Najam Keynote Addresses Issue of Communicating Climate Crisis to the World
On October 24, 2022, Adil Najam, Dean Emeritus and Professor of International Relations and Earth and Environment at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, presented a keynote address at the Pakistan Water Week conference – held in Islamabad, Pakistan from October 24-28 – titled “Communicating Climate Crisis in a Warming World.”
In his remarks, Najam highlighted that while extreme events like the recent floods in Pakistan do attract national and international media attention, the world still lacks a public vocabulary to convey the severity of the climate emergency to public audiences, particularly in developing countries where the existing economic and social challenges are great and citizens do not also see options for their own immediate actions since they are already negligible in their own emissions. However, Najam pointed out that in what he calls “The Age of Adaptation” there is an immediacy that people in climate-vulnerable countries can feel in events like floods, heatwaves, droughts, and fires. He suggested that the responsibility of finding such a vocabulary of climate urgency lies not only with the media but with climate scientists who also need to better relate their own work to the real lives of ordinary people, particularly the most vulnerable and poorest communities who are likely to be hardest hit.
Glad to speak at #PakistanWaterWeek2022 conference; on challenges of communicating #ClimateChange. Presented #LivingIndus as example of connecting climate to the real & felt challenges faced by Pakistanis. Grateful for the thoughtful comments from seasoned journalist colleagues. pic.twitter.com/4k5Kz6S85A
— Adil Najam (@AdilNajam) October 25, 2022
Hosted by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Pakistan Water Week aimed to address the systemic cross-sectoral thinking across water, energy, food, and environmental systems for climate-resilient development in Pakistan. More than 20 international experts and national stakeholders gathered to discuss pressing issues in the water sector with prospective solutions. The conference provided a scientific knowledge platform to those interested in water management and innovative climate solutions to share their concerns, opportunities, and work to build resilience to climate change for the Indus Basin. For more details on Pakistan Water Week, visit the IWMI website.
Adil Najam is a global public policy expert who served as 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 Najam on his faculty profile.