Media Advisory: WFU Event Highlights International Climate Talks

Wake Forest faculty experts Miles Silman, biology professor, law professor John Knox, and Justin Catanoso provide a guided tour of the likely trajectory of these climate talks to be held in Paris, France, Nov. 30 through Dec. 11.

• Knox is a law professor who serves as the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights and the Environment. He will discuss what form the agreements are taking, the likelihood that countries will meet their commitments, and whether the promises of financial assistance to poorer countries will be carried out.
• Catanoso, director of Wake Forest’s journalism program and a journalist with 30 years of experience, has reported on the impact of climate change in South America, specifically in Peru, which is the world’s treasure chest with a mining industry rich in gold, silver, cooper and zinc and the Amazon jungle’s biodiversity.
• Silman, a conservation biologist, conducts research on the impact of climate change in the Peruvian Amazon in terms of species migrations, extinction and ecosystem alteration. His latest research involves the use of drones in Madre de Dios in southeastern Peru to reveal illegal gold mining that is causing deforestation, loss of biodiversity and climate change.

Information about this event, sponsored by the Office of Sustainability and the Center for Energy, Environment, and Sustainability, is available here.

All three panelists participated in the Conference of Parties (COP) last year in Lima, Peru. Knox and Catanoso will attend in this year’s talks (COP21) in Paris.