Wilson Center Events - January 25

Is a Food Crisis Brewing in the Sahel?

January 25, 2012 // 9:00am — 12:30pm

  

While African nations and the donor community struggle to mitigate famine in the Horn of Africa, concern is growing that drought in the Sahel will trigger a food crisis of comparable proportion in West Africa by the spring of 2012. However, experts caution against misdiagnosing food insecurity in the Sahel, for fear that excessive band-aid treatments of emergency food assistance will squander energy and scarce resources that would be better utilized in treating pockets of severe food shortages and building resiliency in the region. With input from American and African experts on the Sahel, this event will explore the true nature of the emerging crisis in the Sahel and seek to identify effective responses, including regional trade and resilience-building through agricultural development.

To RSVP: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/rsvp?eid=21325&pid=25

Sustainable Solutions for the Planet’s Energy Challenge

January 25, 2012 // 3:00pm — 5:00pm

The environmental challenges of climate change, energy demands, and natural resource loss continue to mount. World population hit seven billion on Halloween and is projected to go to ten billion if not more. The first decade of the 21st century was the warmest in 130 years of recorded global temperatures and 2010 was the warmest year yet recorded. Extinction rates are 1000 times base rates. The Amazon had the greatest drought in recorded history in 2010. Droughts, floods, wildfires, and probably intense tropical storms are becoming more frequent. These challenges call for action at a planetary scale.
 The “Managing Our Planet” seminar series – developed jointly by George Mason University and the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program and Brazil Institute -- addresses planetary scale problems and solutions.

Please RSVP to ecsp@wilsoncenter.org with your name and affiliation.