News Releases

UWI expert tapped to participate in climate change and health policy global research initiative

For Release Upon Receipt - July 18, 2023

UWI


The UWI Regional Headquarters, Jamaica W.I. Wednesday, July 12, 2023— Professor Anthony Clayton, The University of the West Indies’ leading expert in foresighting and future-oriented planning, has been recruited by The Inter-Academy Partnership (IAP) to participate in a new initiative to assemble the world’s best solutions for climate change and health policies. The Inter-Academy Partnership (IAP) is a global research network that links all of the Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine of the world. 

Climate change is expected to seriously disrupt the supplies of food and water on which humanity depends. It could also result in nearly 200 million refugees over the next two decades as people are driven out of lands that are too hot and arid to support life or are disappearing under the sea as polar ice caps melt. People may be displaced by the progressive loss of coastal cities and infrastructure to rising seas and increasingly powerful hurricanes. This is likely to result in competition for land, water and resources, which will increase the risk of terrorism and conflict. The combination could put exceptional strain on a number of states, which could result in the breakdown of essential health and other services. 

Such complex and profoundly serious challenges call for a new approach to problem-solving. It is important to address all of the dimensions of the problem in order to generate viable, long-term solutions. Climate mitigation and adaptation require rethinking the world’s energy, food, water, urban planning, construction and transport sectors - searching for solutions that can sustain human health and welfare while substantially reducing the strain on core global environmental systems. 

The Inter-Academy Partnership (IAP), which is a network of over 140 national science academies and 30,000 leading scientists, engineers and health professionals in over 100 countries, will now lead a global program to encourage the multi-sectoral, systems-based studies and policies needed with the goal of embedding these ideas into government thinking and practice. The IAP has embarked on a search for the world’s best solutions that can sustain human health and welfare under the severe challenges of climate change. 

Professor Anthony Clayton has been recruited to join the committee that will review the best available solutions, and choose those that are to go forward to the governments of the world. 

Responding to being tapped for this role, Professor Clayton said he was “honoured to have been asked to serve on this program, which is of truly global significance”. 

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About The University of the West Indies

The UWI has been and continues to be a pivotal force in every aspect of Caribbean development; residing at the centre of all efforts to improve the well-being of people across the region for the past 75 years. 

From a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948, The UWI is today an internationally respected, global university with near 50,000 students and five campuses: Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago, Cave Hill in Barbados, Five Islands in Antigua and Barbuda and its Open Campus, and global centres in partnership with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe. 

The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Culture, Creative and Performing Arts, Food and Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities and Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science and Technology, Social Sciences, and Sport. As the Caribbean’s leading university, it possesses the largest pool of Caribbean intellect and expertise committed to confronting the critical issues of our region and wider world.

The UWI has been consistently ranked among the top universities globally by the most reputable ranking agency, Times Higher Education (THE). The UWI is the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists since its debut in the rankings in 2018. In addition to its leading position in the Caribbean in the World University Rankings, it is also in the top 25 for Latin America and the Caribbean and the top 100 global Golden Age universities (between 50 and 80 years old).  The UWI is also featured among the leading universities on THE’s Impact Rankings for its response to the world’s biggest concerns, outlined in the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Good Health and Wellbeing; Gender Equality and Climate Action. 

2023 marks The UWI’s 75th anniversary. The Diamond jubilee milestone themed “UWI at 75. Rooted. Ready. Rising.” features initiatives purposely designed and aligned to reflect on the past, confront the present, and articulate plans for the future of the regional University. 

Learn more at www.uwi.edu   

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