5th Asia Environment Lecture
The 5th Asia Environment Lecture was held on 3rd November 2017 at NUS Bukit Timah Campus Auditorium. This lecture series started in 2013 and since its beginning, world leaders championing environmental sustainability were invited to speak, providing the audience with an opportunity to gain insights on issues pertaining to environmental conservation and sustainability. The event is a joint effort by the NUS Bachelor of Environmental Studies programme, Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (APCEL) and NUS Masters of Environmental Management programme. It is also co-organised by City Developments Limited and National Parks Board.
The speaker for this year’s lecture is Ms Patricia Zurita, CEO of Birdlife International. Birdlife International is the world’s largest nature conservation partnership that strives to conserve the habitats and biodiversity of birds. For her lecture, Ms Zurita focused on how birds and their migratory paths show us a common path to conservation and peace. Environmental habitats such as coasts, wetlands and grasslands are destroyed by land reclamation. Climate change is altering our landscape and weather in ways that can be difficult to predict. These conditions make it difficult for migratory birds to make their yearly journey across borders between their breeding and wintering grounds. As a result, many of the world’s migratory birds are in sharp decline. If we were to save them from extinction, countries would need to work together as there is little value in protecting birds in one country if they are doomed to die from exhaustion in the next. Only by working together, across borders we can effectively build and maintain a happy, healthy planet.
The event attracted more than 150 participants mainly from NUS and members of the public as well as environmental practitioners, activists, government officers, researchers, educators, faculty members and students from other institutions.
Please see below for the footage recorded during the 5th Asia Environment Lecture: