TORONTO, February 19, 2001 -- Better ways of managing and protecting the world's ecosystems will be highlighted in an address by Jonathan Lash, president of the Washington-based World Resources Institute (WRI), at York University on Thursday, February 22.
Lash will speak about the current condition of the world's major ecosystems - forests, croplands, coastal zones, freshwater systems and grasslands - based on data collected from 150 countries for the renowned World Resources report. His talk is entitled "People and Ecosystems: The Fraying Web of Life." He will also discuss the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, an ambitious new international effort aimed at creating the first reliable, comprehensive data base of information for developing a global report card on trends and conditions in the five ecosystems.
His lecture, which is part of the President's Task Force on Sustainability Speaker Series, will take place at Assembly Hall, Room 152, Founders College, at 12:30-2:00 p.m.
Lash has served on various national and international committees, including the U.S. President's Council on Sustainable Development (co-chair), the Earth Council, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Advisory Group on the Environment (co-chair). He is currently a member of the transition team advising Christine Todd Whitman, President George W. Bush's appointee to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Lash is expected to offer insights on how Bush administration policies may affect the U.S. environment and on the climate change negotiations at The Hague and Montreal, which foundered recently because the United States and the European Union could not agree on how to meet targets to limit the pollution that causes global warming. With today's (Feb. 19) release of the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world's governments and top climate scientists confirm for the first time that global warming is drastically altering the face of the planet.
Lash's lecture is co-sponsored by the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, and CH2M Hill Canada Ltd. It is organized by the York Centre for Applied Sustainability on behalf of the President's Task Force on Sustainability. The President's Task Force on Sustainability Speaker Series intends to provide public forums for discussion of sustainability issues in general, and in particular their relation to York University and the work of the Task Force in recommending measures that will achieve sustainability on campus.
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For further information, please contact:
| Maxwell Brem Director of External Relations Faculty of Environmental Studies York University (416) 736-2100, ext. 22635 mbrem@yorku.ca |
Dianne Zecchino Coordinator, Special Events & Non-degree Studies External Relations, Faculty of Environmental Studies York University (416) 736-5285 diannez@yorku.ca |
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