International Day of the Tropics: Towards a Better Global Future

Authors

  • Sandra Harding Vice Chancellor and President, James Cook University, Australia and Singapore
  • Gillian Bird Permanent Representative and Ambassador of Australia to the United Nations, Australia and USA
  • Elizabeth Losos Organisation for Tropical Studies, USA and Costa Rica
  • Rose Aderolili Chief of the Human and Social Development Program for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
  • Peter Hotez National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8770-1042

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.15.2.2016.3538

Keywords:

Tropics, development, International Day of the Tropics, United Nations discussions, Sustainable Development Goals, ecosystems, tropical diseases, demographics, climate change

Abstract

At a time of great global change, and as the world begins to implement a redefined global development agenda, is timely to consider the importance of the tropical region and its role in our global future. The ‘International Day of the Tropics’, inaugurated in early June this year and celebrated for the first time on June 29, 2016, shines a light on the significant challenges and opportunities faced by nations of the Tropics and the global implications of the rapid changes the region is experiencing. This paper summarises discussions held at the United Nations in New York on that inaugural International Day of the Tropics.

Author Biographies

Sandra Harding, Vice Chancellor and President, James Cook University, Australia and Singapore

Professor Sandra Harding took up her appointment as Vice Chancellor and President of James Cook University Australia in January 2007. In this role, she is responsible for ensuring clear and effective leadership and management of the University across all operating sites, including campuses in Townsville, Cairns and Singapore. Educated at the Australian National University, The University of Queensland and North Carolina State University, USA, Professor Harding has extensive academic has extensive academic leadership experience. An economic sociologist be training, her areas of enduring interest include work organisation and markets. She also has a keen interest in public policy, especially education polity and the global Tropics, Northern Australia and economic development. She has undertaken a wide variety of senior university-aligned roles as well as memberships/directorships of a variety of local, national and international Boards and Councils.

Gillian Bird, Permanent Representative and Ambassador of Australia to the United Nations, Australia and USA

Her Excellency Gillian Bird is the Permanent Representative and Ambassador of Australia to the United Nations. From 2004 until commencing her current appointment 2015, she served as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and between 2008 and 2013, held the additional role of Australia’s first Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Gillian  Bird’s overseas assignments have included UN New York (1990-1993), Harare (1986-1987) and Paris OECD (1980-1983). Gillian Bird was awarded the Public Service Medal in 2012 for outstanding public service in the field of International Relations. She Bird holds a BA (First Class Hons), University of Sydney and is a graduate of the French École Nationale d’Administration.

Elizabeth Losos, Organisation for Tropical Studies, USA and Costa Rica

Dr Losos has been the President and CEO of the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) since March 2005, leading an international consortium of 63 universities and research institutions and managing a large staff that trains graduate students in tropical field research. Previously she was Director of the Center for Tropical Forest Science (CTFS) at the Smithsonian Institution, overseeing a global network of large-scale tropical tree research plots. She also serves on the board of the Amazon Conservation Association. She has a Master's degree in Public Policy and a PhD in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, both from Princeton University.

Rose Aderolili, Chief of the Human and Social Development Program for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Dr Rose Aderolili is Chief of the Human and Social Development Program for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The large program delivers research, policy advise and technical support to all 54 African countries in areas such as education, employment, health, gender, migration and youth.Rose joined the UN in 2001 as Economic Affairs Officer at UNECA, then was promoted to Chief Economist at the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) where she dealt directly with humanitarian issues, advising on the needs of refugees. She was Chief Advisor to the United Nations as Special Representative of the Secretary General on humanitarian matters and reconstruction in Southern Sudan. Also with UNECA, she was Acting Director/Officer in Charge of the African Centre for Gender and Social Development.

Rose has a vision for Africa without poverty, disease or conflict and wants to increase the economic and social development of a continent she believes has much potential. The African Union and United Nations recently recognised Rose and her team for their significant contribution to Africa's development.

Peter Hotez, National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine

Professor Peter J. Hotez is the founding Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, USA, where he is also the Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair of Tropical Pediatrics. Additionally, Dr Hotez is the President of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, Director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and the Baker Institute Fellow in Disease and Poverty at Rice University.

Dr Hotez is an internationally-recognized research investigator in neglected tropical disease vaccine development and a renowned global health advocate. He leads the only product development partnership for developing new vaccines for hookworm infection, schistosomiasis, and Chagas disease, diseases affecting hundreds of millions of children and adults worldwide. In 2006 at the Clinton Global Initiative he co-founded the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases to provide access to essential medicines for more than 100 million people. In 2015 he was appointed by the White House and State Department as United States Science Envoy.

He obtained his undergraduate degree in molecular biophysics from Yale University in 1980 (Phi Beta Kappa), followed by a PhD in biochemical parasitology from Rockefeller University in 1986 and an MD from Weill Cornell Medical College in 1987.

References

Hotez P.J. (2016a). Neglected tropical diseases in the anthropocene: The cases of Zika, Ebola, and other infections. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 10(4): 1-6

Hotez, P.J. (2016b). Blue marble health: An innovative plan for diseases of the poor amid wealth. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

State of the Tropics (2014). State of the Tropics Report. James Cook University, Australia. Retrieved from: http://stateofthetropics.org/the-report

United Nations (2016). Resolution 70/267 – International Day of the Tropics. Retrieved from United Nations General Assembly, New York, website: http://www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/70/267.

Downloads

Published

2016-12-20

How to Cite

Harding, S., Bird, G., Losos, E., Aderolili, R., & Hotez, P. (2016). International Day of the Tropics: Towards a Better Global Future. ETropic: Electronic Journal of Studies in the Tropics, 15(2). https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.15.2.2016.3538