Symposium on Global Climate Change and Developing Countries

Newswise — Williams College is bringing together some of the best minds in academia, business and science for a two-day symposium on "Global Warming and Developing Countries: Addressing and Coping with the Challenge," Thursday and Friday, April 10 and 11.

The symposium will focus on the critical long-term issue facing millions in low- and middle-income countries around the world: how they will deal with global warming. In particular, the conference will address policies that governments in poor countries need to consider now, while there is still time to make realistic adjustments.

Nobel Laureate economist Thomas Schelling will deliver the keynote address. His lecture is titled "What is the Greenhouse Danger, and Can We Manage It?" The event will take place on Thursday, April 10, at 8 p.m., in the '62 Center on the Williams campus. Schelling has dedicated his time in recent years to this theme, drawing on his earlier studies of how nations' approaches to strategic conflict can be applied to bargaining on the environment. He was one of the early voices pointing out that developing countries would bear the brunt of climate change.

Schelling is professor of foreign affairs, national security, nuclear strategy, and arms control at the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, College Park. He was awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize in Economics (shared with Robert Aumann) for having enhanced our understanding of conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis.

Friday, April 11 will be devoted to presentations and panel discussions, beginning at 9 a.m. with "Coping with Coastal Vulnerability: Sea-Level Rise," featuring James Neumann of Industrial Economics, Inc., and David Wheeler of the Center for Global Development, who will speak to the impact of sea level rise in developing countries. Robert Nichols of Cambridge University, speaking on "Migration and Sea-Level Rise," will follow them. Ronadh Cox of the Williams department of geosciences will chair the discussion.

Neumann is a principal and former managing director at Industrial Economics, Incorporated, a Cambridge, Massachusetts consulting firm specializing in economic analysis of environmental policies. He is co-editor of "The Impact of Climate Change on the United States Economy," published by Cambridge University Press in 1999.

Wheeler is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, where he works on issues related to climate change, natural resource conservation, African infrastructure development, sustainable development indicators, and the allocation of development aid.

Nichols' expertise concerns long-term issues of coastal engineering and management, especially the issues of coastal impacts and adaptation to climate change, with an emphasis on the implications for coastal flooding.

Cox is associate professor of geosciences at Williams. Her research projects have involved the geology of ancient sedimentary rocks in Madagascar, controls on modern formation of large gullies (lavakas) in Madagascar, and impact dynamics on Jupiter's moon Europa.

The second discussion of the day, "Coping with Coastal Vulnerability: Natural Disaster Risk," begins at 10:45 a.m. with Mushfiq Mobarek of Yale University and Chris Goemans of Colorado State speaking on "The Medium Term Impact of Natural Disasters in Brazil." The two will be followed by Rodney Lester of The World Bank on "Disaster Risk and Hurricane Insurance: The Role of Insurance." The panel will be joined by discussant Jared Carbone of the University of Calgary and chaired by Lisa Gilbert of the Williams in Mystic Program.

Mobarek is a development economist with interest in political economy and environmental issues. He is on the Yale University faculty and has previously worked for the World Bank, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and at the International Monetary Fund.

Goemans is an assistant professor in the department of agricultural and resource economics at Colorado State University. He is a member of the joint CU/NOAA sponsored Western Water Assessment. His current work focuses on various issues surrounding water demand management, climate change, and the role of information in consumer decision-making.

Lester is the head of the Insurance Practice Group of the Financial Sector Operations and Policy Department of the World Bank. Previously, he taught at Williams. His activities have included insurance industry supervisory reform, development of savings mechanisms and a strong emphasis on natural disasters funding and privatization.

Carbone is associate professor, department of economics and Institute of Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy, University of Calgary. He has worked at the Center for Environmental and Resource Economics Policy, North Carolina State University, the Korean Energy Economics Institute, and the University of Oslo.

At 1:45 p.m., attention will turn to "Water and Agriculture," featuring Robert Mendelsohn of Yale University speaking on "Climate Change and Agriculture in Developing Countries," and Kenneth Strzepek of the University of Colorado, speaking on "Water, Climate and Development in Africa." The panel will be joined by discussant Marc Conte, of the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Williams College.

Mendelsohn is a resource economist who specializes in valuing the environment. Mendelsohn has taught at Yale University since 1984 and is the Edwin Weyerhaeuser David Professor in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Strzepek's research has centered on water resource planning and management, river basing planning and modeling of agricultural, environmental, and water resources systems. Strzepek received his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Conte's research is related to the factors that should guide decision-making to engender efficient resource use and species protection efforts. A doctoral candidate at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Conte is a visiting lecturer at Williams.

The panel on financing sustainable development will begin at 3:15 p.m., featuring Joel Smith of Stratus Consulting, the lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); Vincent Perez, founder of Alterenergy Partners and former Secretary of the Department of Energy, Philippines; and Mark Tercek of Goldman Sachs, co-editor of the IPCC Woodrow Clark of the University of California, Riverside. The panel will be chaired by Jerry Caprio, chair of the Center for Development Economics at Williams.

Smith, vice president with Stratus Consulting, has been analyzing climate change impacts and adaptation issues for over 20 years. He was a coordinating lead author for the synthesis climate change impacts for the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and was a lead author for the IPCC's Fourth Assessment report.

Perez is founder and CEO of Alterenergy Partners, a power company focused on developing renewable energy in fast-growing emerging countries in Asia. He is also chairman of Merritt Partners, a boutique energy advisory firm providing advice to energy companies operating throughout Asia.

Tercek is a managing director at Goldman Sachs and the head of the Goldman Sachs Center for Environmental Markets and the Environmental Strategy Group. Tercek played a major role in designing Goldman Sachs' environmental strategy and is now responsible for its implementation. He is an adjunct professor at New York University's Stern School of Business with appointments in both the finance and the management & organization departments.

Caprio is professor of economics at Williams and chair of the Center for Development Economics at Williams College. He joined the World Bank in 1988 and, from 1998 until 2006, he was the Director for Policy in the World Bank's Financial Sector Vice Presidency. His current research focuses on the links between financial sector regulation and supervision and the development and stability of the financial sector.

The last panel of the day, on policy options for developing countries, will feature Tariq Banuri, senior fellow and director of the Future Sustainability Program of the Stockholm Environmental Institute; Haroun Er-Rashid, director of the School of Environmental Science and Management at Independent University, Bangladesh; and Stephen Wainaina, Planning Secretary of Kenya. The panel will be chaired by Douglas Gollin, chair of the Center for Environmental Studies.

Banuri is a senior fellow and director of the Future Sustainability Program of the Stockholm Environment Institute. He began his career in the Civil Service of Pakistan, and then joined the United Nations as a Research Fellow at the World Institute for Development Economics Research.

Er-Rashid is professor of geography and chair of the School of Environmental Science and Management in Independent University, Bangladesh in Dhaka. Previously, he worked in the Civil Service of Pakistan, the Civil Service in Bangladesh, and for the World Bank and FAO.

Wainaina is planning secretary for the Ministry of Planning and National Development in Kenya. Previously, he held senior government posts in Kenya.

Gollin is associate professor of economics and director, Center for Environmental Studies at Williams. He has written extensively on macroeconomics and growth, with particular interests in agricultural development, the impacts of disease, and the role of small enterprises in poor countries.

The symposium is supported by generous grants from the Mellon and Luce Foundations. It is sponsored by the Williams Department of Geosciences, Center for Environmental Studies, and The Center for Development Economics.