Leading climate change expert Dr Rajendra K Pachauri to give free public lecture in Melbourne
Media releaseMelbournians will get a rare chance to hear the thoughts of, question and decide for themselves, whether climate change is an issue and worth their attention or not when one of the world's leading experts on climate change delivers a free public lecture, hosted by Deakin University, next Thursday, February 21.
The lecture, will be delivered by the chairperson of the Nobel Peace Prize (2007) winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Director General of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) Rajendra K Pachauri.
Director of Deakin's Alfred Deakin Research Institute,Professor David Lowe, said Dr Pachauri's visit and lecture was a great coup by the Institute and was the result of the University's close relationship with TERI formalised two years ago.
"Depending on what media you read or follow, Dr Pachauri is either the world's leading climate change scientist or an alarmist but he has argued that the issue of climate change requires sane and rational responses and we have decided that this year's Fusion lecture will play a role in that," he said.
"Dr Pachauri has said previously that the West needs to make major structural and policy changes in the way it goes about economic development – wealth needs to be shifted from the developed to the developing nations.
"His topic therefore looks at how scientific knowledge and technological possibilities now make it possible for us to deal with climate change and how they can help society adopt a more sustainable pattern of development."
Professor Lowe said research at TERI sought to find solutions to problems related to living sustainably and addressing environmental degradation.
"As the director general of TERI which is a key knowledge generator in its own right, Dr Pachauri will make the argument that higher education institutions, have a role in developing and disseminating some of the solutions to climate change that we need," he said.
"And here at Deakin University we are conscious of our role not only to assist in the finding of solutions and forms of adaptation, but also to communicate results in ways that enable people to change through the development and acceptance of effective policy."