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11 May, 2009

UNU at CSD-17: Facing Global Environmental Change -- Environmental, Human, Energy, Food, Health and Water Security Concepts (Book Launch)

The United Nations University (UNU) presented this side event as part of the 17th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-17). Facing Global Environmental Change: Environmental, Human, Energy, Food, Health, and Water Security Concepts addresses security threats posed by climate change, desertification, water stress, population growth, and urbanization in the 21st century. The authors suggest cooperative policies for peace, opportunities for environmental cooperation, and proactive solutions to global problems.

The event was sponsored by the United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS).

Date: Monday, May 11, 2009
Time: 1:15pm - 2:45pm
Venue: Conference Room 7, UN Headquarters

The editors of this 4th volume of the Hexagon Series on Human and Environmental Security and Peace (Springer-Verlag 2009) include PD Dr. Hans Günter Brauch, Professor Dr. Ursula Oswald Spring.

In addition to these two panelists, other panelists included:

H.E. Ambassador Thomas Matussek, Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations

H.E. Ambassador Joy Ogwu, Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations and former Foreign Minister of Nigeria

Mr. Achim Steiner, Under Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNEP, and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON)

Additional Book Materials

Press Folder--including all forewords, preface essays, table of contents, and the introductory chapter

Chapter 2: The International System, Great Powers, and Environmental Change since 1900

More information from the publisher

Related UNU Publications

Event videos:

Part 1: Presentation by Joy Ogwu, Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations and former Foreign Minister of Nigeria
Part 2: Presentation by Thomas Matussek, Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations
Part 3: Achim Steiner, Under Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNEP, and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON)
Part 4: Hans Guenter Brauch, Freie Universität Berlin, UNU-EHS; AFES-PRESS chair; Editor, Hexagon Book Series, Springer Publishers
Part 5: Dr. Ursula Oswald Spring, Centro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Cuernavaca, Mexico); 1st Munich Re Chair on Social Vulnerability, UNU-EHS
Part 6: Q&A with panelists

UNU-ONY interviews UNU-EHS panelists:
Interview with Hans Guenter Brauch
Interview with Ursula Oswald Spring

Event pictures:

Speakers' Profiles:

H.E. Ambassador Thomas Matussek, Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations

After his military service (1967-1969), Ambassador Matussek studied law and history at the Universities of Paris and Bonn (1969-1972). After obtaining two law degrees (1973, 1975), he became an assistant lecturer at the University of Bonn. In 1975, he joined the German Foreign Office where he held diplomatic posts in the Federal Foreign Office, Bonn (1975-1977, 1988-1992), in the German Embassy, London (1977-1980), in the Federal Chancellery, European Affairs, Bonn (1980-1983), and with the German embassies in New Delhi (1983-1986) and in Lisbon (1986-1988). He was Head of Minister's Office, Federal Foreign Office, Bonn (1992-1993), Chief of Minister's Cabinet, Federal Foreign Office, Bonn (1993-1994), Deputy Chief of Mission, Washington (1994-1999), Director General, Political Department, Federal Foreign Office, Berlin (1999 - 2002), German Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, London (2002 - 2006). Since July 2006 he has served as the German Ambassador to the United Nations, New York.

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H.E. Ambassador Dr. Joy Ogwu, Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations and former Foreign Minister of Nigeria

Prior to her appointment as Nigeria's Foreign Minister, Ambassador Ogwu served as the first female Director-General of Nigeria's Foreign Policy Think-Tank - the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA). During this time, she also served as Chair of the Board of Directors for the Centre for Advanced Social Science (CASS) and Member of the United Nations Secretary General's Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, culminating in her appointment as the first African female Chairperson of the Secretary-General's Advisory Board for 2006. A Professor of Political Science and International Relations since 1993, she lectured at the Command and Staff College, Jaji, National War College and at the Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Nigeria. In her academic studies she focused on Latin America and on possibilities of an intensified South-South relationship between Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. In her public service as a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on International Relations she made valid contributions to the development of Nigeria's foreign policy. Her publications include: Nigerian Foreign Policy: Alternative Futures (Macmillan 1986); Nigeria's International Economic Relations; Dimensions of Dependence and Change (1988, Rev. 2005); The Economic Diplomacy of the Nigerian State (1992, 2001); The Nigerian Navy and the South Atlantic (1995); New Horizons for Nigeria in World Affairs (2005). She has published extensively in scholarly journals and books and lectured on South-South and Latin America's foreign relations. Several publications appeared in Portuguese, Spanish, French.

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Mr. Achim Steiner, Under Secretary-General and Executive Director of UNEP, and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON)

Prior to his current position, Mr. Steiner was the Director-General of IUCN (the World Conservation Union). His professional career has included assignments with governmental and non-governmental, as well as international, organizations all over the world. In Washington, where he was a Senior Policy Adviser in the IUCN Global Policy Unit, he led the development of new partnerships between the environmental community and the World Bank and United Nations system. In South-East Asia, he worked as Chief Technical Adviser on a programme for sustainable management of Mekong River watersheds. In 1998, he was appointed Secretary-General of the World Commission on Dams. In 2001, he was appointed Director-General of the World Conservation Union. Mr. Steiner was born in Brazil in 1961 where he lived for 10 years. His educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Oxford, as well as a Master of Arts from the University of London with a specialization in development economics, regional planning, and international development and environmental policy. He also studied at the German Development Institute in Berlin and Harvard Business School. He serves on a number of international advisory boards.

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Professor Dr. Ursula Oswald Spring, Centro Regional de Investigaciones Multidisciplinarias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Cuernavaca, Mexico); 1st Munich Re Chair on Social Vulnerability, UNU-EHS

Professor Oswald is a research professor at the National University of Mexico (UNAM) in the Regio¬nal Multidisciplinary Research Center (CRIM). She was Ge¬neral Attor¬ney of Ecology in the State of Morelos from 1992-1994 and National Delegate of the Federal General Attorney of Environment from 1994-1995. She was then President of the International Peace Research Association (1998-2000) and General Secretary of the Latin-American Council for Peace Research (2002-2006). For her scientific work she received the Price Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (2005), the Environmental Merit in Tlaxcala, Mexico (2005. 2006); the Price of Development of the UN in Geneva. She was recognized as Woman Academic in UNAM in 1990 and 2000 and Woman of the Year 2000. She works on non-violence and sustainable agriculture with peasants and women and with Diverse Women for Diversity.

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PD Dr. Hans Günter Brauch, Freie Universität Berlin, UNU-EHS; AFES-PRESS chair; Editor, Hexagon Book Series, Springer Publishers

Professor Brauch is an Adjunct Professor (Privatdozent) at the Faculty of Political Science and Social Sciences, Free University of Berlin. Since 2005, he has been a fellow at the Institute on Environment and Human Security of the United Nations University (UNU-EHS) and since 1987, he has been the chairman of Peace Re¬search and European Security Studies (AFES-PRESS). He was a guest professor of international relations at the universities of Frankfurt on Main, Leipzig and Greifswald and at the Teachers' Training College in Erfurt. From 1976-1989 he was a research associate at Heidelberg and Stuttgart universities, a research fellow at Har¬vard and Stanford University. He has also taught at the universities of Darmstadt, Tübingen, Stuttgart and Heidelberg. Professor Brauch is also the Coeditor of: Security and Environment in the Mediterranean (2003); Globalization and Environmental Challenges (2008); Facing Global Environmental Change (2009); Coping with Global Environmental Change, Disasters and Security (2010).

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Dr. Jean-Marc Coicaud, Director of UNU-ONY, will moderate this discussion.
Dr. Coicaud's Bio

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Related UNU Publications...

"The Impact of Environmental Degradation on Migration Flows across Countries" by Tamer Afifi and Koko Warner (UNU-EHS Working Paper No. 5/2008)

"Groundwater and Human Security Case Studies (GWAHS-CS): Results from the Kick-Off Workshop" by Fabrice Renaud, Jose Luis Martin-Bodes and Brigitte Schuster (UNU-EHS, UNU-INWEH and UNESCO/ IHP Working Paper No. 4/2008)

"Gender and Disasters - Human, Gender, and Environmental Security: A Huge Challenge" by Ursula Oswald Spring (Studies of the University: Research, Counsel and Education -- a publication series of UNU-EHS SOURCE No.8/2008)

"Environment and Human Security - Freedom from Hazard Impacts" by Hans Guenter Brauch (Intersections No.2/ 2005)

"Threats, Challenges, Vulnerabilities and Risks in Environmental and Human Security" by Hans Guenter Brauch (Studies of the University: Research, Counsel and Education -- a publication series of UNU-EHS SOURCE No.1/ 2005)

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