Environmental Diplomacy Event

Environmental Diplomacy Leading to Copenhagen

A Seminar and Book Launch on International Negotiations to Address

Global Environmental Challenges

With the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen on the horizon, predictions abound regarding the efficacies and inadequacies of international efforts to address climate change. From a diplomatic standpoint, what can we expect from the Copenhagen meeting, and how will we define success?

During his nine years as principal deputy assistant secretary in the Department of State’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Richard J. Smith led negotiations on some of the most significant environmental and scientific agreements of the late and post-Cold War era. Negotiating Environment and Science: An Insider’s View of International Agreements, from Driftnets to the Space Station , a new book from RFF Press, is Smith’s unprecedented historical account of eight landmark negotiations that he led, including the London agreement to amend the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, the international space station agreement, the U.S.-Soviet (eventually, U.S.-Russian) agreement on scientific cooperation, the U.S.-Canadian acid rain agreement, and the negotiations in Sofia, Bulgaria that established a first link between human rights and the environment. These negotiations set important precedents for facing the environmental and scientific challenges of today.

This RFF seminar will use the historical insights and lessons learned from Negotiating Environment and Science as a launching point to explore salient themes in environmental diplomacy leading up to the Copenhagen meeting, including the U.S. domestic policy framework for confronting climate change, the importance of U.S. leadership on environmental issues, and, more broadly, the role of diplomatic agreements in addressing global environmental challenges.

Who: Presenter:

Richard J. Smith, former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, U.S. Department of State (1985-1994)

Discussants:

Frank E. Loy, former U.S. Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs (1998-2001)

Alan D. Hecht, Director for Sustainable Development, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

When: Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 12:45 p.m. - 2 p.m.

A light lunch will be available at 12:30 p.m.

Where: Resources for the Future, 1616 P Street NW, Washington, DC

First Floor Conference Center

Registration is required.

To RSVP for this event, please visit RFF's event registration page.

Natl Wildlife Fed Internship

Great PAID internship open with National Wildlife Federation working
on Global Warming and Forest Justice Issues. See details below. To
apply: https://secure.nwf.org/careergateway/index.cfm?fuseAction=view&positionID=10615

They are looking to fill this position very quickly!


Description: The GW Intern will work within the Global Warming Team to
help address global warming solutions and to engage others in this
important dialogue. The GW Intern will assist staff in building
support for an international climate treaty and domestic climate and
clean energy legislation that includes key international components.
He/She will help coordinate the Forest Justice campaign, advocating
for the protection of the world’s remaining forests in our efforts to
stop climate change. He/She will also assist with NWF’s regional fair
climate summits, bringing together diverse constituents across the
U.S. to engage in a dialogue on the necessary efforts to address
climate change at the local, national and international level.
For the Forest Justice campaign, he/she will assist both online and
on-the-ground outreach. He/she will help plan logistics for the Fair
Climate Summits and other Fair Climate events. He/She will also be
involved in contacting members of Congress regarding international
climate policy issues and helping to coordinate NWF’s advocacy within
coalitions. This includes scheduling meetings for constituents of NWF
and our partner organizations with members of Congress, and attending
congressional hearings and briefings. The GW intern will also help to
develop advocacy materials, which provides opportunities to research
and write about international climate policy. In addition, he/she will
conduct website maintenance and design to bolster our campaign
efforts, and help with online action alerts and electronic
communications to constituents.

Position Type: Internship

Position Duration: 11 months

Department: Conservation Programs

Salary Range: $10 per hour

Education: BA/BS in international relations, political science,
environmental policy, or a related field is required. A Masters degree
and some previous work experience are preferable. Experience working
with domestic or international climate change frontline communities on
environmental justice issues a definite plus.

Required Skills: The position requires attention to detail, excellent
research, writing and communication skills, the ability to multi-task,
and to meet strict deadlines. Experience with website maintenance and
online organizing are strongly preferred and good computer skills are
a must. The GW Intern will work with diverse organizations and
individuals to collaborate on and organize various campaigns and
summits.

Sustainable Food Jobs website

Sustainable Food Jobs is pleased to announce the launch of its new website! Most Americans have never heard of the term “sustainable food.” Tell someone its your career focus and be prepared to explain yourself. Rest assured… this site understands what you mean with no elevator speech required! As a recent graduate looking to branch into the world of sustainable food, I had a difficult time knowing where to look for the most up-to-date job opportunities available. Typically, job listings are dispersed among environmental conservation and individual non-profit websites. But what if job seekers new to this and aren’t familiar with all of the non-profits that specialize in sustainable food? That is where this website comes in! It will provide job seekers with the most up-to-date job opportunities available in the domestic sustainable food sector.

Check it out at sustainablefoodjobs.wordpress.com! Or follow us on Twitter at sustainfoodjobs for daily updates! If you know of any current jobs in sustainable food currently not listed on the website, please feel free to e-mail them this way. As opposed to general career websites, posting here lets you target specialized brain power. Garner a better qualified applicant pool that shares your values for a better food future in America! Any and all comments are greatly appreciated. Enjoy!

--
Thank you,
The SFJ Blog
E-mail: sustainablefoodjobs@gmail.com
Website: http://sustainablefoodjobs.wordpress.com
Twitter: Sustainfoodjobs

Millions Fed: Proven Successes in Agricultural Development

****International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)****

Invitation

Millions Fed

Proven Successes in Agricultural Development



Thursday, November 12, 2009

12.15 pm – 1.45 pm

Light lunch available from 11.45 am



2033 K St NW

Fourth Floor Conference Room

Washington, DC 20006



Speakers

Rajul Pandya-Lorch, Millions Fed Leader, IFPRI

David J. Spielman, Research Fellow, IFPRI

Prabhu Pingali, Deputy Director, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Raul Montemayor, General Secretary, Federation of Free Farmers Cooperatives Inc.



Chair

Joachim von Braun, IFPRI



Learning from successes in agricultural development is now more urgent than ever: Progress in feeding the world’s billions has slowed, while the challenge of feeding its future millions remains enormous and is subject to new uncertainties in the global food and agricultural systems.

In late 2008, IFPRI, with support from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, embarked on a project to identify and assess interventions in agricultural development that have substantially reduced hunger and poverty; to document evidence about where, when, and why these interventions succeeded; to learn about the key drivers and factors underlying success; and to share lessons to help inform better agricultural policy and investment decisions in the future. Following a rigorous review process, the project ultimately identified 20 proven successes in agricultural development. This event will present highlights of these successes – what worked, why it worked, and what we can learn.

Complimentary copies of the book, Millions Fed: Proven Successes in Agricultural Development, will be available at the event.

Please feel free to share this announcement with your colleagues. Kindly RSVP to Simone Hill-Lee (Tel: 202.862.8107; s.hill-lee@cgiar.org).

Masters work: Brown University

Brown U: environmental health and environmental justice

Kindly forward to potentially interested people. We are recruiting Master's students to work with Phil Brown, Kathryn DeMaster, and Timmons Roberts starting in Fall, 2010. Applications need to be in by January 2 to be considered for financial aid.

Professor Phil Brown will recruit one or two students to work on environmental health and environmental justice projects: developing and testing ethical, effective, and practical methods for reporting individual exposure results to participants in biomonitoring and household exposure studies; studying how four existing research projects provide individual results to study participants; science and policy interfaces for the proliferation of flame retardants; regulatory, policy, industry, scientific, and legal implications of chemical biomonitoring research, as carried out by national-level population surveillance, state-based biomonitoring programs, advocacy biomonitoring, and community-based studies; ethical issues in xenotransplantation of human fetal tissues into rodents, to study how environmental stressors alter pathways and dose-response relationships, and produce novel biomarkers of effect. Applicants should have experience in environmental health and justice and in community-based participatory research and/or community-engaged research.

Professor Kathryn DeMaster - In the next few years my research work will emphasize three primary areas: local and regional sustainable agricultural movements and food justice and food security in Providence, RI specifically and New England generally; investigations into the environmental and social impacts of containment animal feeding operations (CAFOS) run by multinational conglomerate Smithfield Farms in Poland, North Carolina, and Mexico; and exploring the application of European agri-environmental policies into the New England regional context. I would be keen to work with any students who have interests in the intersection of agriculture and the environment and would especially welcome collaborations with students who are interested in conducting qualitative research on food justice in the Providence, RI area.

Professor Timmons Roberts is looking to work with 1-2 new Master's students in 2010 to work on projects that link to issues of climate change and international development, especially the role of foreign assistance in helping poor nations adapt, and the linking of ecological debt and global justice. He has new projects on education about adaptation to climate change in Latin America, West Africa, and Rhode Island, and a project on what social factors explain which nations are most able to adapt to climate change, and reduce their emissions.

The Masters of Arts in Environmental Studies at Brown is a practical degree, designed to help students understand emerging environmental problems and to strengthen their competence in managing them.
Environmental problems are complex and interconnected; our institutions and governments as they are currently organized are largely unable to manage them. Students learn to speak the languages of science and policy, to understand the different vantage points of each, and to integrate them. Rather than beginning with traditional disciplines and searching for their application to environmental problems, we instead focus on the problems of decision and action, learning how to draw information from the disciplines that bear on these decisions.
Coursework: The program consists of four core courses, four carefully- chosen electives, experience as a teaching assistant, and a Master's thesis. Requirements for the Master of Arts degree are described on our website at: http://envstudies.brown.edu

The Master's Thesis:The Master of Arts program in Environmental Studies requires successful completion of a Master's thesis, the presentation of thesis results at a departmental seminar and an oral defense of the thesis. The master's thesis is the keystone and the integrative culmination of our program.

Program Information: the full list of faculty and their research interests are at http://envstudies.brown.edu and there are details about Master's program requirements and admissions at http://envstudies.brown.edu/academics/masters.html

--
J. Timmons Roberts
timmons@brown.edu

Director, Center for Environmental Studies Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies Brown University
135 Angell Street
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: (401) 863-3449
http://envstudies.brown.edu/
skype: timmonsroberts
Project-Level Aid (PLAID) project website:
http://www.wm.edu/irtheoryandpractice/plaid

Forest Management and Climate Change

US Forest Service International Programs Seminar Series presents:

WHAT: Climate Change and Adaptation: Options for the Management of Forests under a Changing Climate

WHO: Dr. Linda Joyce, USFS Rocky Mountain Research Station

WHEN: Tuesday, November 10, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM

WHERE: US Forest Service International Programs (near McPherson Square Metro). 1099 14th Street, NW, Suite 5500W, Washington, DC 20005

Please R.S.V.P to Pari Henkai via at phenkai@fs.fed.us or 202-219-9776

Note: Security measures in our building require all guests to sign in at the central security station before the presentation. You will be required to leave a photo ID with the officer. Please make sure to retrieve your ID when you are leaving. You will be scanned with a hand-held metal detector before being escorted to our office.

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ABOUT THE PRESENTATION

The scientific evidence is clear; the earth’s climate is warming. Multiple independent measurements confirm widespread warming; plants, animals, and ecosystems are being affected. Climate-mediated disturbances will reorganize forests and woodlands, but humans are also influencing the landscapes. Please join Dr. Linda Joyce for a presentation and discussion on management options to promote forest adaptation in forests in the US and elsewhere. The presentation will focus on human action to adjust management to reduce the impact of climate change and seek opportunities in response to observed or expected changes in climate and associated extreme weather events. Management options exist to adapt. In the near-term, maintaining the status quo may be the best, or in some cases the only, option. For the long-term, proactive management strategies must encompass a mix of options. The challenge is to prioritize short-term resource concerns with longer-term resource management objectives, both at home and around the world.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Linda Joyce is a research scientist with the US Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research Station in Fort Collins, CO. Her research examines the effects of climate change on ecosystems, wildlife habitat, and the forestry and wood products sector. She is working with National Forests across the western US to develop adaptation options for natural resource management under climate change. She is also the Climate Change Specialist for the USFS national assessment, responsible for coordinating the analysis of climate change effects on the condition on US forests and rangelands. She was the lead author on the National Forests chapter in a recent national synthesis report "Preliminary Review of Adaptation Options for Climate-sensitive Resources and Ecosystems," and also contributed to the recent IUFRO report "Adaptation of Forests and People to Climate Change, A Global Assessment Report."


For more information on US Forest Service International Programs, please visit http://www.fs.fed.us/global

Clamate Change in Asia

United Nations Association of the National Capitol Area (UNA-NCA)

Climate Change in Asia: What Comes After the Kyoto Protocol?

Wednesday, Nov 11^th

6:00-8:00pm

The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at The Johns Hopkins University

Dupont Circle Metro

Please RSVP to:

asia.ypic@gmail.com

Our panel's theme is focused around the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference on Dec 7-19 in Copenhagen, as the follow-on to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. We will explore the views of key countries in the Asian continent going into the conference, possible outcomes, and an outlook for policy developments in climate change and emissions reductions for these countries. China's shift in climate policy is particularly interesting given its rapid economic growth and most recently, China's agreement with India to address these issues together.

Our distinguished panel will be led by Dr. Carla Freeman, Associate Director of China Studies at Johns Hopkins University- SAIS, and feature additional subject matter experts from the U.S. government, the United Nations and Think Tank communities in Washington, DC.