Najam Keynote Explores Issues of Human Security and Development
On December 14, 2021, Adil Najam, Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, delivered a keynote address at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute’s (IPRI) Margalla Dialogue.
The annual IPRI conference aims to host thinkers and leaders from around the world to articulate the changing international politics and great power competition, inspire tech-oriented discussions, and pave a fresh start for South Asia. This year’s event was opened by Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan, and featured high-profile speakers from around the world including security and diplomatic leadership from the United States, China, and Russia.
Najam’s remarks center around human development and security in the context of climate change. He reaffirms his argument that climate change is a present issue and we are living in the Age of Adaptation; anyone – diplomats, governments, advocates, etc. – who argues that climate change is a future issue is lying. In the Age of Adaptation, Najam says that the world must move from a reactive posture to a proactive one, shift focus from security to insecurity, and think more about global benefits as opposed to national costs when addressing crises of human security.
A recording of Najam’s remarks can be viewed below.
Adil Najam is a global public policy expert who also served as the Vice-Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan. He is the Inaugural Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and was the former Vice-Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS). His research focuses on issues of global public policy, especially those related to global climate change, South Asia, Muslim countries, environment and development, and human development. Read more about Dean Najam on his faculty profile.