NEWPORT, R.I. – Dr. P.H. Liotta, executive director of Salve Regina’s Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, is hosting a lecture to talk about his experiences as a recent delegate to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, held last month in Copenhagen.
“The Director’s Lecture: What Happened at Copenhagen,” will be presented at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 27 in the DiStefano Lecture Hall, located in the Antone Academic Center on Lawrence Avenue. Liotta’s talk is part of the Pell Center’s “Making Difference” lecture series.
As a member of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Liotta shared in the award of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Liotta will highlight the negotiation process that took place, as well as examine the impediments and possibilities for global agreement on climate change. Recognizing that the economic superpowers of the 21st century – India, China, the European Union and the United States – delivered key emission reduction targets, the challenges ahead rest on treaty commitment for meaningful change.
His research interests include the study of geography and geopolitics, particularly in southeast Europe, the Euro-Mediterranean and central and south Asia, as well as the re-examination of environmental, human and demographic security issues in the contemporary environment.
The Pell Center’s “Making Difference” lecture series follows the principle that one small change can lead to larger influence. With topics such as environmental policy, global ethics, the role of music and support for war veterans and their families, the lecture series seeks to challenge how each of us, in our own way, can be the change we wish to seek in the world.