Najam Appeals for Stronger Action on Climate Change
In an appearance on the BBC‘s “Weekend,” Adil Najam, Dean Emeritus and Professor of International Relations and Earth and Environment at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, discussed the recent COP 27 summit and the dire cost of inaction on climate change.
In his remarks, Najam laments the inertia of the international community on climate change and notes the continuity of summits like COP27 to make unfulfilled promises. This past year demonstrated that what Najam calls the ‘”Age of Adaption” has finally arrived; from deadly flooding in Pakistan to the hottest European summer on record, Najam argues that we can no longer hide from climate change. He recommends that climate change be used as a vehicle for progress, arguing that “climate change should not be the opposite of development.” He cites the Living Indus Initiative in Pakistan, wanting climate change legislation to use “adaptation as an opportunity to bring development to the sensible level that we have missed in the pursuit of growth.”
Najam also touches on climate justice, one of the most important topics discussed at COP27. He affirms that smaller states have “done very little to cause the problem” of climate change, yet they “are now seeing the consequences of a crisis that is not of their making.”
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The full program can be listened to on the BBC‘s website. Najam’s remarks begin at 33 minutes and 45 seconds.
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.