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ESSD Week: Putting Commitments to Work
ESSD Week 2003 opened on Monday, March 10th in the Washington offices with a program focused on implementation and "putting our commitments to work". All three families of the Environmentally & Socially Sustianable Development Network (ESSD) -- agriculture/rural development, environment, and social development -- discussed the challenges of implementing the evolving sustainable development agenda -- and in particular, the importance of social equity and environmental sustainability to responsible economic growth.
Events that were open to the public:
The Sustainable Development Lecture Series featuring Deepak Chopra
Tuesday, March 11
11:00 AM
Preston Auditorium
1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC
Plenary: Aspirations and Apprehensions - Environmental Sustainability in a Changing World
Tuesday, March 11
9:00 to 10:45 a.m.
Location: IFC Auditorium
Description: A high-level panel discussion on achieving goals and measuring progress toward environmental sustainability. Each panelist will describe the experiences of their respective organizations in addressing and measuring environmental sustainability. The goal of the session is to learn from each other and better understand the ways that various organizations have addressed key environmental problems, actions and impacts. (Chair: Kristalina Georgieva, Director, ENV, World Bank)
Speakers:
Introduction
· Jonathan Lash, President, World Resources Institute (WRI)
Discussion
Panelists:
· Janine Ferretti, Chief, Environment Division, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
· Mark Collins, Executive Director, World Conservation Monitoring Center (WCMC)
· David Sandalow, Executive Vice President, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
Closing Remarks
· Ian Johnson, Vice President, ESSD, World Bank
Colloquium on Environmental Justice
Thursday, March 13
11:00 AM
Dr. Joke Waller-Hunter
Executive Secretary,
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
“Climate Change and Development”
Thursday, March 13, 2003
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
The World Bank
"J" Building, J-1-050
701-18th St. NW, Washington DC
Description
Climate change threatens to undermine long-term development and the ability of hundreds of millions of people in the developing world to escape poverty. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that the steady warming of the Earth's surface temperature will lead to falling agricultural production in tropical and sub-tropical countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sea level rise associated with projected increases in temperature could displace tens of millions of people living in low-lying areas, such as the Ganges and Nile deltas, and could threaten the existence of small island states.
Those and other impacts of climate change will place the poor of the developing world at even greater risk -- putting in jeopardy many of the development gains of the last several decades, and necessitating the integration of climate risk assessment and mitigation into development strategies.
The United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) enables and supports cooperative actions by all countries to combat climate change and its impacts on humanity and ecosystems. Dr. Joke Waller-Hunter, formerly Director of Environment in OECD, was appointed Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC last year.
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