Plenary Panel Session on Rio+20
Preceding EAERE 2012 by only a week, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development Rio+20: The Future We Want focused on two key themes - green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication and institutional framework for sustainable development. As both themes have long been major topics at EAERE Conferences we take the opportunity to organise a panel session with distinguished speakers to discuss the promises, failures and outcomes of Rio+20 Conference.
The plenary panel session on Rio+20 is held on Friday, June 29, 15:00 - 16:15, in Vencovskeho aula and video transmitted to RB 101.
PANELLISTS:
Sir Partha Dasgupta, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom - chair
Professor Dasgupta is the Frank Ramsey Professor of Economics at the University of Cambridge. He was formerly chairman of the scientific board of the Beijer International Institute of Ecological Economics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, as well as professor of economics and philosophy, and director of the Program in Ethics in Society at Stanford University. Professor Dasgupta has spent nearly most of his professional life working on poverty and inequality issues. His cutting-edge research covers welfare and development economics, the economics of technological change, population, environmental, and resource economics, game theory, and the economics of malnutrition. Much of his work has involved investigating the areas of sustainable development in which the interests of economics collide with ecological and social issues. An important area of his research has been the study of social capital - for instance, the degree of mutual trust and social networks that form a community. Having grown up in India, he brings a unique perspective to his field. Professor Dasgupta has also been invaluable to the cause of capacity-building among young scientists, especially in developing countries. In 2002, Professor Dasgupta was named Knight Bachelor by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for services to economics.
Marianne Fay, World Bank
Marianne Fay is the Chief Economist of the Sustainable Development Network of the World Bank. She co-directed the World Development Report 2010 on Development and Climate Change and led a recent World Bank report on Inclusive Green growth: the Pathway to Sustainable Development. She has held positions in different regions of the World Bank (Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa) working on infrastructure, urbanization and climate change. She is the author of a number of articles and books on these topics. Marianne Fay holds a PhD in Economics from Columbia University.
Reyer Gerlagh, Tilburg University, Netherlands
Reyer Gerlagh is Professor of Environmental Economics at the Tilburg University. His PhD research won him a prestigious scholarship, the "Vernieuwingsimpuls", a grant of € 650,000 by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). He has published many articles on climate change policy, technological change, sustainability, natural resources, and the green paradox, has organized workshops and summer schools, and has been board member for various projects and journals.
He visited Oslo, January-June 2006, by invitation from the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters to work at the Centre of Advanced Studies on the interaction between environmental policy and technology. From 2006 to 2009, he held a chair in Environmental Economics the University of Manchester, UK. Reyer Gerlagh is now Professor at Tilburg University, associate editor of Energy Economics, and coordinating lead author of the fifth assessment report of the IPCC, WG III. This summer he will present the course Strategic Dynamic Climate Policy at the Oslo Summer School in Comparative Social Sciences.
Georgina Mace, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
Georgina Mace is Professor of Conservation Science at Imperial College London. Her research interests are in measuring the trends and consequences of biodiversity loss and ecosystem change. She led the development of criteria for listing species on IUCN's Red List of threatened species, and was an coordinating lead author for biodiversity in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Recently she has worked on the UK National Ecosystem Assessment, is a co-investigator on the NERC Valuing Nature Network, and is an Associate Director of the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation Programme, funded by DfID, NERC and ESRC. She was elected FRS in 2002, and was the 2007 winner of the international Cosmos prize. She is President of the British Ecological Society (2011-2013) and Chair of the science committee for the DIVERSITAS global change research programme.
Bedřich Moldan, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic
Bedřich Moldan is Professor of Environmental Science and Director of the Environment Centre of the Charles University in Prague. He was elected Vice-chair of the Bureau for the Preparatory Process of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, representing the Eastern European States Group. He also succeeded in using his wide-ranging expertise in political engagement, when he was the first Minister of the Environment of the Czech Republic and Senator of the Parliament of the Czech Republic (2004-2010). He also served in a number of positions at international level, such as Chairman of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, Chairman and member of the European Environment Agency Scientific Committee or the Secretary-General of the SCOPE. He has been adviser to the Prince of Monaco Albert II. (since 2006), member of the European Consultative Forum on the Environment and Sustainable Development of the European Commission and coordinating lead author of a part of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. His lifelong work in sustainable development, sustainable use of natural resources, material and energy efficiency, climate change, etc. was awarded with gold medals by renowned academic institutions, such as Nature Science Faculty of Charles University in Prague and Masaryk University in Brno, or with honorary title "Ambassador for the Environment" by the German Society for Foreign Affairs. He is also a laureate of the international SCOPE-Zhongyu Environmental Award 2010.
