Program: Climate Change and the World’s Protected Areas

Day 1 – Friday, May 6, 2005

1:30 p.m.  REGISTRATION

Introduction: Richard E. Leakey

Protected Areas: An historical perspective and review of protected areas.
Jeff McNeeley, Chief Scientist, The World Conservation Union

Climate Change and the Biological Response: Thomas Lovejoy, President of the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment

Climate Science: What do we know and how strong are the predictions?
Bob Watson, Director for Environment and Head of the Environment Sector Board at the World Bank and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

“Changes in Species and Global Warming: Past, Present and Future” : Terry Root, Senior Fellow, Center for Environmental Science and Policy. Stanford University

Possible Actions to Address Climate Change and Protected Area Concerns: Klaus Toepfer, United Nations Under-Secretary-General, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON), and Executive-Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

“Seas the Day: The Need for a New Ocean Ethic”:
Jane Lubchenco, Valley Professor of Marine Biology and Distinguished Professor of Zoology at Oregon State University

"Climate Change and Global Air Quality: The Need for Action."
Mario J. Molina, 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry - Institute Professor, Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Earth, Atmosphere, and Planetary Sciences, M.I.T.

Working Group 1: Research and Monitoring Actions. What needs to be done to get a better idea of the problem, funding and coordination, possible creation of an inter-governmental agency?

Chair: Stephen Schneider, Stanford University, Professor of Biological Sciences, a Senior Fellow at the Center for Environment Science and Policy of the Institute for International Studies, and Professor by Courtesy in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University.

Group Members: Jeff McNeeley, The World Conservation Union; Zhao Shidong, Dir. Of the Chinese Academy of Science; James Clark, Duke University; David Chapman, University of Utah; Terry Root, Stanford University; Thure Cerling, University of Utah; Anthony Janetos, The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment; Jane Leggett, Senior Advisor, Climate Change Division, Environmental Protection Agency; Cynthia Rosenzweig, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies; others to be announced.

Working Group 2: Can the problem of climate change be resolved by extending the coverage of the protected areas through land acquisition, land use policy change, etc.?

Chair: Ian Johnson, Vice President for Sustainable Development (ESSD) at the World Bank

Group Members: Cristian Samper, Director, Museum of Natural History; Lisa Curran, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies; Lara Hanson, World Wildlife Fund; Jane Lubchenco, Oregon State University; Bob Watson, The World Bank; Vickie Markham, Center for Environment and Population; others to be announced.

Working Group 3: Can improved landscape conservation strategies reduce the impact of climate change? What are the options when protected areas and landscape-level efforts fall short?

Chair: Osvaldo Sala, Director of the Center for Environmental Studies, Director of the Environmental Change Initiative, and Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University.

Group Members: Thomas Lovejoy, H. John Heinz III Center; Adam Markham, Clean Air Cool Planet; Lee Hannah, Conservation International; Peter Bridgewater, Ramsar Convention; Robert Corell, University of Alaska, Fairbanks; Charlotte Boyd, Senior Advisor on Biodiversity Conservation Corridors for the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, Maria Victoria Gunnarsdottir, Executive Secretary, CAFF International Secretariat.

Reports and recommendations from the working groups and interaction in plenary with all participants.

Intellectual synthesis of deliberations and recommendations. Further action put forward as practical next steps. Chair: Ian Johnson. Panelists: Richard Leakey, Thomas Lovejoy, Jane Lubchenco, Jeff McNeeley, Mario Molina, Terry Root, Osvaldo Sala, Stephen Schneider, Klaus Toepfer, Bob Watson.