Barnard Lecture Archives
2003
Science and Environmental Law: Tales from a Difficult Marriage
Presented by Dr. Oliver A. Houck, Professor of Law at Tulane University Law School.
Professor Houck’s interests are in environmental, natural resources, and criminal law. He has served as a federal prosecutor in Washington, DC and, subsequently, as General Counsel and Vice-President of the National Wildlife Federation. He has recently served on the Boards of Directors of the Defenders of Wildlife and the Environmental Law Institute, the Litigation Review Board of the Environmental Defense Fund, and two committees of the National Science Foundation.
Professor Houck is active in legal proceedings involving wildlife, biological diversity, coastal, and water pollution control problems, and publishes regularly on these and related issues. He is currently consulting on the development of the environmental law of Cuba. His classes emphasize relationships between ecology and law, and he regularly takes students on field trips into coastal ecosystems, through the Atchafalaya swamp, and other natural areas.
He has received awards as Louisiana’s Conservationist of the Year, Gambit magazine’s New Orleanian of the Year, and the New Orleans Young Leadership Council’s Role Model of the Year, as well as the Law School’s Felix Frankfurter Distinguished Teacher. In 2000 and 2002, he was named a recipient of the Sumter Marks Award for his recent publications. Professor Houck was honored by Tulane University at the 2002 unified graduation ceremony when he was awarded the Graduate Teaching Award.
2002
Poverty and Environment
Presented by Dr. Robert T. Watson, Chief Scientist and Director, Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development, the World Bank.
As chief scientist and director for Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development, Robert T. Watson is the World Bank’s senior spokesperson on global warming and climate change. Before joining the Bank in 1996, he served three years as associate director for environment in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President. In these positions he has played a key role in the negotiation of major global environmental conventions and has led international scientific efforts to understand ozone depletion, climate change and biodiversity, and to communicate findings to policymakers.
From 1997 to 2000, Dr. Watson was director of the World Bank’s environment department. In addition to his responsibilities at the Bank, he has chaired the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Global Biodiversity Assessment, and the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the Global Environment Facility. He is the current board co-chair for the International Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and the co-chair of an international consultative process on the role of agricultural S&T in reducing hunger and improving livelihoods.
Dr. Watson’s career has evolved from one focused on laboratory research to one that encompasses a mix of science and policy. Early in his career, he worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration doing atmospheric research, and subsequently serving in NASA management positions. He has published widely and received many national and international awards for his contributions to science, including the AAAS Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility in 1993. Born in the United Kingdom and now a U.S. citizen, he received his Ph.D. in Gas Phase Chemical Kinetics from Queen Mary College, London University, in 1973.
2002
Between Traditions and Modern Challenges: Lithuania’s Natural Environment in the 21st Century
Presented by His Excellency Valdas Adamkus, President of the Republic of Lithuania.
President Adamkus was born in Lithuania, and fought for Lithuanian independence in the resistance movement during World War II. His family emigrated to the United States in 1949, because of the Soviet occupation of his country. His 48 years in the U.S. included working for more than two decades for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. At the time of his retirement, in 1997, he was Administrator of EPA’s Great Lakes Region. In 1997 he returned to Lithuania and one year later was elected president.
As President, Adamkus has been widely recognized for his efforts to bring about environmental changes in Lithuania through economic reforms. He is working for balanced and sustainable environmental policies, which are central to meeting the new challenges of globalization, re-establishment of free market relations, and rapid transition to a post-industrial economy.
2000
Sustainable Development – Managing Conflict
Presented by Ms. Yolanda Kakabadse, President, The World Conservation Union.
Yolanda Kakabadse has been president of The World Conservation Union (IUCN) since 1996. She is also the executive president of the Foundacion Futuro Latinoamericano, a non-governmental organization that she founded in 1993. In August of 1998 she was appointed minister of the environment for the Republic of Ecuador, a position she held until January 2000.
Ms. Kakabadse was born in Ecuador in 1948. She studied educational psychology at the Catholic University of Quito. Her nexus with the environmental conservation movement officially began in 1979, when she was appointed executive director of Foundacion Natura. In her 11 years there, Foundacion Natura assumed a position of leadership in Ecuador and the international community, on issues relating to environmental education and development policies.
Ms. Kakabadse is a member of the board of directors of the World Resources Institute and the board of trustees of the Ford Foundation. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Global 500 Award of the United Nations Environment Program and The Golden Ark Order, bestowed by Prince Bernard of The Netherlands.
1999
Managing Environmental Risks – A View from the Other End of the World
Presented by the Honorable Simon Upton, Minister of the Environment, New Zealand.
The Hon. Simon Upton is New Zealand’s Minister of the Environment and Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He also holds the portfolio of Minister of State Sciences. He has been a Member of Parliament for the National Party since he was first elected in 1981, at age 23.
Mr. Upton has traveled widely to speak about environmental issues, including climate change, biodiversity, and both urban and rural sustainable development. He is active in the international environmental community, participating in a range of global issues. He was chairman of the seventh session of the United Nations’ Commission on Sustainable Development, and in 1997 led New Zealand’s delegation to the Kyoto Protocol negotiations. He is a syndicated columnist and author of The Withering State. He has a keen interest in environment and science policy.
Mr. Upton has degrees in English and Law from the University of Auckland, and a M.Litt. in political philosophy from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.