Human Development Reports - United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Sustainability & Equity: A Better Future for All

Washington, DC
30 November 2011

The UN Development Programme cordially invites you to:

“Sustainability & Equity: A Better Future for All” - A discussion of the 2011 Human Development Report with 

Olav Kjorven, UN Assistant Secretary-General & Director of UNDP’s Bureau of Development Policy  

William Orme, Chief, Communications & Publishing, UNDP Human Development Report Office 

Andrew Deutz, PhD, Director, International Government Relations, The Nature Conservancy 

Moderated by Elizabeth Shogren, NPR 

 

Wednesday, Nov. 30, 12-2 p.m. 

University of California, Washington Center (UCDC)

1608 Rhode Island Ave., NW

Washington, DC 20036

RSVP required 

A light lunch will be served. 

Past Human Development Reports have shown living standards in most countries have been rising, and converging, for several decades now. Yet the 2011 Report projects a disturbing reversal of those trends if environmental deterioration and social inequalities continue to intensify, with the least developed countries diverging downwards from global patterns of progress by 2050. The world’s most disadvantaged people, further, suffer most from environmental degradation and disproportionately lack political power, making it all the harder to reach agreement on needed global policy changes. The Report outlines great potential for positive synergies in the quest for greater equality and sustainability, especially at the national level, and emphasizes the human right to a healthful environment, the importance of integrating social equity into environmental policies, and the critical importance of public participation and official accountability.

Please join us for a discussion of the report—its findings and recommendations—and how UNDP is working to address environment and energy issues.

Participants:

• Olav Kjorven is Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Bureau of Development Policy at UNDP. From 2005-2007, he led UNDP's Environment & Energy Group, promoting sound environmental management and access to energy for poverty reduction. From 1997-2000, he served as political adviser to the Minister on International Development and Human Rights. He has also served as Director of International Development at the Centre for Economic Analysis.
• William Orme is Chief of Communications & Publishing at the UNDP Human Development Report Office in New York. He worked previously for the United Nations in Sierra Leone, overseeing a transition from a UN peacekeeping radio service to a national public broadcaster, and advised the Gates Foundation on other African media projects. Before that he served as UNDP's Policy Advisor for Independent Media Development and as UNDP’s spokesman and head of External Communications. A former Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, he is an author of books on NAFTA and the Mexican press and has reported on international affairs for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, and other publications.
• Dr. Andrew Deutz is a leading expert in international environmental law, policy and negotiations, as well as international conservation and development. He currently directs international government relations at The Nature Conservancy, overseeing the organization’s international policy work on topics including biodiversity conservation, climate change, and marine and freshwater policy, as well as overseeing relationships with international organizations, multilateral development banks, and US government agencies that work internationally. Prior to joining TNC in 2006, he served in several leadership roles with the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and has served as the Lead Forest Negotiator for the US State Department and as Forest Policy Advisor to the World Bank.
• Elizabeth Shogren joined NPR in 2005 to cover environmental issues. She previously spent 14 years as a reporter at The Los Angeles Times. She has reported on major environmental news including the BP oil spill, toxic air pollution and the impact of climate change on iconic trees such as Joshua Trees and the white bark pine trees at the highest elevations in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. From 1993-2000, Shogren worked from The Los Angeles Times Washington bureau covering the White House, Congress, social policy, money and politics, and presidential campaigns. During that time, she also covered the Kosovo crisis in 1999, the Bosnian war in 1996, and Russian elections in 1993 and 1996. Before joining the Washington bureau, she was based in Moscow where she covered the breakup of the Soviet Union and the rise of democracy in Russia for the newspaper.

The UNDP Human Development Report was first launched in 1990 by the renowned Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq and Indian Nobel laureate Amartya Sen. Its goal was to place people at the center of the development process in terms of economic debate, policy, and advocacy. “People are the real wealth of a nation,” Haq wrote in the first report in 1990. “The basic objective of development is to create an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy and creative lives. This may appear to be a simple truth. But it is often forgotten in the immediate concern with the accumulation of commodities and financial wealth.” The Human Development Report is an independent study commissioned by UNDP and produced by a selected team of leading scholars, development practitioners, and members of the Human Development Report Office of UNDP.

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