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LUMS VC to Lead PKR 45M Project on Climate Change
September 17, 2012
The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) has received research funding of around PKR 45 Million from the Canada-based International Development Research Centre (IDRC) to lead a multi-year, multi-partner research project on Climate Change Adaptation in Pakistan. Dr. Adil Najam, Vice Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and a global expert on climate change policy in developing countries who also serves on the International Board of WWF, is the Principal Investigator (PI).
The project titled ‘The Determinants, Impact and Cost Effectiveness of Climate Change Adaptation in the Indus Ecoregion,’ will be implemented in partnership with WWF-Pakistan. The project will focus on technical, policy and political economy aspects of the multi-pronged climate change adaptation challenges faced by Pakistan and especially through the lens of food security and water. The project initiation team is led by Dr. Adil Najam at LUMS and is supported by LUMS Adjunct faculty member Ahmad Rafay Alam and Research Fellow Basharat Ahmed Saeed. It also includes Ali Dehlavi and Rab Nawaz at WWF-Pakistan, and will involve Dr. Ben Groom at the London School of Economics. In addition, other members of the LUMS community – faculty as well as students – will be incorporated into different aspects of the project as it develops and unfolds.
The IDRC is a development research agency of Canada established to assist developing countries use science and technology to find solutions to local problems. WWF-Pakistan represents one of the largest conservation organisations in Pakistan and undertakes a wide variety of programmatic activities, including research, all across the country. The project will be guided by a Technical Advisory Group, now being established with leading national experts in various aspects of climate change research including metrology, gender aspects, development, agriculture, water, etc. A national consultation related to the project was held at LUMS earlier in the summer. The project will also provide a research platform to link to the larger SarSubz LUMS Initiative.
The goals of the 3-year project are to (a) to equip relevant stakeholders in the Indus Ecoregion to take informed decisions with regard to cost-effective and politically feasible climate change adaptation interventions, and (b) to introduce findings and recommendations from the micro-econometric and political economy studies into relevant economic and social policy at all levels. For LUMS a key goal is to facilitate capacity and research skills in a younger generation of climate change researchers, including LUMS students. To this end a number of project outputs have been designed specifically to include and incentivise student researchers at LUMS. The project will take a cross-disciplinary perspective and will encourage climate change research by LUMS faculty across its three Schools, and in particular collaborative research across disciplines.
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