Global Scenario Group To Visit GISPRI

The Global Scenario Group, and international research group of sustainability study, will meet at the Global Industrial and Social Progress Research Institute from 11th to 13th of this December. The meeting is to discuss about the report "Toward a Sustainable Transition: Goals and Actions" that will be published soon. In the afternoon of 13th, especially, a discussion with Japanese academic specialists for sustainability study, led by Prof. Yoichi Kaya of Keio University, is scheduled.

The subject of the meeting will be "Global Sustainability Transition: Scenarios and Policies Beyond Kyoto." It is expected to present valuable suggestions in search of direction toward the future of sustainability development of the world.

Global Scenario Group
Brief Biographies (Updated 12/19/96)

Khaled Mohamed Fahmy is Senior Environmental Economist at the Egyptian Institute of National Planning and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation. His work has focused on issues of environment and development, specializing in the economics of industrial pollution and in activities to strengthen the policy-oriented dialogue concerning environment and development. He has been an environmental consultant for several national and international agencies, including the Egyptian Environmental Protection Agency, the Egyptian Academy for Scientific Research and Technology, the United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank. Dr. Fahmy received his doctorate from the University of Economic Sciences in Germany.

Tibor Farago is Secretary of the Hungarian Commission on Sustainable Development, Head of the Department of Environmental Policy Cooperation in the Hungarian Ministry for Environment and Regional Policy, and Chairman of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He has authored and edited numerous publications on environmental protection, climatology, remote sensing, and applied mathematics. Dr. Farago received his doctorate in Geography-Meteorology.

Gilberto Gallopin is Leader of Land Management in the International Center for Tropical Agriculture in Colombia. He has been Senior Fellow of the International Institute for Sustainable Development in Canada, Senior Expert on Environment and Development at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria, Director of the Ecological Systems Analysis Group in Argentina, and Full Professor at both the University of Buenos Aires and the Fundacion Bariloche in Argentina, and the Executive President of the latter. Dr. Gallopin's areas of expertise include ecological systems analysis, environmental impact assessment, sustainable development, impoverishment and global simulation models. He has published numerous papers and books in these areas. Dr. Gallopin received his doctorate in Ecology from Cornell University.

Pablo Gutman is the team leader of a sustainable development study in Panama and a member of Argentina's National Council of Scientific Research. He has served as an environmental economist for the World Bank, directed the Center for Urban and Regional Studies in Buenos Aires, and for 20 years has lectured, consulted and conducted research on environment and development throughout Latin America, working with international and local agencies, academic institutions, and NGOs. His most recent research focuses on interdisciplinary approaches to sustainable development, global environmental change, and environmental policy. He is a graduate in Economics from the University of Buenos Aires.

Allen Hammond heads work on resource and environmental information at the World Resources Institute and is Chairman of the Steering Committee for the 2050 Project. He serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of two major scientific journals and is author of numerous scholarly articles and books. He is an award-winning journalist, whose work has been featured prominently in print, radio and television. His writings include: Energy and the Future, Solar Energy in America, the World Resources series and Science80. He has served as a consultant for the United Nations and the United States government's legislative and executive branches. Dr. Hammond received his doctorate in applied mathematics and geophysics from Harvard University.

H.W.O. Okoth-Ogendo is Professor of Public Law at the University of Nairobi, where he has served as Chairman and Dean. He has also been a member of the University's Senate and Council, Director of its Population Studies and Research Institute, and a visiting professor at numerous universities internationally. He is a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the International Law Association, and the International Centre for Land Policy Studies. His most recent publications concern land in African agrarian systems, constitutionalism and democracy, human rights and governance in Africa, and climate change policy options for Africa. Professor Okoth-Ogendo obtained his Doctor of Science of Law Degree in Agrarian Systems and Institutions at Yale University.

A. Atiq Rahman is Director of Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies a research organization which takes an integrative approach to environment and development, governance and people's participation, and southern perspectives. He also coordinates both the Climate Action Network South Asia and the Global Forum on Environment and Poverty, a global network of four hundred institutions. He advises the Board of Natural Disaster and the US National Academy of Science, and is on the board of the World Wildlife Fund International and the IMAGE 2 Model of the Dutch Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection. His recent research includes analysis of the environmental impact of structural adjustment and scenarios of global change for a the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis. He has lectured throughout the world, held academic posts in Europe for 14 years, and has authored and co-authored numerous books and publications. Dr. Rahman's doctorate is in Solid State and Surface Chemistry and Science of Materials from the United Kingdom.

Paul D. Raskin is Director of SEI-Boston and President of Tellus Institute, a team of fifty professionals engaged in a broad research program on environment, resources, and development policy. He has conducted assessments on these issues for governments and private organizations throughout the world over a twenty year period. He has published widely and advised many governmental and multinational bodies. He has conceived and implemented various tools for resource and environment planning including the widely-used Long-range Energy Alternatives Policy (LEAP) System and the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) System. Recently, he has developed the PoleStar System for exploring alternative development scenarios and assessing the requirements for a transition to sustainability at global, national and local levels. Dr. Raskin received his doctorate in Theoretical Physics from Columbia University.

Setijati D. Sastrapradja is Senior Scientist with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences where she directs both the Center for Research in Biotechnology and the National Biological Institute. She has chaired or has vice-chaired four Indonesian organizations, and has been a member of seven international organizations concerned with biodiversity and genetic resources. These organizations include: the National Committee on Genetic Resources, the Technical Advisory Committee of Bird Conservation, the International Network of Bamboo and Rattan, and the United Nations Environment Programme. Dr. Sastrapradja received her doctorate in Botany from University of Hawaii.

Katsuo Seiki is Executive Director of the Global Industrial and Social Progress Research Institute (GISPRI). He has 27 years experience with the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry, where he directed its Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, Industrial Policy Bureau, Agency of Natural Resources and Energy, International Trade Policy Bureau and the Minister's Secretariat. He has participated in a number of international committees on sustainability, environment and development. He has organized study groups on sustainability in East Asia for the GISPRI Sustainability 2050 Project, and on alternative development and environmental security. He is a graduate in Law from the University of Tokyo.

Nick Sonntag is Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute. Mr. Sonntag was Chief of Staff for the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, and was a central figure in the drafting of Agenda 21. Mr. Sonntag is an environmental systems expert with wide international experience. He is a founder of ESSA, a Canadian environmental research and consulting firm, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and a member of the Earth Council Institute. Mr. Sonntag's graduate training was in Operations Research at the University of British Columbia.

Rob Swart works with the Policy Analysis & Scenario Group at the Air Research Laboratory of the National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection in The Netherlands. He advises the United Nations Environment Programme's Governing Council, focusing on the Global Environmental Outlook project. In addition he has worked in the areas of water supply, environmental modeling, and climate change policy with organizations such as National Institute of Drinking Water Supply, Pan American Health Organization, Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, Stockholm Environment Institute, European Union, OECD and Untied States Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. Swart received his doctorate in Earth Sciences from Amsterdam Free University.

Veerle Vandeweerd is Chief of the State of the Environment Reporting Unit at the United Nations Environment Programme in Kenya, where she is responsible for global integrated assessments and the Global Environment Outlook project. She has been responsible also for several of the Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS) programmes including: water, air, food, human exposure to pollutants, and radiation monitoring. She has worked with numerous national and international organizations and has implemented development projects in Zambia, Kenya, Thailand and Peru. Her areas of research and teaching have included biochemistry, immunology and parasitology. She has been a Member of the Institute of Biology and a fellow of both the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and the Tropical Institute in Belgium. Dr. Vandeweerd received her doctorate in Biochemistry.