Press Release
U-M plans alumni outreach as Dean Bierbaum addresses China's environmental leaders
The University of Michigan is reaching out to alumni and friends in Beijing, China, to coincide with a regional lecture on climate change by Rosina M. Bierbaum, dean of the School of Natural Resources and Environment.
The Nov. 9 lecture in Beijing focuses on climate change in East Asia and the Pacific region and takes place under the auspices of The World Bank. Dean Bierbaum co-authored the World Bank's World Development Report 2010, which focused on the intersection of development and climate change. The World Bank released the WDR 2010 summary in September; the full report is scheduled for a November release.
The World Bank has invited nine heads of ministries of the People's Republic of China, members of its Science and Technology Academy and local University leaders to the lecture.
The dinner for University of Michigan alumni and friends is Tuesday, Nov. 10, and also will be in Beijing. Outreach to China has taken on greater visibility under President Mary Sue Coleman, who led a U-M delegation to China in 2005. One by-product of that visit was the creation of a Chinese Alumni Relations Program through the U-M Alumni Association. Two years later, President Coleman created a China task force to study how to further enhance understanding and engagement. The group reported its findings last fall. For five consecutive years, U-M has sent a delegation to China and other parts of Asia, where more than 10,000 U-M alumni live.
Dean Bierbaum's lecture is significant to the region because of the scope and urgency of the WDR's proposals. The East Asia and Pacific region is home to about 2 billion people; its nations are among the top countries worldwide for vulnerability to climate-related threats, especially foods and storms. About half the countries in the region are island nations.
In China, climate change is expected to threaten the availability of water for an estimated 270 million people in western China. The lecture coincides with a regional meeting of The Energy Foundation board of directors, on which Dean Bierbaum sits. The Energy Foundation is a partnership of major donors, including other foundations, interested in solving the world energy problems by advancing energy efficiency and renewable energy in the United States and China.
