MDP Associate Director discusses climate change

MDP Students Discuss Climate Change at France-Atlanta Roundtable

More than 3,500 attendees flock to Atlanta each fall for the annual France-Atlanta celebration, a series of events designed to foster cooperation between France and Atlanta. This year’s program centered on innovative approaches to science, business, culture, and humanitarian efforts. One of the key events was a roundtable discussion on “Climate Change and Humanitarian Aid” hosted at Emory and centered on expectations for the UN global conference on climate change (COP21) that will be held in Paris in December. The roundtable was facilitated by Prof. Beril Toktay (Georgia Tech) and structured in two parts, focused respectively on community-level adaptation and on global policy solutions. It featured representatives from CARE Climate Change, Action Against Hunger, Groupe U.R.D. and the French Embassy. Emory MDP Associate Director, Dr Carla Roncoli and Dr. Daniel Rochberg of Emory’s Department of Environmental Sciences were among the panelists. Helena Worrall (MDP ’16) contributed to planning the event and Lauren Reef (MDP’16), helped manage the Q&A session. Attendees included faculty and students from Emory, Georgia Tech, Georgia State, University of Georgia, Kennesaw State, and Spelman College as well as CDC researchers. The Emory roundtable was sponsored by Climate@ EmoryMaster’s in Development PracticeInstitute for Developing NationsDevelopment Studies ProgramHalle Institute for Global Learning, and Office of Sustainability Initiatives. The event also provided an opportunity for the visitors to meet with Emory faculty to discuss potential collaborations and give guest lectures in MDP and RSPH courses. Dr.Carla Roncoli stressed that the event was “one of the high points of this Fall semester extra-curricular programming at Emory and significantly contributed to raising awareness on our campus of the existing and potential linkages between Atlanta and France”. 


Photo: Emory MDP Associate Director, Dr. Carla Roncoli (right) participating as a panelist in the annual France-Atlanta celebration.