speaker: david m. malone, under-secretary-general of the united nations, rector of the united nations university (unu), tokyo
time: 14:30-16:00, may 28th, 2015
venue: auditorium hall, main building, tsinghua university
language: english
bio:
david m. malone, born in 1954, became rector of the un university (unu), headquartered in tokyo, japan, with the rank of under‐secretary‐general of the united nations, on march 1, 2013. unu, a confederation of research institutions and partnerships located on all continents, serves as the un’s principal think‐tank.
malone was educated at the university of montreal, the american university of cairo and harvard university and holds a d.phil from oxford university. he continues to coordinate with friends and colleagues ambitious collective research projects, currently on: india’s international relations; the law and practice of the united nations; and the evolving role and characteristics of the un security council, with each expected to yield a major publication over the coming three years. he recently published international development: ideas, practice and prospects, a near‐encyclopaedic survey of the topic co‐edited with bruce currie‐alder, ravi kanbur and rohinton medhora.
he was president of canada’s international development research centre (idrc), one of the world’s leading funders of policy‐relevant research in developing countries (2008‐2013). a career foreign service officer, he served as canada’s envoy to india and non‐resident ambassador to bhutan and nepal (2006‐2008) and as a canadian ambassador at the un (1992‐1994).
he has published extensively, in academic and lighter veins.
abstract:
un member states have been hard at work on a new generation of sustainable development goals (sdgs), to be adopted by a un summit in september 2015. results have been mixed, not least because of the un’s tortured and often counter-productive negotiating traditions, and indeed much criticized in some quarters. but what does progress since the launch of the millennium development goals tell us, and how does it suggest that a decisive turn has been negotiated in the world’s development performance and strategies? can we now, at last, be somewhat optimistic? or could climate change spoil the party?