Prof. Najam at CIGI Annual Conference

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, attended CIGI ’10, the annual conference of the Center for International Governance Innovation at Waterloo, Canada. This conference is the premier annual event for CIGI and brings together world thought leaders to discuss the theme of the conference. The theme for this year was “Climate of Action” and the three day event sought to explore how action, across all levels of government and society, could be mobilized and coordinated to generate near-term progress towards realizing the core elements of the effective and equitable global governance framework on climate change.

The conference began with a public event at which the Canadian Minister of Environment, Jim Prentice, and the former Chief Scientist of the UK government, Sir David King, were the main speakers. This was followed by two days of closed sessions of experts which discussed various aspects of the global climate governance question. The small group of eminent experts at these sessions included luminaries such as Maurice Strong, Jim MacNiell, David Runnalls, Senator Elizabeth Thompson and many other, including Prof. Najam.

Prof. Najam was one of the lead discussants on climate governance and the role of groups and clubs in a possible solution. He highlighted the need to view climate as a development issue, and especially to view adaptation as a holistic adaptation challenge.