Matthew’s talk will focus on a number of global trends which suggest that the interactive pressures of institutional failure and environmental stress many communities throughout the world are experiencing, could intensify in the years ahead.  The resulting outcomes could include public health setbacks, population displacement, and perhaps violent conflict, on unprecedented scales.

Sustainability Lecture Oct. 17: UC Irvine's Richard Matthew on Environment, Conflict and Peace
Richard Matthew, Professor in the Schools of Social Ecology and Social Science at the University of California at Irvine and founding Director of the Center for Unconventional Security Affairs
  • WHO:  Richard Matthew, Professor in the Schools of Social Ecology and Social Science at the University of California at Irvine and founding Director of the Center for Unconventional Security Affairs
  • WHAT:  Public lecture: “From Crisis to Sustainability: Environment, Conflict and Peace”
  • WHEN:  Thursday, October 17, 2013 from 6:00-7:30 PM
  • WHERE:  5 Washington Place, First Floor Lecture Hall, Room 101, NYC. Subways: N, R (8th Street); 6 (Astor Place); A,C,E,B,D,F,M (West 4th Street).

    The event is free and open to the public, but an RSVP is required. RSVP online here

For more information about the Educating for Sustainability series, or other NYU Sustainability programming, please visit www.nyu.edu/sustainability/.

Matthew’s talk will focus on a number of global trends which suggest that the interactive pressures of institutional failure and environmental stress many communities throughout the world are experiencing, could intensify in the years ahead.  The resulting outcomes could include public health setbacks, population displacement, and perhaps violent conflict, on unprecedented scales.

Based on almost twenty years of fieldwork in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, Matthew’s talk reviews the forces contributing to crisis and looks at the prospects for transformation towards more sustainable—economically robust, fair and ecologically sound–practices. The talk will be illustrated with examples drawn from participation in UN peacebuilding missions in Rwanda and Sierra Leone.

About Richard Matthew:

Richard A. Matthew (BA McGill; PhD Princeton) is a Professor in the Schools of Social Ecology and Social Science at the University of California at Irvine, and founding Director of the Center for Unconventional Security Affairs (www.cusa.uci.edu). He studies the environmental dimensions of conflict and peacebuilding and has done extensive field work in conflict zones in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

He has served on several UN missions, including two that he led to Sierra Leone, and he was the lead author of the UN technical report, Sierra Leone: Environment, Conflict and Peacebuilding Assessment. He has over 160 publications. Increasing global population, incomes, dietary consumption and biofuel use are placing unprecedented demands on the world's agriculture and natural resources.

The Educating for Sustainability series, which brings environmental scholars and leaders to NYU for public lectures, is cosponsored by the NYU Sustainability initiative and the Environmental Studies program.

About the NYU Office of Sustainability

NYU launched its sustainability efforts in 2006 with the creation of Sustainability Task Force  formed by faculty, students, staff and administration to galvanize NYU community to plan and take action towards sustainability in the way we live, operate, educate and innovate. The Office of Sustainability implements infrastructure projects, communication and engagement campaigns, and innovative programs to empower, inspire and guide the NYU community to achieve our goals for sustainable practices and culture.

 

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