Development in the Balance: How Will the World’s Poor Cope with Climate Change?

Related Research

Brookings Blum Roundtable contributors explore central challenges on the development and climate frontiers:

• Financing Adaptation: Opportunities for Innovation and Experimentation, by Manish Bapna and Heather McGray
• Balancing Climate Change and Global Development, by Lael Brainard 
• The Potential for Insurance to Help the World’s Poor Adapt and Thrive as the Climate Changes, by Ian Burton and Thea Dickinson
• The Climate Security Connection: What it Means for the Poor, by Joshua W. Busby
• Towards a New International Climate Change Agreement, by Elliot Diringer
• Public Health Adaptation to Climate Change in Low-Income Countries, by Kristie Ebi
• Mobilizing Action for Adaptation in the North and South, by Heather Kaplan and David Waskow
• Linking Communities, Forests, and Carbon, by Michael Jenkins
• Development in the Balance: Agriculture and Water, by Robert Mendelsohn
• Corporate Action on Climate Adaptation and Development, by Jane Nelson
• Climate Change Impacts in the Developing World: Implications for Sustainable Development, by Anthony Nyong
• Integrating Climate Change into Development: Multiple Benefits of Mitigation and Adaptation, by Atiq Rahman

Event Summary

In its fifth annual gathering, led by Lael Brainard and co-chaired by Strobe Talbott and Richard C. Blum, the Brookings Blum Roundtable addressed the challenges of climate change and development and convened leaders from both the development and climate change communities from August 1-3, 2008, to discuss and debate policy ideas that could benefit both fronts. By examining common challenges—accountability, effective deployment of resources, agenda-setting, mobilizing the public and financial resources, and achieving scale and sustainability—the Roundtable established a solid foundation for collaboration among the climate change and development communities and fostered ideas for policy action.

• Learn more about the 2008 roundtable (PDF)
• View the agenda (PDF)
• View the participant list (PDF)

Keynote Sessions

Keynote Panel: “Noble Nobels: Solutions to Save the Planet”

• Steven Chu, University of California, Berkeley
• Al Gore, Generation Investment Management; 45^th Vice President of the United States

Keynote Panel: Legal Empowerment of the Poor

• Mary Robinson, Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative
• Madeline Albright, The Albright Group; Former U.S. Secretary of State

Keynote Panel: “How Do We Achieve Climate Justice?”

• Kumi Naidoo, CIVICUS and the Global Call to Action Against Poverty
• Mary Robinson, Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative