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Nazrul Islam, Hiroshi Kawamura and Marcelo LaFleur, Economic Affairs Officers from the Development Strategy and Policy Analysis Unit of the Development Policy & Analysis Division, presented the World Economic and Social Survey 2016 at the Climate Change and Global Justice event at The New School in New York.
The DPAD contingent focused on the Survey’s analysis on climate change and inequalities, with an emphasis on the global aspects of environmental injustice. In their presentation, Islam, Kawamura and LaFleur showed that low-income countries least emit greenhouse gases into the earth’s atmosphere, but have been most affected by climate-related disastrous events. They also emphasized that similar climate injustice is common within countries, where the poor and vulnerable are disproportionately affected by climate events, contributing to the further widening of income and social inequalities. The Survey’s findings suggest that integrated, coherent and transformative policies need to be in place to break the vicious cycle between inequalities and climate change.
Prof. Joel Towers of The New School and Prof. Marilyn Power of Sarah Lawrence were discussants at the event. The New School professor in International Affairs, Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, who is a member of the United Nations Committee for Development Policy, moderated the event and will be using material from the Survey in her classes.
