Lecture I: 10 December 2018 (9:00 am–11:00 am)

Air Pollution and Climate: Traditional and Modern Risks in Asia

Speaker: Kirk R Smith

Professor Kirk R Smith leads one of the world’s oldest research groups on the health and climate impacts of household energy. His current work focuses on household air pollution (HAP) from fuel use and includes field studies in India, Nepal, China, Laos, Paraguay, and Mongolia. His team has conducted pollution measurements related to heath and climate impacts at these sites, developed new monitoring technologies, and conducted epidemiological investigations – into the relations between HAP and child pneumonia, tuberculosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease risk factors, low birth weight, cataracts, cognitive deficit, and several biomarkers. Prof. Smith was principal investigator of the first randomized controlled trial of an air pollution intervention in a normal population – chimney stoves in highland Guatemala with child pneumonia as the primary outcome. His current work focuses on India, where clean LPG fuel interventions are being introduced at a large scale and will affect the health of over 600 million people. The focus is on developing and evaluating policy options for reducing ambient pollution in the country as well as air pollution exposure at the household level. The Collaborative Clean Air Policy Centre in Delhi was recently established by Prof. Smith. He has contributed to a number of global scientific assessments including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Global Energy Assessment, and the Global Burden of Disease. He has developed and elaborated quantitative concepts and measurement metrics in both environmental health and climate science policy. In addition to his research, he has been mentoring graduate students, postdocs, and visiting scholars, including nine young visiting scholars from India who will be part of the faculty of the first MPH programme in the country, on environmental and occupational health at Sri Ramachandra University. He has honorary professorships in several Chinese and Indian universities and has been awarded the Tyler and Heinz prizes in environment. He is an elected member of the US National Academy of Sciences.The event is free and open to the public.To confirm your participation, please write to
Neesha Pradhan
+977-1-5275222 (Ext 405)Downloads
SANDEE–ICIMOD Lecture Series 2018 (PDF, 157KB)
Kirk R SmithProfessor, Global Environmental Health, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Lecture II: 10 December 2018 (11:00 am–1:00pm)

Development Challenges of Asia: The Asian Century and the Middle Income Trap

Speaker: HM Gunatilake

Professor HM Gunatilake obtained his PhD in Resource Economics from the University of Hawaii and served as professor and head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka before joining the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He has published widely on various subjects – agriculture, natural resources, forestry, energy, and environmental economics. His most recent research has focused on private sector participation in infrastructure provisions, assessing and unbundling demand for water and electricity, energy trade and regional cooperation, economics of biofuels, economics of natural capital investments, and green business. Prof. Gunatilake served as co-editor of the Sri Lankan Journal of Agricultural Economics and president of the Sri Lanka Agricultural Economists Association. As director of the Environment and Safeguards Division of the Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department of ADB, Prof. Gunatilake oversaw the environmental and social safeguards of ADB projects. After opting to retire early from ADB, he took up the post of visiting professor at the Asian Institute of Management, Manila. He will also be serving as visiting professor at the University of Hawaii’s Manoa campus.