Administered and organised by

Dr Nadeem Ul Haque
Division Chief, Asian Region, IMF Institute

Dr Mahabub Hossain
Executive Director, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC)

Dr Govinda Rao
Director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, India

Dr Mark Rosegrant
Division Director, International Food Policy Research
Institute, Washington DC

Though rapid economic growth in recent years has reduced the percentage of people living in absolute poverty, South Asia remains home to nearly half billion of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. It is also one of the most militarised regions of the world, dogged by regional military tensions, border disputes and violent internal conflicts. Human security in South Asia requires equitable and sustainable economic growth as well as improved political stability and greater social cohesion. In this context, environmental degradation, of which climate change is the most dramatic global expression, poses grave threats and major challenges for South Asian countries striving to achieve human security.

Global climate change is aggravating the severe problems of land degradation, water scarcity and urban pollution in the region. In a region where many major rivers cross state and provincial borders, both inter-country and inter-provincial disputes over water rights, for example, have already become more acute with growing water scarcity. Climate change and water scarcity will place even more pressure on global food production. Rising food prices, which affect the poorest people and poorest regions most, can have devastating consequences for political and social stability, and for the continuation of economic growth. Environmental degradation and stresses on the natural resource base interact with social and economic vulnerability, aggravating human insecurity across the most critical dimensions. The combined effects of global climate change and domestic environmental degradation clearly has the potential to severely undermine all aspects of human security in South Asia in the coming years.

The nature of the problem is such that it necessarily requires action at local, regional and global level. The conference will bring together expertise from South Asia and Australia, together with other international expertise to focus on this theme. It is a particularly appropriate theme for this AusAID sponsored conference because of the recent strong commitment made by the Australian government to take meaningful action on global environmental degradation, following its ratification of the Kyoto Treaty.

The "South Asia: Environment and Human Security" conference aims to enhance policy makers’ knowledge of the problems South Asia faces due to global climate change, food price increases and the measures that can be taken to alleviate those problems, and implications for Australian aid policy.

The conference will provide a general update on recent developments in the region on Day One, followed by focussed discussion on the environment and human security issues on Day Two.

Other speakers include (in alphabetical order):

• Imran Ali, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore
• Jayatilleka Bandaralage, Griffith University
• Brian Dawson, Director, Adapt and Clean Development Section, AusAID
• Richard Damania, Lead Environmental Economist, World Bank
• Stephen Howes, Professorial Fellow, Australian National University
• Mark McGillivray, Chief Economist, AusAID
• Andreas Schild, Director General, Integrated Centre for International Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Nepal
• Kunio Senga, Director General, South Asia Department, Asia Development Bank
• Zafar Sobhan, Assistant Editor, Daily Star, Dhaka
• Achyut Wagle, Political Analyst/Journalist, Nepal
• Dushni Weerakoon, Deputy Director, Institute of Policy Studies, Sri Lanka

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