Jim Brumm: Long-Term Thinking for a Short-Sighted World

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Lack of access to electricity results in health, environmental, and livelihood challenges.

Washington, D.C.—Despite massive gains in global access to electricity over the last two decades, governments and development organizations must continue to invest in electrification to achieve critical health, environmental, and livelihood outcomes, according to new research published by the Worldwatch Institute for its Vital Signs Online publication.

Between 1990 and 2008, close to 2 billion people worldwide gained access to electricity. But the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that more than 1.3 billion people still lack access to electricity, while the United Nations estimates that another 1 billion have unreliable access. The UN General Assembly has designated 2012 as the “International Year of Sustainable Energy for All,” providing an opportunity to raise awareness of the extent and impacts of the electrification challenge.

“Modern energy sources provide people with lighting, heating, refrigeration, cooking, water pumping, and other services that are essential for reducing poverty, improving health and education, and increasing incomes,” write report authors Michael Renner and Matthew Lucky. “It will be difficult toachieve a number of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals without improving energy access.” Among the UN goals, targeted at 2015, are combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases and eradicating poverty and hunger.

At least 2.7 billion people, and possibly more than 3 billion, lack access to modern fuels for cooking and heating. They rely instead on traditional biomass sources, such as firewood, charcoal, manure, and crop residues, that can emit harmful indoor air pollutants when burned. These pollutants cause nearly 2 million premature deaths worldwide each year, an estimated 44 percent of them in children. Among adult deaths, 60 percent are women. Traditional energy usage also contributes to environmental impacts including forest and woodland degradation, soil erosion, and black carbon emissions that contribute to global climate change.

Electrification varies widely between rural and urban areas in developing countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, the rural electrification rate is just 14 percent, compared with 60 percent in urban areas.

“As new approaches to electrification evolve—ones that don’t rely on expensive regional or national grids but rather a diversity of locally available energy resources—we can begin to reach for the goal of access to electricity for all, rural as well as urban,” said Worldwatch President Robert Engelman. “But access to electricity needs to be based wherever possible on low-carbon energy, since we need to preserve a climate conducive to health and well-being.”

Improved cook stoves can play an important role in reducing energy poverty, enabling people to utilize more modern fuels or to use traditional fuels more efficiently. Improved cook stoves can double or triple the efficiency of traditional fuels, reducing indoor air pollutants. Consuming less fuel also saves time and money, leaving people with more disposable income and allowing them to invest more in their futures.

A growing number of governments, international agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and businesses are working to overcome energy poverty, focusing in particular on the use of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. To date, 68 developing-country governments have adopted formal targets for improving access to electricity; 17 countries have targets for providing access to modern fuels, and 11 have targets for providing access to improved cook stoves.

According to the IEA, some US$1.9 billion was invested worldwide in 2009 in extending access to modern energy services, such as electricity and clean cooking facilities. The agency projects that between 2010 and 2030, an average of $14 billion will be spent annually, mostly on urban grid connections. But this projected funding will likely still leave 1 billion people, largely those who live in the most remote areas of developing countries, without electricity. Average annual investments will need to rise to $48 billion to provide universal modern energy access, the IEA reports.

Further highlights from the study:

• The largest populations lacking access to electricity are in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Combined, these two regions account for more than 80 percent of all people worldwide lacking electricity access;
• Latin America’s electricity access is generally quite high, at 93.2 percent overall, but Haiti remains a regional outlier, with only 39 percent of its population having access.
• The largest populations that rely on traditional biomass for energy are in the developing regions of Asia, with 836 million in India alone. Altogether, 54 percent of the population of developing Asia relies on traditional biomass fuels.

Notes to Editors:

For a complimentary copy of this report, please contact Supriya Kumar at skumar@worldwatch.org.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Industrialized and developing countries continue to rely on their critical water resources as a renewable electricity source.

Washington, D.C.—Global use of hydropower increased more than 5 percent between 2009 and 2010, according to new research published by the Worldwatch Institute for its Vital Signs Online publication. Hydropower use reached a record 3,427 terawatt-hours, or about 16.1 percent of global electricity consumption, by the end of 2010, continuing the rapid rate of increase experienced between 2003 and 2009.

The cost of hydropower is relatively low, making it a competitive source of renewable electricity. The average cost of electricity from a hydro plant larger than 10 megawatts is 3 to 5U.S. cents per kilowatt-hour. Hydropower is also a flexible source of electricity since plants can be ramped up and down very quickly to adapt to changing energy demands. Yet there are many negative aspects associated with hydropower: for example, damming interrupts the flow of rivers and can harm local ecosystems, and building large dams and reservoirs often involves displacing people and wildlife and requires significant amounts of carbon-intensive cement.

 “In the future, hydropower is likely to continue to grow—despite the environmental  challenges involved in expanding it—because of its competitive price and climate benefits, which make it an attractive option as countries seek to lower their greenhouse gas emissions,” said report author Matt Lucky, a Worldwatch MAP Sustainable Energy Fellow.

China was the largest hydropower producer and is expected to continue to lead global hydro use in the coming years. The country produced 721 terawatt-hours in 2010, representing around 17 percent of domestic electricity use. China also had the highest installed hydropower capacity, with 213 gigawatts (GW) at the end of 2010. It added more hydro capacity than any other country, 16 GW in 2010, and plans to add 140 GW by 2015. This is equivalent to building about seven more dams the size of China’s Three Gorges Dam, currently the largest in the world.

“While hydropower energy production helps reduce reliance on fossil fuels and avoids much of their carbon dioxide emissions, this form of electricity generation is rarely without social and environmental cost and risk,” said Worldwatch President Robert Engelman. “Hydropower is indeed low-carbon renewable energy, but new hydro development nonetheless needs to pass rigorous tests for its environmental and social impacts.”

Hydropower is produced in at least 150 countries but is concentrated in just a few countries and regions. The Asia-Pacific region generated roughly 32 percent of global hydropower in 2010. Africa produces the least hydropower, accounting for 3 percent of the world total, but is considered the region with the greatest potential for increased production.

In 2008, four countries—Albania, Bhutan, Lesotho, and Paraguay—generated all their electricity from hydropower, and 15 countries generated at least 90 percent of their electricity from hydro. Iceland, New Zealand, and Norway produce the most hydropower per capita.

Micro-hydropower, which is defined as a plant with an installed capacity of 100 kilowatt (kW) or less, has grown in importance over the last decade and can be an effective means of providing electricity to communities far from industrial centers. As of 2009, roughly 60 GW of small hydro was installed worldwide, accounting for less than 6 percent of the hydropower total. Small hydro is likely to expand, especially as populous countries like India continue to pursue rural electrification.

Further highlights from the study:

• Five countries—China, Brazil, the United States, Canada, and Russia—accounted for approximately 52 percent of the world’s installed hydropower capacity in 2010.
• There are now three hydropower plants larger than 10 GW: the Three Gorges Dam in China, Itaipu Hydroelectricity Power Plant in Brazil, and Guri Dam in Venezuela.
• A total of $40–45 billion was invested in large hydropower projects worldwide in 2010.

Note to Editors: For a complimentary copy of this report, please contact Supriya Kumar at skumar@worldwatch.org.

Monday, January 16, 2012

As we start the new year, here are 12 steps we can take to reduce our impact on the environment

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia----Many of us are thinking about the changes we want to make this year. For some, these changes will be financial; for others, physical or spiritual. But for all of us, there are important resolutions we can make to “green” our lives. Although this is often a subject focused on by industrialized nations, people in developing countries can also take important steps to reduce their growing environmental impact.

 “We in the developing world must embark on a more vigorous ‘going green’ program,” says Sue Edwards, Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD). “As incomes rise and urbanization increases, a growing middle class must work with city planners to ensure our communities are sustainable.” 

ISD’s Tigray Project recently received the Gothenburg Award for Sustainable Development 2011, shared with Kofi Annan, Chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Since 1996, Tigray has worked to help Ethiopian farmers rehabilitate ecosystems, raise land productivity, and increase incomes through such practices as composting, biodiversity enhancement, the conservation of water and soil, and the empowerment of local communities to manage their own development. 

Broadening sustainability efforts is essential to solving many of the world’s challenges, including food production, security, and poverty. The United Nations has designated 2012 as the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All. “With so many hungry and poor in the world, addressing these issues is critical,” says Danielle Nierenberg, director of the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet project. “Fortunately, the solutions to these problems can come from simple innovations and practices.”  

Worldwatch’s Nourishing the Planet team recently traveled to 25 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and will soon be traveling to Latin America, to research and highlight such solutions. The project shines a spotlight on innovations in agriculture that can help alleviate hunger and poverty while also protecting the environment. These innovations are elaborated in Worldwatch’s flagship annual report, State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet. 

Hunger, poverty, and climate change are issues that we in the developing world can help address. Here are 12 simple steps to go green in 2012:

1.      Recycle:

Urbanization is on the rise throughout the developing world. According to the United Nations, the highest urban-area growth is 3.5 percent per year in Africa. But waste management is not keeping up with population growth. It is inefficient in urban areas and virtually nonexistent in rural areas, resulting in the pervasive unloading of waste in unmanaged dump sites and bodies of water and endangering public health.

         What you can do:

• Collect your household’s waste in two separate containers----one for organic waste like scraps of food and one for other waste like plastic, glass, metal, and paper. You can compost the organic waste (see #11).
• Cities such as Johannesburg have recycling drop-off sites. If your city doesn’t, look for neighbors who are interested in salvaging and reselling items like cans. Brazil, for example, boasts a 96.5 percent aluminum can recycle rate due in large part to the 180,000 Brazilians who collect and resell cans for profit. 

2.      Reduce fossil fuel consumption.

Over the last two decades, roughly 75 percent of human-made carbon dioxide emissions were produced by fossil fuel burning. Coal and other environmentally polluting fossil fuels can be replaced by renewable resources, including biofuels.Globally, some 25 million homes convert biogas into energy for lighting and cooking, including 20 million households in China and 3.9 million in India.

         What you can do:

• Instead of burning coal or wood, use biogas converted from the methane produced by either livestock manure or weeds such as water hyacinth. In Rwanda, the government is working to make biogas stoves more affordable----by the end of 2011 they had hoped to see them being used in 15,000 households, and in Ethiopia, the target is 14,000 biogas digester plants with rural households by the end of 2013.
• Use an environmentally friendly solar cooker to utilize solar energy instead of fossil fuels. The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves is committing $50 million to advance the goal of securing 100 million such stoves in developing countries by 2020. 

3.      Make the switch.

In 2007, Australia became the first country to “ban the bulb” and began a process to replace incandescent light bulbs with more efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. By late 2010, incandescent bulbs had been totally phased out, and, according to the country’s environment minister, this move has made a big difference, cutting an estimated 4 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2012. The Ethiopian government is the first in the developing world to consider banning incandescent bulbs. Its distribution of 5 million compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) has created energy savings of 75 percent.

         What you can do:

• Although CFLs are initially more expensive, they use 75 percent less energy and last 10 times as long. The government of Australia estimates that the country’s switch to CFLs will save the average household 66 percent on their electricity bill.
• Encourage your local and national governments to follow Ethiopia’s example and give free CFLs to consumers in exchange for their old incandescent bulbs. 

4.      Re-use water bottles

Worldwide, 900 million people do not have access to safe drinking water, and more than 4,000 children die each year from preventable diseases. As a result, many consumers use bottled water. We consume 200 billion bottles of water globally. It takes 1.5 million barrels of crude oil to produce these bottles and 2.7 tons of plastic, 86 percent of which ends up as garbage or litter.

         What you can do:

• Stainless steel reusable water bottles are the best solution, but you can also reuse plastic bottles every time you encounter a clean water source. When it is time for a new bottle, recycle the old one.
• The Life and Water Development Group Cameroon has partnered with Thirst Relief International USA to bring clean water to those without access. One filtration unit uses layers of crushed rock, sand, and naturally forming bacteria to remove 99 percent of harmful bacteria from drinking water. 

5.      Conserve water.

Each of us requires 3,000 liters of water a day to meet our dietary needs. Yet half of people worldwide live in countries where water tables are falling. Because 70 percent of water is used to irrigate agriculture, it is important that we better conserve water as we grow our food.

         What you can do:

• Growing one ton of grain requires 1,500 tons of water, but many crops indigenous to the developing world require much less. In Asia and Africa, the pigeon pea is drought-resistant and can grow in low-nutrient soil with little water while still producing a yield that is 20 percent protein.
• Rainwater Concepts in India is working to popularize simple rainwater harvesting techniques, successfully recharging 90,000 wells.

6.      Turn down the AC.

Thirty of the world’s 50 most populous cities are located in the developing world, mostly in hot climates. Use of air conditioners increases 20-35 percent annually in developing countries, and the related chemicals emitted are stalling the global effort to heal the ozone layer, the part of our atmosphere that protects the planet from harmful solar rays.

         What you can do:

• Use fans instead of air conditioning to reduce the amount of harmful chemicals released into our air.
•  If you want to install air conditioning in your home or business, use ozone-friendly units instead of those that emit hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs).

7.      Support food recovery.

Each year, roughly a third of all food produced for human consumption----approximately 1.3 billion tons----gets lost or wasted, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. In the developing world, this often happens because of premature harvests or a lack of proper storage facilities, sufficient infrastructure, or appropriate preservation methods. Every metric ton of food waste sent to landfills emits 4.5 times the amount of carbon dioxide, and decomposing food in landfills produces methane, a greenhouse gas that is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

         What you can do:

• Farmers in Pakistan have saved 70 percent of their harvest by switching from jute bags and containers constructed with mud to more durable metal containers.
• In West Africa, farmers use solar dryers to save the 100,000 tons of mangos that would otherwise go to waste annually. This technique can be used with other fruit to save them from perishing after harvest.

8.      Buy local, indigenous crops.

Rice, wheat, corn, and soy are the crops that modern agriculture focuses on most. Reliance on so few crops is dangerous. The 2010 drought in Russia decimated a third of the country’s wheat harvest, and the developing world felt the shock as food prices skyrocketed. Indigenous and traditional crops, however, are often hardier and more resistant to pests and disease. 

         What you can do:

• Find out what crops are indigenous to your area and which farmers are growing them. Buy directly from those farmers or ask your local market to carry their products.
• Grow indigenous crops in your own garden (see #10) and share with your neighbors.

9.      Plant a tree.

Globally, we have lost 13 million acres of forest each year since 2000. In Latin America, the expanding popularity of cattle operations and soybean farms trumps preservation of the Amazon. Brazil is the fourth largest emitter of carbon dioxide, not because of industry or automobiles, but because of deforestation.

         What you can do:

• Plant a tree or two at home. In addition to the environmental benefits, it will provide shade and keep your home cooler. If you plant a citrus or nut tree, you’ll enjoy the extra food as well.
• Agroforestry, or planting trees among crops, can provide shade and help control erosion. In addition, leguminous trees can add nutrients to the soil naturally, making the soil more fertile and increasing crop yields.  

10.  Plant a garden.

Fourteen million people in Africa migrate from rural to urban areas each year, and studies suggest that by 2020, an estimated 40 million Africans living in cities will depend on urban agriculture to meet their food requirements. Home gardens helped families in Kibera, Nairobi, survive when unrest after the 2008 elections shut down roads and prevented food from coming into the city. And the sale of garden surplus is an excellent way to supplement family income.

         What you can do:

• If your access to land is limited, you can create a “vertical garden.” Fill tall sacks with soil, poke holes on different levels, and plant seeds in the holes. Use waste water from your home and compost (see #11) to keep your soil rich and healthy, improving the quality of your food. If you live in an urban area and don’t have access to land, reuse old tires or buckets to create portable planters. 

11.  Compost organic waste.

The World Bank estimates that 50 percent of an average developing country’s solid waste can be composted. By repurposing compostable waste such as food scraps, wood waste, and paper and cardboard products, we can reduce landfill space and add reclaimed nutrients to our agricultural efforts.

         What you can do:

• Work within your family to compost your own organic waste, or work with your community to establish a collective compost site.
• To make the most of your compost, use it to nourish local gardening efforts.

12.  Eat meat that is raised right...and eat less of it.

Livestock are raised on a third of the Earth’s land, accounting for approximately 18 percent of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. In the developing world alone, 1 to 2 trillion cubic meters of water per year is needed to raise crops for these animals. Global meat production has increased 20 percent since 2000, and nearly 90 percent of additional growth is expected to occur in the developing world, predominantly on large, industrial farms.

         What you can do:

• Think about where your meat comes from. Giant, industrial farms pollute the environment through heavy use of pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, and other harmful inputs. Pastoral farms can help reduce pollution and supports the livelihoods of local farming families.
• If you’re a farmer, consider building a biodigester so that you can convert the organic waste from your animals into a nutrient-rich fertilizer and biogas, a renewable energy source that you can use for heating and electricity.  

The most successful and lasting new year changes are those that are practiced regularly and have an important goal. As we embark on this new year, let’s all resolve to make 2012 a healthier, happier, and greener year for all.

Note to Editors: For more information, please contact Supriya Kumar at skumar@worldwatch.org.

Friday, January 13, 2012

 Worldwatch's Nourishing the Planet team highlights medal-worthy examples of youth-centered sustainability efforts from around the globe

Washington, D.C.----Over 1,000 young athletes from 70 nations will compete in the first ever Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria. Not only will they compete for coveted medals, they will cooperate in various hands-on workshops as part of a Culture and Education Program that includes the Youth Olympic Games Sustainability Project.

As we prepare to cheer the young athletes of the Winter Youth Olympics, let us also applaud the young leaders of sustainability efforts across the globe. Dedicating their time and energy to making the world better for themselves and for generations to come, they are not motivated by medals but deserve them nonetheless. Nourishing the Planet would like to honor 10 medal-worthy organizations and their youth-focused sustainability efforts:

1. Bridges to Understanding: Using digital technology and storytelling, Bridges to Understanding seeks to empower young people, promote mutual understanding across cultures, and cultivate a sense of global citizenship among youth. Students who participate are taught how to use cameras and editing software to create stories about their cultures and communities. These stories are shared online with other participating students in Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Guatemala, India, Peru, South Africa, and the United States. While students in Kalleda, India, post videos about local water pollution, they can simultaneously watch videos from Seattle, Washington, about children who are learning to grow corn, squash, and beans using traditional Native American methods.

2. Care International's Farmers of the Future Initiative (FOFI): The FOFI works with children in primary schools in Rwanda, using school gardens to teach kids how to manage natural resources and develop rural enterprises. The project started with 27 pilot schools. Each school re-invested half of the profits from its garden into its own agricultural efforts and gave the other half to support other schools' development of new gardens. After three years, projects have been started in 28 new satellite schools.

3. China Youth Climate Action Network (CYCAN): Seven youth organizations merged in 2007 to become the CYCAN, the first network promoting the involvement of Chinese youth in the effort to combat climate change. CYCAN raises awareness about climate change, encourages public participation and government action, and connects Chinese youth to similar efforts internationally. Its projects include China Youth Climate Action Day, the International Youth Energy and Climate Change Summit, and the China Youth League to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP17). CYCAN reports that youth from over 300 Chinese universities have participated in its events and that roughly 1 million Chinese have taken part in or been affected by one of the network's actions.

4. Climate Leaders India Network (CLeaIN): CLeaIN unites Indian youth with organizations that care about climate change and related environmental concerns. The network works to inspire Indian youth, unleash their leadership potential, and facilitate the movement of green technologies from laboratories to the lives of average Indians. CleaIN's Rural Energy Project introduces rural communities to solar cookers and sun-powered LED lighting systems. The network is also co-sponsoring a WAVE (World Advance Vehicle Expedition) Campaign that is traveling throughout India with five electric cars to create awareness.

5. Developing Innovations in School Cultivation (DISC): Because farming in sub-Saharan Africa is so labor-intensive, many young people have come to view farming as a last-resort occupation. But DISC­, partnering with a local chapter of Slow Food International, is working in Uganda to change young people's relationship to agriculture, as well as to promote food sovereignty by teaching youth about local crops such amaranth, African eggplant, and indigenous maize. Through DISC, teachers and volunteers work with 1,100 school kids in 31 schools to grow, cook, and eat local crops. The lessons learned are then shared by the children with their families, multiplying the impact of the program.

6. Farmers of the Future (FOF): In Niger, FOF believes that subsistence farmers must branch into agribusiness in order to escape poverty. FOF works with children to help cultivate a new generation of agrarians who are open to innovation, market focused, and environmentally conscious. The project started with 50 children, ages 10-14, and includes access to agricultural learning environments such as tree nurseries, drip irrigate vegetable gardens, and animal fattening facilities.

7. Girl Up: The United Nations Foundation sponsors Girl Up, which educates Americans about the challenges faced by young women in other countries and provides them with opportunities to raise funds for those girls in need. Girl Up supports the Berhane Hewan project in Ethiopia (a nation where only 38 percent of girls 15-24 years old are literate and one in five are married before the age of 15) in its efforts to promote literacy, family planning, financial preparation, agricultural training, and household chore improvement.

8. Peace Child International: Using publications, trainings, and lesson-plan sharing, Peace Child works to educate young people in order to empower them to become change-makers. Based in the United Kingdom, Peace Child sponsors projects across the globe. The group's "Be the Change!" program provides small grants to young people to run their own community development projects. The ventures range from installing biodigesters in rural Costa Rica to planting 3,000 high-yield mango trees in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.

9. TakingITGlobal (TIG): Combining online social networking and education programs, TIG seeks to provide young people with the information, tools, and networks they need to understand the world's problems and act to address them. TIG knits together 340,000 members and 22,000 non-profits across 13 different languages. It works with educators in over 2,400 schools in 118 countries. Through TIGweb.org, young leaders can network, research background information on issues, access tools such as petitions and toolkits, and publish their ideas and actions on youth media platforms.

10. UK Youth Climate Coalition (UKYCC): This coalition comprises and is owned and run by British youth who are dedicated to a future that is "happy, affordable, clean, and safe." In 2010, UKYCC helped establish the Youth Advisory Panel to their country's Department of Energy and Climate Change and this year sent a youth delegation to the COP17. Throughout the year, UKYCC sponsors trainings and campaigns, including their "Adopt an MP" campaign that encouraged 650 youth to hold their local Members of Parliament (MPs) accountable to their track record on climate change.

Note to Journalists: For more information, please contact Supriya Kumar at skumar@worldwatch.org.

Worldwatch President Robert Engelman joins Mary Robinson, other experts in weighing the links between human numbers, human rights and sustainable prosperity on the eve of the Rio+20 “Earth Summit”

When:              January 12, 2012 – 12:30 p.m.

Who:                Robert Engelman, President of the Worldwatch Institute

Mary Robinson, President of the Mary Robinson Foundation

Rachel Kyte, Vice President of Sustainable Development, The World Bank

Carmen Barroso, Regional Director of the International Planned Parenthood Federation

Where:             Kaiser Family Foundation, Washington, D.C.

***

Twenty years after the 1992 “Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro, the promise of sustainable development will be revisited in June 2012 in Rio. In 1987, the Brundtland Commission first coined the term “sustainable development” and called upon the world to recognize that development should meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (also called the Earth Summit) established three pillars—economic, social, and environmental—as the interdependent foundation for developing sustainably.  That summit produced a global agreement called Agenda 21, which included two chapters on the relation of demographics and gender to sustainable development in the 21 century.

Today, the planet continues to face soaring social inequity and growing environmental problems. In this time of global economic upheaval, it is more important than ever to prioritize sustainable development investments that provide multiple benefits for families, communities, nations, and the world. As momentum builds to address climate change and other major challenges, the upcoming U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development (also called Rio+20 or the Earth Summit) summit presents a fresh opportunity to return anew to the critical question of how environmental, population, and economic concerns can be joined in a new vision for sustainable development.

Worldwatch President Robert Engelman will speak at the event. Engelman has researched and written actively, and is a renowned expert, on the environmental impacts and implications of population change. Prior to his work at Worldwatch, he served as the Vice President for Research at Population Action International.

Other environment and sustainable development experts will join Engelman on the panel:

Mary Robinson, the first female President of Ireland, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and founder and president of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, will be sharing her expertise. In 2010, Robinson returned to Ireland to establish the Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice in an effort to secure global justice for the many victims of climate change who are usually forgotten: the poor, the disempowered, and the marginalized across the world.

Rachel Kyte, the World Bank’s vice president for sustainable development, will bring her expertise from the Bank’s global work in agriculture, environment, energy, infrastructure, urban, and social development.

Carmen Barroso will offer her perspective as a widely acknowledged leader in the field of sexual and reproductive health. Dr. Barroso served for 12 years as Director of Population and Reproductive Health at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, was a founding member of DAWN (a network of Third World women), and is currently the western hemisphere regional director of International Planned Parenthood.