Tuesday, Jan 30, 2024
1:30pm - 3:00pm
Lecture by:
Dr. Robert McLeman
Each year over 20 million people globally are displaced from their homes by floods, storms, droughts, wildfires and other extreme weather events that are becoming more frequent and severe due to climate change. The World bank has estimated that, if no action is taken to curb global greenhouse gas emissions and foster sustainable development, over 200 million people may be displaced by the impacts of climate change by 2050. This lecture reviews current science on the relationship between environmental change and migration and identifies pathways for action to avoid worst case scenarios from occurring.
Robert McLeman is Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. A former diplomat, Dr. McLeman is an influential scholar and researcher of how climate change affects the migration and displacement of people in Canada and around the world. He has served as a consultant on environmental migration for government agencies in Europe and North America, the World Bank, OECD, and multiple UN organizations. He also served as Coordinating Lead Author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group II Sixth Assessment Report, leading an international team of scientists in assessing the impacts of climate change on human health, wellbeing, migration and conflict. His book “Climate and Human Migration: Past experience, future challenges” (Cambridge University Press, 2014) has been the primary textbook for undergraduate and graduate teaching on the topic for almost a decade.
Third Age Learning Kitchener Waterloo