press release of the Asilomar Conference calls for ensuring that climate intervention research progresses in a timely, safe, ethical and transparent manner that addresses social, humanitarian and environmental issues.

Dr. Suarez has also coauthored a paper published this week at Geoengineering Quarterly entitled “Towards a People‐Centered Framework for GeoEngineering Governance: A Humanitarian Perspective”.

Pablo Suarez has published extensively on the potential role of microinsurance to enhance climate risk management, including an article just published in the journal Global Environmental Change building on his fieldwork in Ethiopia and Malawi, hosted a Pardee House Seminar on Food and Microinsurance in 2009, and recently published a Pardee Center Paper that addresses index-based insurance for humanitarian decisions