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 Photo by Mikhail Evstafiev | |
| Born | (1940-08-20) August 20, 1940 (age 84) Nainital, Uttarakhand, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation(s) | Chief, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Director General, TERI, a research and policy organization in India. |
Rajendra Kumar Pachauri (born August 20, 1940, Nainital, India) has been director general TERI, a research and policy organization in India, and chancellor of TERI University.
He served as the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2002.
On December 10, 2007, Al Gore shared the Nobel Peace Prize with the IPCC; Pachauri represented the IPCC at the awards ceremony.
He was recently awarded the second-highest civilian award in India, the Padma Vibhushan in January 2008 as well as the Padma Bhushan in January 2001.
He has also been the chairman, governing council of the National Agro Foundation (NAF), as well as the chairman of the board of Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society.
Pachauri has taken a strong stance on Climate Change, he has gone on record saying, "What is happening, and what is likely to happen, convinces me that the world must be really ambitious and very determined at moving toward a 350 target." 350 refers to the level in parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that top climate scientists such as NASA's James Hansen agree to be a safe upper limit in order to avoid a climate tipping point.
Education
Pachauri was educated at La Martiniere College in Lucknow and at the Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in Jamalpur, Bihar.
He began his career with the Diesel Locomotive Works in Varanasi.
Pachauri was awarded an MS degree in Industrial Engineering from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, in 1972, as well as a PhD in Industrial Engineering and a PhD in Economics. The thesis titles or the year of award of the two doctoral degrees he has stated he received from North Carolina State University are not known in public at present.
He served as Assistant Professor (August 1974 -- May 1975) and Visiting Faculty Member (Summer 1976 and 1977) in the Department of Economics and Business at NC State.
Biography
Pachauri was on the Board of Directors of the Indian Oil Corporation (January 1999 to September 2003); Board of Directors of GAIL (India) Ltd. (April 2003 to October 2004); National Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (August 2002 to August 2005); the Board of Governors, Shriram Scientific and Industrial Research Foundation (September 1987); the Executive Committee of the India International Centre, New Delhi (1985 onwards); the Governing Council of the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi (October 1987 onwards); and the Court of Governors, Administrative Staff College of India (1979-81).
On 14th of July 2008, Pachauri received the title UNIDO Goodwill Ambassador.
Pachauri has been awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan by the Indian government & the ‘Officer of the Legion of Honour’ by the French government.
He is a strict vegetarian, partly due to his beliefs as a Hindu, and partly because of the impact of meat-production on the environment.
Work with the IPCC
On April 20th, 2002, Pachauri was elected Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations panel established by the WMO and UNEP to assess information relevant for understanding climate change.
2007 Nobel Peace Prize
The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore,who had earlier criticised Pachauri when he was first elected in 2002. In its press release, the Nobel Prize Committee said:
"...the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 is to be shared, in two equal parts, between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."
On December 11, 2007, Pachauri (representing the recipient IPCC) and co-recipient Al Gore delivered their acceptance speeches at an awards ceremony in Oslo, Norway, on a day when delegates to a United Nations climate conference were meeting in Bali, Indonesia. Pachauri began by drawing attention to his conviction that the Hindu philosophy of
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, which means the whole universe is one family, must dominate global efforts to protect the global commons.
Returning to this theme throughout his speech, he pointedly reminded his audience of the words of the president of the Maldives in 1987:
"...a mean sea level rise of two meters would suffice to virtually submerge the entire country of 1,190 small islands, most of which barely rise two meters above sea level. That would be the death of a nation."
Pachauri repeatedly emphasized his concerns regarding the implications of climate change for the world's poorest nations, referring to studies that:
"...have raised the threat of dramatic population migration, conflict, and war over water and other resources, as well as a realignment of power among nations. Some also highlight the possibility of rising tensions between rich and poor nations, health problems caused particularly by water shortages and crop failures...
"One of the most significant aspects of the impacts of climate change... relates to the equity implications of changes that are occurring and are likely to occur in the future. In general, the impacts of climate change on some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities in the world could prove extremely unsettling."
Interviews
Pachauri was a key note speaker at the 2008 Metropolis Congress in Sydney October 2008. Pachauri addressed world mayors and industry leaders on the impact of climate change on urban development in the 21st Century.
He also delivered a lecture in January 2007 at Techfest 2008 (held at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay) in Mumbai and Kolkata regarding environmental issues and the problem of global warming via video conferencing.
He gave a keynote lecture during convocation '09 at Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology in Gandhinagar.
See also
References
- "Dr. R.K. Pachauri". Retrieved 2008-07-26.
- R. K. Pachauri biography on I love India website
- "UN climate panel head formed global consensus", Reuters profile, 2007-10-12
- "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Elects Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri as its Chairman" (PDF). IPCC. 20 April 2002. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
- Pachauri buries Gore feud after Nobel - Reuters 2007-10-12
- "Gore Accepts Nobel Prize With Call for Bold Action", Mary Jordan, Washington Post, p. A14, 2007-12-11.
- ^ Transcript of Nobel Prize speech from Democracy Now! website.
External links
- Official website
- Dr R K Pachauri's - Blog
- Biography
- Biography
- Nobel Prize acceptance speech Video, audio, and print transcript from Democracy Now!.
- Dr. Pachauri discusses the climate change negotiation process with Climate Change TV
- Lord Browne interviews Dr Pachauri about climate change, Winter 2007
- UN scientist backs '350' target for CO2 reduction
- Climate of India
- Indian environmentalists
- Recipients of the Padma Bhushan
- Indian economists
- Indian vegetarians
- North Carolina State University alumni
- Old Martinians
- People from Nainital
- 1940 births
- Living people
- Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan
- IPCC lead authors
- Indian civil servants
- Indian Railways officers
- Environmental scientists