Pardee Center Director in the Media

Prof. Adil Najam, Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future and Boston University Professor of International Relations and Geography and Environment has been quoted by multiple sources in the US and international media on the ongoing havoc caused by the devastating floods in Pakistan, which have now affected an estimated 20 million people.

Speaking to The Los Angeles Times on why the international public response was tepid and much less than in other recent natural disasters, Prof. Adil Najam said he believed “the myth of the bad Pakistan” has colored how Americans talk about the flood. “In Haiti, it was about a child in need,” Najam said. “For this flood, it’s Pakistanis, it’s Muslims.” He added that, “a lot of the blame has to go to Pakistan itself,” since “the government’s credibility is so low that no one wants to give through them.”

Prof. Adil Najam was also interviewed by Canada’s public broadcasting show ‘Q’ on the same theme and made a passionate case that the crisis should be seen as the human crisis that it is and not be colored by whatever political views people may have about Pakistan. He argued that the response we have seen to the Pakistan floods thus far signified a “compassion deficit” and not “aid fatigue” (listen to the interview here).

In a detailed story published in Singapore’s The Strait Times, Prof. Najam is also widely quoted on the link between Pakistan’s floods, economic development and climate change. The interview was conducted during Prof. Najam’s recent visit to Singapore where a Pardee Center seminar was held on South Asia’s future in relation to the Pardee Center South Asia 2060 project.

Excerpts from The Strait Times’ story, titled “You can’t separate climate from economy“:

Climate issues, Professor Najam said, are often viewed as natural phenomena one cannot do anything about, ‘whereas economic growth is something you can’ act on.

In fact, the two are really inextricable, contends Prof Najam, who was born in Pakistan and is an expert on South Asian development and politics. Growth that destroys the environment and changes the climate is unsustainable, he said.

But given that fast and unsustainable growth now could make countries more liable to pay for climate change adaptation later, does it make sense to develop in an unsustainable way?

‘No country ever says, ‘We’re going to choose between children’s health and economic growth’,’ Prof Najam said. ‘It’s not a choice.’

Separately, Prof. Adil Najam was also interviewed and quoted in news stories on the state of higher education in Pakistan and the betting scandal related to the Pakistan cricket team.