On the 2nd of May, 2022, the University of Guyana – Green Institute (UGGI) signed a contract with the United Nations Resident Coordinator, for six (6) months, to provide consultancy on Policy Dialogues on the Triple Planetary Crisis.
The objective of this consultancy helps the United Nations seek to create space in Guyana for constructive advocacy and dialogue relating to the ‘Triple Planetary Crisis’ of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. It aims to support generate and socialize new knowledge on climate change topics that are crucial for Guyana’s future, including carbon pricing, incentives in energy production, incentives for environmental protection and conservation, and penalties for pollution and carbon emissions.
Episode 1: Forests, Petroleum and Climate Resilient Development: IPCC Findings Relevant for Guyana
Overview: This was the first in the UN-Guyana-sponsored Policy Dialogue Series on the Triple Planetary Crises (Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss and Pollution) organised by the UGGI. Introductory remarks were made by Ms. Yeşim Oruç United Nations Resident Coordinator in Guyana. The Moderator was Prof. Edward Greene, Chancellor of the Univesity of Guyana.
Overview: The presenter was Dr. Danilo Spinola, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Birmingham City University. This presentation was the second in the UN-Guyana-sponsored Policy Dialogue Series on the Triple Planetary Crises organised by the UGGI. The Moderator was Dr. Thomas B. Singh, Director of the UGGI.
Dr. Spinola has a long experience working as an external consultant for international organizations, such as the United Nations’ Economic Commission for Latin America.
Episode 3: True Development and Natural Resources – What is the Connection?
Overview: This was the third in the UN-Guyana-sponsored Policy Dialogue Series on the Triple Planetary Crises organized by the UGGI. The Moderator was Prof. Jay Mandle, W. Bradford Wiley Professor of Economics, Emeritus, Colgate University.
Ricardo Hausmann is the founder and Director of Harvard’s Growth Lab and the Rafik Hariri Professor of the Practice of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School.
Overview: This was the fourth in the UN-Guyana-sponsored Policy Dialogue Series on the Triple Planetary Crises organised by the UGGI. The Moderator was Dr. Thomas B. Singh, Director of the GREEN Institute (UGGI).
Ms. Daniella was the Paris Agreement Article 6 negotiator for Guatemala at COP23 and at COP26. She participated as an observer in Article 6 negotiations at COP25. Most recently, she was part of a team that developed mathematical decarbonisation models for the energy sector of Guatemala.
Episode 5: The Living Amazon: Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Mitigation
Overview: This was the fifth in the UN-Guyana sponsored Policy Dialogue Series on the Triple Planetary Crises (Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss and Pollution) organised by the UGGI. The Moderator was Prof. Edward Greene.
Kurt Holle is the Country Representative, WWF Peru. He is passionate about nature and firmly believes that to protect it, people must first enjoy it and value it. For this reason, during over 25 years, he has focused on bringing together biodiversity conservation and business activity, under a vision of sustainability and generating benefits for local population.
Episode 6: Bioenergy and Development, with Recent Insights from Brazil’s Bioenergy/Agro-Industry
Overview: This was the sixth in the UN-Guyana sponsored Policy Dialogue Series on the Triple Planetary Crises (Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss and Pollution) organised by the UGGI. The Moderator was Dr. Thomas B. Singh. The panelists were Professor Lynd, an expert on utilization of plant biomass for production of energy, and Prof. Nogueira, a Mechanical Engineer.
Episode 7: The Human Right to a Clean, Healthy, and Stable Environment
Overview: This was the seventh in the UN-Guyana sponsored Policy Dialogue Series on the Triple Planetary Crises (Climate Change, Biodiversity Loss and Pollution) organised by the UGGI. The Moderator was Dr. Thomas B. Singh. Benjamin Schachter is a Human Rights Officer and the focal point for climate change and the environment at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
Episode 8: Urbanization and Socio-Economic Development: What We Know, and What We are Learning
Overview: The eighth presentation was delivered by Prof. Luís M. A. Bettencourt, Inaugural Director of the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation and Professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago, as well as an External Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute. He was trained as a theoretical physicist and obtained his undergraduate degree from Instituto Superior Técnico (Lisbon, Portugal) in 1992, and his Ph.D. from Imperial College (University of London, UK) in 1996 for research in statistical and high-energy physics models of the early Universe.
Episode 9: Building Resilience in the Face of Climate Change
Overview: The ninth presentation was delivered by Dr. Samantha Stratton-Short, Head of Strategic Initiatives, Infrastructure, and Project Management at the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS). Managing a multidisciplinary team, Samantha leads UNOPS thought leadership in infrastructure and the global agenda 2030 for sustainable development. The Strategic Initiatives team supports countries and partners with strategic and technical support to improve sustainable, resilient, and inclusive development outcomes.
Episode 10: Transport in Economic, Spatial, Social, and Environmental Development
Overview: The tenth presentation was delivered by Roger Vickerman, Visiting Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London and Chair of the Transport Strategy Centre. He is an Emeritus Professor of European Economics at the University of Kent. Educated at the Universities of Cambridge and Sussex, he has an Honorary Doctorate from the Philipps-Universität, Marburg; he is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences; a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and a Fellow of the Regional Studies Association. He has been a visiting professor in Canada, Germany, Hungary, and Australia
Episode 11: The Latest Science about Climate Change Impact and Solutions
Overview: The eleventh presentation was presented by Prof. Peter Schlosser, Vice President and Vice Provost, Global Futures Laboratory & Director of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, Arizona State University. Professor Schlosser is one of the world’s leading earth scientists, with expertise in the Earth’s hydrosphere and how humans affect the planet’s natural state. He comes to ASU from Columbia University where he was the Maurice Ewing and J. Lamar Worzel Professor of Geophysics and Chair of the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and the deputy director and director of research at the Earth Institute.
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