Climate Justice: A Response to Natural Disasters in the Philippines (A Larry Lohman lecture)

Focus on the Global South-Philippines is holding its bi-annual program “Deconstructing Discourse and Activist Retooling Programme" (DDARP) for 2009, together with Third World Studies Center (TWSC) and the UP department of Political Science, on the issue of climate change. A public lecture entitled "Climate Justice: A response to Natural Disasters in the Philippines" will be given by Mr. Larry Lohman, a well-known expert, activist, and researcher on climate issues for the DDARP, on November 19, 2009 from 10am to 12 noon at Palma Hall 207.

Mr. Lohman will be discussing the natural disasters the world is experiencing—including the recent ones in the Philippines. He will be giving a brief discussion of what really is the issue about climate at present, including an assessment of the international and national responses to climate change. Climate justice as a response to climate change and other alternatives will also be featured. Lastly, he will be providing updates on the progress of climate talks. An open forum will be following the lecture.

Larry Lohmann works with The Corner House, a UK-based research and advocacy organization. His books include Pulping the South:Industrial Tree Plantations in the Global Paper Economy (with Ricardo Carrere) (Zed, 1996) and the edited volume Carbon Trading: A Critical Conversation on Climate Change, Privatization and Power (Dag Hammarskjold Foundation, 2006). He is a founding member of the Durban Group for Climate Justice and his articles have appeared in journals such as Accounting, Organizations and Society; Asian Survey; Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars; Development; International Journal of Environment and Pollution; New Scientist; Race & Class and Science as Culture.

The Flooding of Metro Manila

Amando Doronila's column in today's Philippine Daily Inquirer, "A panorama of zoning chaos," cited the studies done by Dr. Doracie B. Zoleta-Nantes of the UP Department of Geography on the flood hazards in Metro Manila.

Dr. Zoleta-Nantes forwarded to the TWSC copies of said studies, with the hope that "people might be interested to read [them]; they contain some information which might convince them to put some pressures to our government officials to start paying attention to hazard mitigation, disaster loss reduction and recovery."

Download the papers here.

The Cory Aquino Leadership: Perspectives from the Social Sciences (A Public Forum)

The Cory Aquino Leadership: Perspectives from the Social Sciences
(A Public Forum)
September 9, 2009 (Wednesday), 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Pulungang Claro M. Recto, Bulwagang Rizal (Faculty Center)
University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City

Speakers: Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr., Randolf S. David, Emmanuel S. de Dios, Amado M. Mendoza Jr., Michael L. Tan

Is there anything left to explain for the social scientists? What part of Cory Aquino have we not understood amidst the very public outpouring of grief and deep gratitude that we, the Filipino nation, have expressed during her passing last August? The University of the Philippines (UP) Third World Studies Center, together with the Office of the UP Diliman Chancellor, the UP Department of Political Science and the Philippine Political Science Association organized this event to counter precisely these concerns, which are borne out of cynicism and our haste to get over the former president’s death. The organizers believe that Cory Aquino’s life as a leader, her experiences, and the decisions she made that still strongly inform our society today, were all drawn from a wide range and sometimes conflicting mix of personal conviction and political positions. Thus, to interpret her life in the same way we attempt to comprehend the nation’s sorrow over her death, there is a need for the different disciplines of the social sciences to come together and share their understanding of her life and legacy. Equally important is the opportunity that this forum will avail to the current generation of students whose idea of her role in the nation’s history is only a faint approximation of that what their elders have lived through. The forum challenges us to go beyond the narrow sentimentality of grief; that it be an occasion not only for old war stories but also for new inquiries about a past and a leader whom we have shown so deserving of our sacrifice, too worthy of our tears.

Program

Welcome Remarks

Ma. Lourdes G. Rebullida
Chair and Professor
Department of Political Science
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines-Diliman

Introduction of the Speakers

Speakers

Amado M. Mendoza Jr.
Professor
Department of Political Science
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines-Diliman

Randolf S. David
Chair and Professor
Department of Sociology
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines-Diliman

Emmanuel S. de Dios
Dean and Professor
School of Economics
University of the Philippines-Diliman
(unavailable)

Filomeno V. Aguilar Jr.
Professor
Department of History
Ateneo de Manila University

Michael L. Tan
Professor and Chair
Department of Anthropology
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines-Diliman

Open Forum


Moderator:

Roland S. Fernando II
Senior Lecturer
Department of Political Science
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines-Diliman

A transcript of the open forum can be viewed via this link.

Public Lecture by Atty. Antonio Oposa Jr., 2009 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee

The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation through the U.P. Diliman Department of History with the College of Arts and Letters, Third World Studies Center and Center for International Studies invite you to a public lecture by Atty. Antonio Oposa Jr., 2009 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee, on September 1, 2009, 10am-11:30 a.m. at the Pulungang Claro M. Recto, Bulwagang Rizal (Faculty Center), University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.

Program

Opening Remarks

Ma. Luisa DL. Bolinao, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of History

Welcome Remarks

Elena R. Mirano, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Arts and Letters

Message

Nimfa B. Ogena, Ph.D.
Professor, U.P. Population Institute
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy

Lecture

Atty. Antonio Oposa
2009 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee

Discussant

Perry S. Ong, Ph.D.
Professor of Biology and Director
Institute of Biology, U.P. Diliman

Closing Remarks

Cynthia Neri Zayas, Ph.D.
Officer-in-Charge
Center for International Studies
U.P. Diliman

Master of Ceremonies

Alvin Jason A. Camba
Instructor, Department of History
U.P. Diliman

Click here for Diliman Interactive Learning Center's (DILC) coverage of the lecture.

U.S. Economic Policy Towards Asia (A Public Lecture)

The School of Economics and the Third World Studies Center, University of the Philippines-Diliman invite you to the lecture of Dr. Marcus Noland (2009 Fulbright-SyCip Distinguished Lecturer) entitled "U.S. Economic Policy Towards Asia," on August 25, 2009 (Tuesday), 4:00 - 5:30 p.m., at the Elizabeth Gokongwei Yu Hall (SE 114), School of Economics, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City.

Dr. Noland has been associated with the Peterson Institute for International Economics since 1985 and a senior fellow since 1994. He will become the Institute's deputy director on September 1, 2009. He has published a dozen institute books on a wide range of topics, including trade policy, industrial policy, the Asian economic crisis, Japan, Korea, the Middle East and Islam, and the Pacific Rim. He is perhaps the world’s leading expert on the economy of North Korea and a top scholar on Korea as a whole, having won the prestigious Ohira Award for 2000–2001 for his book, Avoiding the Apocalypse: The Future of the Two Koreas. Dr. Noland spent a year as a senior economist at the Council of Economic Advisers in the White House in 1993-94. He has taught at Yale University, the East-West Center in Hawaii, Johns Hopkins (where he received his PhD in 1985), the University of Southern California, Tokyo University and Saitama University in Japan, the University of Ghana, and the Korea Development Institute. He is a past president of the Association of Comparative Economic Studies and sits on the editorial boards of numerous scholarly journals.