The Changing Middle East, The Road to a Clean Energy Society, and Biodiversity Conservation in Developing Countries are the Spring 2016 topics for the Global Hot Spots Lecture Series, which features thought-provoking discussions about what’s happening in the world with faculty experts at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Global Hot Spots talks are held on Fridays, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., at the Fluno Center, Howard Auditorium, 601 University Ave., Madison. Lectures are free and open to the public.
The Global Hot Spots Lecture Series is cosponsored by the Wisconsin Alumni Association, PLATO (Participatory Learning and Teaching Organization), and the UW–Madison International Division.
February 19:
American Foreign Policy & the Changing Middle East
A Global Hot Spots favorite, Jon Pevehouse, professor of political science, will offer an insightful update on what’s happening in the Middle East.
Pevehouse, who joined UW–Madison’s faculty in 2000, focuses his work on the relationship between domestic and international politics. Topics on which he has recently published include regional trade agreements, human-rights institutions, exchange-rate politics, and international organizations.
His numerous awards include the Karl Deutsch Award, an international honor recognizing scholars under age 40 who have made significant contributions to the study of international relations.
March 18:
An Update from Paris: On the Road to a Clean Energy Society
Jonathan Patz, one of the world’s leading experts on climate change, will offer his perspective on the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP) in Paris, which brought a record number of heads of state in December to negotiate commitments on greenhouse gas reductions.
Patz will discuss the human health risks posed by climate change – from heat waves, famines, and weather-sensitive infectious diseases, to extreme storms, sea-level rise, and infrastructure collapse – and the health benefits offered by climate change mitigation policies – from improved air quality to active transport that promotes physical fitness.
He holds the John P. Holton Chair in Health and the Environment with UW–Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the Department of Population Health Sciences. He co-chaired the health-expert panel of the first U.S. National Assessment on Climate Change and was a convening lead author for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. For 15 years, he was a lead author for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the organization that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore.
April 22:
Biodiversity Conservation in Developing Countries: The View from Local Communities
Teri Allendorf, a conservation biologist who has been working on issues of local communities and protected areas since 1994, will discuss her research in Nepal, Myanmar, and China, in which she explores the values that local residents hold and the roles they can play toward conserving protected areas in developing countries.
Allendorf is an assistant scientist in the Department of Forest and Wildlife at UW–Madison and a research associate with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. She is also an Honorary Fellow in UW–Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and Land Tenure Center. She has served as a member of USAID’s Biodiversity Team and a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal.
She has worked in Nepal, Myanmar, China, India, Uganda, Guyana, and Guatemala, to develop the capacity of local and national NGOs to design and implement biodiversity conservation projects in collaboration with local communities.
— by Kerry G. Hill