IPED CFR Series: Climate Justice

Join us for a Council on Foreign Relations Academic Conference Call with Adil Najam, Ph.D. (عادل نجم), the inaugural dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, which was founded in 2014 with a generous gift from BU alumnus Frederick S. Pardee. He is also a professor of international relations and of Earth and environment., Najam previously served as vice chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Lahore, Pakistan, and as the director of the Boston University Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. In addition to Boston University, Najam has taught at MIT and at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. His research focuses on issues of global public policy, especially those related to global climate change, South Asia, Muslim countries, environment and development, and human development.

Najam was a co-author of the “Third and Fourth Assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change” (IPCC); work for which the scientific panel was awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for advancing the public understanding of climate change science. In 2008, he was invited by the United Nations secretary-general to serve on the UN Committee on Development (CDP). He was a member of the president of Pakistan’s Special Task Force on Human Development (2001) and served on Pakistan’s Presidential Commission on Higher Education (2002). In 2010, he was awarded the Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence), one of Pakistan’s highest civil awards, by the president of Pakistan. In 2019, he was appointed the prime minister of Pakistan’s Advisory Council on Foreign Affairs.

Najam has written more than 100 scholarly papers and book chapters. His recent books include South Asia 2060: Envisioning Regional Futures (2013); How Immigrants Impact their Homelands (2013); The Future of South-South Economic Relations (2012); Envisioning a Sustainable Development Agenda for Trade and Environment (2007); Trade and Environment: A Resourcebook (2007); Pakistanis in America: Portrait of a Giving Community (2006); Global Environmental Governance: A Reform Agenda (2006); Environment, Development, and Human Security: Perspectives from South Asia (2003); and Civic Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development (2002). He was also the lead author for the 2017 “Pakistan National Human Development Report on Youth.”