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Researchers and students listen to panel speakers at the “Sustainable Development for Human Security” meeting hosted by CIESIN and the WWHGD WG at Lamont Campus April 18. Pictured, center, is CIESIN senior research associate Alex de Sherbinin. |
“Sustainable Development for Human Security” was the theme of a one-day workshop hosted by CIESIN at the Lamont Campus of Columbia University April 18. The workshop was part of a series of meetings sponsored by the World-Wide Human Geography Data Working Group (WWHGD WG), which is composed of representatives from government agencies, programs of the United Nations, nongovernmental organizations, private industry, and academia. Earth Institute director Jeffrey Sachs gave a keynote presentation on the importance of human geography data in developing post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals and associated targets and metrics. Lee Schwartz, the Geographer of the United States from the U.S. Dept. of State, kicked off the meeting on behalf of the Working Group. Other invited speakers included D. James Baker of the Clinton Foundation; former CIESIN scientist Deborah Balk of the City University of New York; Ayako Kagawa of the United Nations Cartographic Section; Cynthia Rosenzweig of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Columbia University; Carmelle Terborgh of ESRI; and Christopher Tucker of Map Story. CIESIN staff members Alex Fischer and Alex de Sherbinin also gave presentations on relevant CIESIN data and information resources and initiatives, and Marc Levy chaired a panel discussion on Global Environmental Change and Political Instability.
Formed in 2011, the WWHGD WG is designed to build voluntary partnerships around human geography themes, data, and mapping, addressing the need to improve the quality of and access to global human geography data.