Pakistani Professor
amongst Nobel-Winning Scientists’ Team
Pakistani
professor Adil Najam, now teaching at the Fletcher School
of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA, is amongst
the team of scientists and experts in the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that shares the 2007 Nobel
Peace Prize with former US Vice President Al Gore.
The 2007 Peace Prize, announced in Stockholm, Sweden, today
includes a gold medal and US$1.5 million, is to be shared
between Al Gore and the IPCC for enhancing the understanding
of the science of climate change. The IPCC is a panel of
the world’s most eminent and leading scientists working
on global warming and it produces its scientific assessment
every 4-5 years. These assessments, especially the most
recent one, have been influential in moving global climate
policy, including changes in US and other country positions
on the subject.
Prof. Adil Najam has served as an expert on this prestigious
panel for eight years, and as a Convening Lead Author for
its most recent report. Along with other scientists on the
panel he helped shape the findings of the IPCC, especially
on issues related to sustainable development and other developing
country interests.
When asked to comment on the Nobel award, Dr. Najam stressed
that this honor was not for any individual but for the IPCC
as an institution and is shared for the scientific work
done by a large number of experts from around the world.
He also said that the last few Nobel Peace Awards, including
those for Wangari Maathai (Kenya, 2004) and Mohammad Younas
(Bangladesh, 2007) shows “an acknowledgement that
environmental and poverty issues are being accepted as amongst
the greatest threats to global peace and security.”
He added that “what the Nobel committee has really
done is to award the prize to the issue of global climate
change.”
Dr. Adil Najam holds a doctorate and two Masters degrees
from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a
specialization in negotiation from Harvard Law School, and
an engineering degree from UET, Lahore. He has taught at
MIT, at Boston University, at University of Massachusetts
and currently at Tufts University. He is the author of more
than a dozen books and over 100 scholarly papers and book
chapters, and a winner of the MIT’s Goodwin Medal
for Teaching, the Paddock Teaching Award of the Fletcher
School, and Stein Rokan Award of the International Studies
Association.
In the past, Dr. Tariq Banuri of Pakistan had also played
a similar leading role in past IPCC reports.
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