Climate Change and the Pacific

Public Lecture in celebration of World Environment Day 2015

Climate change is not a far-off problem. It is happening now and is having very real consequences on people’s lives. Climate change is disrupting national economies, regulatory mechanisms and lifestyles – none more so than in the Pacific.

Join two expert speakers on climate change mitigation and adaptation in this World Environment Day public lecture to hear how nations in the Pacific are facing climate change – and what the UN, and the world, can do to help.
About Mr Kevin Petrini
Kevin has been involved in international development work related to environment, climate change, disaster risk management and community mobilization in the Pacific Region since 1998. He is currently working as the UNDP Regional Climate Change Specialist for the Pacific. In this position, he is a member of the Technical Working Groups supporting the development of the Strategy for Climate and Disaster Resilient in the Pacific (SRDP). He has worked throughout the Pacific and most recently has been supporting the Government of Fiji with UNFCCC negotiations, a Climate Public Expenditure and Institutional Review and development of the Fiji Green Climate Fund Readiness programme.
Previously, he worked for UNESCO as the interim Natural Sciences adviser for the Pacific, the GEF Small Grants Programme with focus on Community Based Adaptation and the United States Peace Corps as a Technical Training Coordinator. His development experience started with two years of service as a United States Peace Corps Volunteer working in a rural village in Samoa where he became fluent in the Samoan language and learned local customs.
Kevin holds a Masters of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder, United States with a focus on atmospheric chemistry modeling and a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, United States.
About Dr Jeffrey McGee
Dr Jeffrey McGee is an international lawyer based in the interdisciplinary setting of the Faculty of Law and Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania. He specialises in interdisciplinary research into the key challenges and opportunities of global environmental governance in the Anthropocene. His research program combines insights from the disciplines of International Law, Global Environmental Governance and Sustainability Science to analyse discursive interplay between environmental governance regimes at global, regional and national scale.
He is seeking to develop better understanding of regime interplay in order to improve the fairness, effectiveness and resilience of global and regional environmental governance and assist humanity meet the challenges and opportunities of the Anthropocene. Before entering academic life, Dr McGee was a partner in an insurance litigation legal practice in New South Wales for over ten years.
Refreshments from 5.30pm.
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Presented in partnership with the United Nations Association of Australia and the United Nations Information Centre.