Posts in category: Uncategorized

Closing Remarks: President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson of Iceland

Summary by Josh Sanburn, World Policy Journal

After three days in which global leaders, academ

PANEL: Global Commodity Crunch: Food, Water, Oil, Energy, Trade?

Master of Ceremonies:
John Authers, Investment Editor, Financial Times

Panelists:
Badr Jafar, Executive Director, Crescent Petroleum Group
Josh Margolis, Co-Chief Executive Director, CantorCO2e
Henk-Jan Brinkman, Senior Adviser for Economic Policy, World Food Programme
Zachary Karabell, President, River Twice Research

Panel summary by Mary Kate Nevin, World Policy Journal

After Financial Times journalist John Authers introduced the panel, Badr Jafar examined the issue of oil shortages from an industry perspective, explaining that the “roller coaster” of oil prices in 2008 was precipitated both by oil speculation and the depletion of reserves. As demand for oil steadily increases in China and elsewhere in Asia, the threat of a serious shortage continues to loom portentously. Going forward, investments to increase capacity must come from public-private partnerships, too little of which currently exist, he says. “The next 10 years is going to be crucial in seeing whether we move more towards partnership or more towards conflict.”

He then addressed carbon emissions, presenting several practical ways to move toward their reduction. The most important thing the world can do is rid itself of its dependence on coal; “by displacing coal with natural gas worldwide,” he said, “we can reduce carbon emissions by over 70 percent.” He also called attention to rainforest degradation, imploring us to appreciate rainforests’ natural carbon capture and storage capabilities and to take action to protect them. Josh Margolis of CantorCO2e, a business focused on environmental rights, also emphasized the urgency of cutting carbon emissions. The United States emits dozens more tons of carbon per person than places like India and China, but that these developing economies strive to someday consume like Americans “keeps [him] up at night.” But he was optimistic about the global potential to address the issue, citing America’s pending cap-and-trade bill that seeks to cut emissions by 8 billion to 1 billion tons by 2050. “We should never waste an opportunity presented by an acute crisis,” he said, and the opportunity is there “if we accept that we really have to solve the problem.”

PANEL: Global Media

Keynote: Li Xiguang, president of Tsinghua University’s International Center for Communication Studies

Master of Ceremonies: K

PANEL: Innovation, Entrepreneurialism and National Competitiveness in a Global Age

Keynote Speaker:
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen of Finland

Special Speaker:
H.E. Dr. Ivo Sanader, Former Prime Minister of Croatia

Master of Ceremonies:
Aart de Geus, Deputy Secretary General of the OECD

Panelists:
Juan-Felipe Muñoz, Managing Director, The Otun Group
Dr. Eric Bonabeau, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer, Icosystem Corporation
Stephen Shapiro, Founder and Advisor, 24/7 Innovation
Bruce Mau, Creative Director and Founder, Bruce Mau Design
Susan Polgar, Chess Grandmaster

Panel summary by Mary Kate Nevin, World Policy Journal

“Activity breeds innovation,” Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen of Finland told an eager panel. “New things are not created without taking risks.” And never has there seemed a more urgent need for new ideas than now, with the world’s economies still reverberating from the worst slump in generations and public debts expanding almost beyond control. The key to a sustainable recovery will be entrepreneurship and innovation, he said, and in Finland, “it is in times of crisis when governments have to be particularly active” in promoting them. Finland’s experience, he continued, shows that extraordinary difficulties can be overcome with the right policies and enterprise; so too for the rest of the world, “in the coming years governments will play a bigger role than before.”

Former Prime Minister of Croatia Ivo Sanader also shared his country’s experience, illustrating how it has achieved its progress while shifting from a heavily controlled to a vibrant “knowledge-based” economy. The key, he said, was major investments in human capital and fostering of “competitiveness in everyday life.” Education is one important component of this, but “this alone will not guarantee competitiveness;” it is essential to balance education with employment needs while giving special attention to rule of law and control of corruption. He concluded with a call to the European Union “to leave the doors of integration open” in order to ensure lasting peace and stability.

Shifting the regional focus, Juan-Felipe Muñoz spoke of the rigid social systems in Latin America.

PANEL: Geo-Politics and Geo-Economics of the Middle East

Master of Ceremonies:
David A. Andelman, Editor, World Policy Journal

Panelists:
H.E. Reza Pahlavi, Former Crown Prince of Iran
Dr. Paul Sullivan, Professor of Economics, National Defense University
Dr. Priya Satia, Professor of Modern British History, Stanford University
Zachary Karabell, President, River Twice Research
Dr. Mustapaha Tlili, Founder and Director, Center for Dialogues Islamic World, U.S.-The West, New York University
Felice Friedson, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Media Line
Eyal Weizman, Director, Center for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths College

Panel summary by Max Currier, World Policy Journal

David Andelman focused the morning panel on two flashpoints: Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.  Reza Pahlavi began by reminding his New York audience that no place is “immune from the consequences of far away places.”  He described the Iranian government as “corrupt authoritarians” with a “stranglehold over a defenseless population.”  Noting especially the June 12 elections, he explained the government has “lost any semblance of legitimacy” and “robs Iranians of their dignity.”  Mr. Andelman announced the breaking news that Iran reported a previously undisclosed nuclear enrichment facility and asked Prince Pahlavi if there is a consensus in Iran about the peaceful use of nuclear power.  Nobody, Prince Pahlavi said, would suggest that sovereign nations could not use technology for its own peaceful means.  But he did add that Iran has not convinced the international community that its nuclear intentions are peaceful.

Prince Pahlavi recommended, and Felice Friedson later agreed, that, because “the luster of the Iranian revolution has vanished,” the international community should show humanitarian support for the people of Iran, creating “internal pressure” such that the Iranian regime “will be forced to change its policy.”  Similarly, Zachary Karabell believes China’s economic growth, with enough political freedom to alleviate extremism, can be a model for the development in many Middle East countries.  Dr. Paul Sullivan believes that economic development is imperative across the region: “[Tension] has more to do with money and power than religions.”

Dr. Sullivan emphasized the importance of water security in the region. 

PANEL: National Targets, Global Challenge: Climate Change, Copenhagen, and Beyond

Master of Ceremonies:
Josh Margolis, Co-Chief Executive officer, Cantor CO2e

Panelists:
Dr. Thomas Malone, Patrick J. McGovern Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management
Robert Laubacher, Research Associate, MIT Sloan School of Management
Aart de Geus, Deputy Secretary General of the OECD
Changhua Wu, Greater China Director, The Climate Group
Dr. Lisa Randall, Professor of Physics, Harvard University
Dr. Gerd Leipold, Executive Director, Greenpeace International
Dr. Renate Christ, Secretary, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Dr. Doug Arent, Director, National Renewable Energy Laboratory Center for Strategic Energy Analysis
Dr. John Felmy, Chief Economist, American Petroleum Institute

Panel summary by Max Currier, World Policy Journal

Jeff Felmy began with an impassioned plea: “The first thing we need to do is agree on the facts and then we can talk about policy.” Much of the subsequent discussion focused on diagnosing the problem of climate change from different perspectives without touching much on substantive policy prescriptions, although Aart de Geus did urge governments to levy taxes on emissions to encourage business growth in the “right direction,” and for governments to coordinate their actions “as collectively as possible.”

“We’re dealing with a massive market failure,” Changhua Wu said.  Robert Laubacher added another failure, that of the mainstream media in “presenting complexity.” He lamented that the attendant issues (science, geopolitics, law) of climate change are “extraordinarily complex issues” which are “not easily understandable for the lay person.”

The panel spent considerable time discussing why too few people support the dramatic changes that are required to substantially reduce carbon emissions.

PANEL: Social Entrepreneurs — The Next Generation of Smart Philanthropists

Special introduction:
Amir Dossal, Executive Director, United Nations Office for Partnerships

Master of Ceremonies:
Matthew Bishop, U.S. business editor and New York bureau chief, The Economist

Panelists:
Eric Broyles, Chief Executive Officer, Megree
Akhtar Badshah, senior director, community affairs worldwide, Microsoft Corporation
Kamran Elahian, philanthropist, chairman and co-founder, Global Catalyst Partners
Robert Weiss, president and vice chair, X Prize Foundation
Dr. Paul Jhin, CEO, The Information and Technology Corps
Michael Landau, chairman, MAP International
Noella Coursaris Musunka, founder, Georges Malaika Foundation
Richard Samans, managing director of the World Economic Forum
Badr Jafar, CEO of Crescent Petroleum and founder of the Pearl Initiative

Panel summary by Mary Kate Nevin, World Policy Journal

After a special introduction by Amir Dossal, Matthew Bishop began the panel with a call for private-public partnerships. “Even Bill Gates, with all his money, realizes he cannot solve the problems he’s grappling with on his own,” he said. Philanthropists need to forge smart and efficient alliances that use everyone’s skills effectively to address the pressing problems of the world, while “the public has to understand what’s going on and be brought into the process as well.”

Noella Coursaris Munsaka addressed education initiatives in her home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo. “Congo, after 20 years of war, is a challenge to work [with],” she acknowledged, but she also spoke to the importance of forging effective partnerships between and among sectors. It is key to have government involvement, private sector activity, and especially community initiatives in education and literacy projects. “If we work together more, I think we can achieve more goals over there and more goals sitting around the table like this,” said Munsaka.

Michael Landau then described MAP International’s creative solutions for infrastructure and education projects, especially in Uganda. Like the other panelists, he emphasized the importance of what he called “trilateral donor programs”—partnerships between governments, the private sector, and recipients. He put it bluntly: “it is not enough to have a partnership with [just] the government, because they don’t have money.” But government involvement is necessary, he allowed, to achieve anything “massively transformative.”

PANEL: President Lech Kaczynski: Poland in Globalization

Introduction:
David A. Andelman, Editor, World Policy Journal

Featuring:
President Lech Kaczynski, Republic of Poland

Panel summary by Max Currier, World Policy Journal

Amid glazed sea bass and raspberry chocolate purse, David Andelman introduced Lech Kaczynski, president of the Republic of Poland, as “the leader of perhaps the single most dynamic nation to emerge from the Warsaw Pact.” President Kaczynski agreed, pointing out through a translator that Poland is a large geographic nation with an emerging economy that will soon be the sixth largest in the European Union in terms of GDP growth per capita. Poland, he later added, should be the 20th member of the G-20 because it is robust economically and it seeks to “contribute” as an engaging and productive member of the global economy.

Before a mixed European and American audience, President Kaczynski praised “the new U.S. administration” for taking “momentous decisions” regarding missile defense. “What we’re seeing is a new offer of American leadership in the world” based on “universal negotiations” for which “I wish all the best.” He characterized the U.S. “offer” in “the context of a changing multilateral world,” implying a difficulty in engaging both Europe and the United States, as well as Russia. “Reconciliation is better than conflict. … Development is always better than going backwards,” he said. “We will see in the coming years if this offer is doable.”

PANEL: The Infrastructure of Human Dignity

Star Spotter: Brad Pitt, Ashton Kutcher, Barbara Streisand, Ricky Martin, Eve Ensler

Moderator:  John Podesta, president and CEO of Center for American Progress

Panelists:
Paul Farmer, founder of Partners in Health
Wangari Muta Maathai, founder of The Green Belt Movement, Kenya
Ingrid Munro, founder of Jamii Bora Trust and CEO of Jamii Bora Group

By Ruthie Ackerman for World Policy Journal

When we think of infrastructure we think of roads, sewage systems, and buildings. But a panel at the Clinton Global Initiative led by John Podesta, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress and former White House chief of staff under President Clinton, took a different look at infrastructure. Entitled “The Infrastructure of Human Dignity,” the panel focused on the systems that affect the world’s most vulnerable people: clean water, health care, and food systems. This is, as Podesta pointed out, the infrastructure needed “to support a decent standard of living for all people.”

Each panelist represented a different starting point on the issue: Wangari Maathai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her work on the green movement in Kenya, believes environmental education should be a universal education in all schools, especially given the link between conflict and resource management. In wars around the world—and, especially, those in Africa such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of Congo—battles over natural resources have sparked and prolonged those conflicts.

The solution, Maathai said, is to develop a new consciousness over what she calls natural capital. “People come out of university with a lot of knowledge. They are full in the head. But it is important to be able to apply that knowledge. How do we tend the soil? This is important.”

PANEL: Emerging Security Challenges

Master of Ceremonies:
Dr. John Henry Clippinger, Professor, Harvard University

Panelists:
Dr. Linton Wells, Distinguished Research Fellow and Force Transformation Chair, National Defense University
Major General Robert Schmidle, Assistant Deputy Commandant for Programs and Resources, United States Marine Corps
Dr. Eric Bonabeau, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer, Icosystem Corporation
H. E. Shaukat Aziz, Former Prime Minister, Pakistan
Dr. Paul Sullivan, Professor of Economics, National Defense University
Dr. Thomas Malone, Patrick J. McGovern Professor of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management
Dr. Benoit Mandelbrot, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Mathematical Sciences, Yale University
Carol Dumaine, Deputy Director for Energy and Environment Security, U.S. Department of Energy

Panel summary by Max Currier, World Policy Journal

Dr. John Henry Clippinger began the discussion by enumerating a few of the many, disparate security challenges we face today: worsening climate change, unbridled access to conventional weapons, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Armed forces securing a perimeter, he said, is not a sufficient means of security anymore.

Former Prime Minister Aziz noted other security challenges such as economic instability and “uppermost…the lack of leadership and cohesion at the global level.” Mr. Aziz insisted that terrorism is not primarily a security issue, however, but rather a symptom of societal problems—human rights, basic needs, education, women’s rights, children’s rights, and a lack of effective dispute resolution (which leads to helplessness)—that must be addressed at the root cause. “Eventually,” Mr. Aziz said, “you have to have dialogue. You can’t kill an entire population. But you do have to negotiate from a position of strength…using both carrots and sticks.”

Carol Dumaine from the Department of Energy (DOE) paraphrased author Jared Diamond: “The single biggest problem is the idea that we have a single biggest problem…. It’s what we least expect that could be the greatest threat and also the greatest opportunity.” Accordingly, the Department of Energy is engaging an interdisciplinary approach to create “scenario and foresight techniques” that will allow for better identification of root causes and stresses on natural and man-made systems. This should, Dumaine contends, help the DOE anticipate how stresses may manifest in “high impact, unknown probability events in the area of energy security”—such as the impact of extreme weather on nuclear power facilities or Arctic ice-sheet disintegration on animal feed security.