Al-Attar | Arlosoroff | Becker | Bertini | Catley-Carlson | Cox | Diouf | El-Kady | Falkenmark | Gleick | Gulliford | Imhof | Isaac | King | McMullen | Meinzen-Dick | Meltzer | Murano | Natsios | Pinstrup-Andersen | Postel | Quinn | Ringler | Rosegrant | Sanchez | Schnoor
Mohammad Al -Attar
Director General
International Center for Biosaline Agriculture
Transcript
Dr. Mohammed Al-Attar is Director General of the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He leads the ICBA in generating new knowledge and technology in saline irrigated agriculture. His connections with ICBA date back to 1996, when he became Chairman of the Technical Committee advising the Islamic Development Bank on the establishment of ICBA as its chairman. Dr. Al-Attar’s networks of international contacts make him invaluable to ICBA as it strives to develop collaborative research networks with partners in the Gulf region and beyond.
A marine biologist with a Ph.D. in Marine Science from the University College of North Wales in Bangor, UK, Dr. Al-Attar has a long history of achievement in research management, institutional development, fund-raising, and an extensive history of research publications. Prior to joining ICBA, Dr. Al-Attar was Deputy Director General for Research, Life and Environmental Sciences at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR).
Saul Arlosoroff
Chairman
Israel-Water Engineers Association
Transcript
Saul Arlosoroff is Chairman of the Israel-Water Engineers Association in Tel- Aviv, Israel. As Chairman he is involved with international consulting missions and tasks in the area of water demand management. He is also Senior Advisor for the Truman Institute and an Israel Team coordinator for the Multilateral Water Project. He has coordinated and managed large-scale operations in Israel and, with the World Bank, in more than 40 other countries. He has more than 40 years of experience focusing on engineering and demand management, community water and sanitation, irrigation, and water pollution control. Before joining the Israel-Water Engineers Association, he worked in a variety of areas, including the Deputy Water Commissioner of Israel and the Projects Manager for numerous community water supply and sanitation programs for the World Bank.
Mr. Arlosoroff received a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and an MBA in Economics and Public Sector Management from the University of Tel-Aviv.
Elizabeth Becker
Chief Agricultural Writer
The New York Times
Elizabeth Becker is the Chief Agricultural writer for the New York Times. She writes about foreign and domestic issues, especially those relating to agriculture, international relief and development, and homeland security. Last year she revived the agriculture beat at the New York Times after it had been abandoned for more than a decade, providing coverage of farm policy and its international impact, around the country. Before joining the Times, Ms. Becker was the Senior Foreign Editor at National Public Radio. Her work was honored with two DuPont-Columbia Awards as the executive producer for coverage of Rwanda and South Africa. She began her career in Asia, as a war correspondent for the Washington Post in Cambodia. She has continued covering that country over the past 25 years and is the author of "When the War is Over," a history of modern Cambodian and the Khmer Rouge.
Mrs. Becker holds a degree in South Asian studies from the University of Washington and did language studies at the Kendriya Hindi Sansthaan in Agra, India. She is on the board of directors of the Arthur F. Burns Foundation and the Pearl S. Buck Foundation.
Catherine Bertini
U.N. Secretary General’s
Personal Humanitarian Envoy to the Middle East
Transcript
Catherine Bertini is the Personal Humanitarian Envoy to the Middle East for the United Nations Secretary General and the former Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme, the largest global food agency in the world. While serving as Director, Ms. Bertini made significant achievements in the dual mandate of the agency: to avert starvation in humanitarian crises through emergency operations, and to promote long-term development projects aimed at breaking the deeply rooted hunger-poverty cycle. Under her leadership, the global food aid rose from 22 percent in 1993 to 36 percent in 1998.
Before her work with the World Food Programme, Ms. Bertini worked in the United States Government. She was Assistant Secretary for Food and Consumer Services in the Department of Agriculture, where she directed 13 assistance programs and founded the Breastfeeding Promotion Consortium that saw an increase in the number of nursing mothers in the United States rise from 38.3 percent to 50.4 percent. In 1996 the London Times Magazine named Ms. Bertini one of the World’s Most Powerful Women.
Ms. Bertini graduated from State University of New York at Albany and was a fellow of the Institute of Politics in the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She has received honorary doctorates from the State University of New York, McGill University in Montreal, and Pine Manor College in Boston.
Margaret Catley-Carlson
Chair
Global Water Partnership
Margaret Catley-Carlson is Chair of the Global Water Partnership, a network that links thousands of water management professionals around the world. She is also Chair of the Water Policy Advisory Committee of Suez Lyonnaise and the Center for Agriculture and Bioscience International. Her 35-year career in economic development has included terms as President of the Canadian International Development Agency, Deputy Director of UNICEF, and Chair of the Geneva-based Water Supply Sanitation Collaborative Council.
Ms. Catley-Carlson is the former President of the Population Council, a nonprofit, nongovernmental research organization established in 1952. Prior to joining the Council, she was Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Canada, President of the Canadian International Development Agency, and Deputy Executive Director (Operations) of UNICEF.
Craig Cox
Executive Director
Soil and Water Conservation Society
Transcript
Craig Cox is Executive Director of the Soil and Water Conservation Society, a society dedicated to promoting the art and science of natural resource conservation. He has been involved with agriculture, natural resource and environmental issues throughout his life. Prior to this appointment he served at the USDA and the National Academy of Sciences. At the Academy, he directed four studies including "Soil and Water Quality: An Agenda for Agriculture". He also worked for ten years at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in a number of positions, ultimately directing land and water resource management in the state park system.
Mr. Cox earned a degree in wildlife management from the University of Minnesota. In 1989, he completed a M.S. in agricultural economics, also from the University of Minnesota.
The Honorable Jacques Diouf
Director General
U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization
Jacques Diouf is Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. He began a six year term in 1994 and was elected for another term in 2000. Before leading the FAO, Dr. Diouf was an Ambassador for the Senegalese Permanent Mission, the Secretary General of the Central Bank for West African States, and an Advisor to the President and Regional Director of the International Development Research Institute to name just a few of the important positions he has held in Africa and around the world.
Dr. Diouf received his BS and Master of Science from Ecole national d’agriculture, Grignon, and his PhD from the Faculte de Droit et de Sciences Economiques, Pantheon – Sorbonne, Paris, France. He is fluent in Wolof, French, English, and Spanish. Throughout his career, Dr. Diouf has received many academic honors and decorations and has been involved in a variety of international conferences as a world expert in food and agriculture.
Mona El-Kady
Chair
National Water Research Center
Transcript
Dr. Mona Moustafa El-Kady is President of the National Water Research Center in Cairo, Egypt. She is also Director of the Water Resources Strategic Program and Director of the National Water Availability Management Project (NAWQAM). While working with the National Water Research Center, she has directed several USAID projects, the Survey Mapping Project, and the Water Quality Monitoring projects. Prior to her work with the National Water Research Center, she worked as a research assistant in the Ministry of Irrigation and as a visiting professor at Colorado State University.
Dr. El-Kady graduated with a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Ain Shams University in Egypt and obtained her M.Sc. in Civil Engineering as an Irrigation and Drainage Specialist. She received her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Ain Shams University. Dr. El-Kady has been a member of more than 10 international organizations, including the Board of Governors of IMII, an important World Bank organization.
Malin Falkenmark
Senior Scientist
Stockholm International Water Institute
Transcript
Professor Malin Falkenmark is the Senior Scientist at the Stockholm International Water Institute and Chair of the Scientific Program Committee for the Stockholm Water Symposium. She is one of a small group of analysts studying large-scale global and regional water problems whose work with broad perspectives has been instrumental in raising the profile of water issues internationally. Concentrating mainly on the problems of water scarcity in developing countries, Prof. Falkenmark has been a leader in comparative hydrology. She was the first scientist to demonstrate that hydrological predictions are often not transferable from one region to another, a fact that is important for the success of international aid projects. Before joining the Stockholm International Water Institute, Prof. Falkenmark worked as a hydrologist at the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute in Stockholm and as a Professor of Applied and International Hydrology for the Committee for Hydrology at the National Science Research Council in Stockholm. Prof Falkenmark was honored in 1998 with the International Hydrology Prize and, in 1999, as the first Henry Darcy Medalist for the European Geophysical Society.
Prof. Falkenmark received her education at Uppsala University, Sweden. Her thesis specialized in hydrology and, in 1975, she was conferred a Ph.D. Honoris Causa at Linkoping University.
Peter Gleick
President
Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security
Transcript
Dr. Peter H. Gleick is co-founder and President of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security. He is an internationally recognized expert on global freshwater resources, including the hydrologic impacts of climate change, sustainable water use, privatization and globalization, and international conflicts over water resources.
Dr. Gleick received a B.S. from Yale University and a M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1988 he received a MacArthur Foundation Research and Writing Fellowship for research on global climate change, water, and international security. In 2001 he was appointed to the Water Science and Technology Board of the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. He also serves on the boards of numerous journals and organizations and was elected an Academician of the International Water Academy in Oslo, Norway in 1999.
Jim Gulliford
Administrator
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7
Transcript
Jim Gulliford is the Director of the Division of Soil Conservation for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. Before working with the Iowa Department of Soil Conservation, Mr. Gulliford was the Assistant Director for Operations, Coal Extraction, and Utilization Research Center at Southern Illinois University.
Mr. Gulliford received his B.S. Degree in Forestry Management and his M.S. Degree in Forestry Economics from Iowa State University. He is a member of many organizations, including the National Association of State Conservation, where is served as President in 1989, the Soil and Water Conservation Society, and the Iowa Environmental Council.
Heinz Imhof
Chairman, Board of Directors
Syngenta AG
Transcript
Heinz Imhof has been Chairman of the Board of Directors for Syngenta AG since its creation in 2000. Before joining Syngenta, Mr. Imhof was a member of the Executive Committee of Novartis and Head of the Agribusiness Division responsible for Crop Protection, Seeds and Animal Health. He was also Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Corporation in East Hanover, New Jersey from 1993 to 1995. Before that he was a member of the Executive Committee of Sandoz Ltd., and CEO of the Agro and Seeds Division.
Mr. Imhof graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich with a degree in agronomy.
Jad Isaac
Director General
Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem
Transcript
Dr. Jad Isaac is the Director General of the Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem in the West Bank. Dr. Isaac directs the Palestinian Institute’s research on agriculture, environment, and water. He also heads the Palestinian delegation for environmental working groups in many multilateral talks and is an advisor to the Palestinian negotiating team on final status negotiations. Before joining the Applied Research Institute, Dr. Isaac was the Dean of Science at Bethlehem University.
Dr. Isaac received his B.Sc. degree from Cairo University and his Ph.D. from the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. He has published several articles and books in his field including Environmental Profile for the West Bank and Atlas of Palestine.
Richard King
Former President (2001-2002)
Rotary International
Transcript
Richard D. King is a senior partner in the California law firm King, King, & King. He has been a Rotarian since 1968, and served as President of Rotary International from 2001-2002. Mr. King has been awarded numerous honors for his work as a Rotarian, including the Distinguished Service Award for his support of humanitarian and educational programs and the Rotary Citation for Meritorious Service. As President, Mr. King led Rotary International to its greatest one-year growth record in its 97-year history.
Mr. King earned his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a distinguished military graduate of the University of California and served as captain in the U.S. Military Intelligence. He received an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea. He has been honored by some 50 associations for his charity and community service, by the President of the United States, and by many countries across the Globe.
L.D. McMullen
CEO and General Manager
Des Moines Water Works
Transcript
Dr. L.D. McMullen is the CEO and General Manager of the Des Moines Water Works. He is concerned about providing clean drinking water to urban residents in the Midwest and the many issues involved with maintaining urban water systems. Dr. McMullen is active in many organizations, including the American Water Works Association and Research Foundation, the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation. Before joining the Des Moines Water Works in 1978, Dr. McMullen was a sanitary engineer for the U.S. Public Health Service and held an assistant professorship at the University of Iowa.
Dr. McMullen received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Iowa, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering, also from the University of Iowa.
Ruth Meinzen-Dick
Senior Research Fellow
International Food Policy Research Institute
Transcript
Dr. Ruth Meinzen-Dick is a Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. She learned the importance of water first-hand as a child, growing up in a semi-arid area of south India. A Development Sociologist with 20 years experience in research on water resources and natural resource management, she has published extensively on policies for water allocation; water rights; comparative analysis of irrigation system performance; operation of water markets; and local organizations for water management. She is co-editor of two recent volumes: Negotiating Water Rights and Innovation in Natural Resource Management: The Role of Property Rights and Collective Action in Developing Countries. These studies draw upon her field work in India, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
Dr. Meinzen-Dick serves as Coordinator of the CGIAR System-wide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi), involving 16 international agricultural research institutions and national partners. She serves on several professional bodies including the Steering Committee of the Global Water Partnership.
Erez Meltzer
President
Netafim
Transcript
Erez Meltzer is President and CEO of Netafim in Tel Aviv, Israel. A global company with projects in more then 110 countries and subsidiaries in over 30 countries, Netafim is the world leader in advanced irrigation solutions and water technologies.
Mr. Meltzer received his B.A. in Economics from the Hebrew University and M.B.A. from Boston University. He is an internationally recognized expert on global freshwater issues, particularly drip irrigation technology. A veteran of the Israeli Defense Forces’ Armored Corps, Mr. Meltzer holds the rank of Colonel in the Israeli Army. In addition to his duties at Netafim, he serves as Chairman of both the Leowenstein Hospital Rehabilitation Center and the Israeli Forum of Hi-Tech CEO’s.
Elsa A. Murano
Under Secretary for Food Safety
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Transcript
The Honorable Elsa Murano was sworn in as Under Secretary for Food Safety in October of 2001. She is responsible for overseeing the policies and programs of the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Dr. Murano has extensive public and private experience in the field of food safety as both a manager and educator. Before her role as Under Secretary, Dr. Murano worked for Texas A&M University, holding many positions including director of the university’s Center for Food Safety and Chair of the Food Safety State Initiative Committee of theTexas Agriculture Experiment Station. From 1992-1995 Dr. Murano served as professor-in-charge of research programs at the Linear Accelerator Facility and Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Preventative Medicine at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.
Dr. Murano is a native of Havana, Cuba and holds a B.S. degree in biological sciences from Florida International University of Miami. She also holds a M.S. degree in anaerobic microbiology and a Ph.D. in food science and technology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
The Honorable Andrew Natsios
Administrator
U.S. Agency for International Development
Transcript
Andrew Natsios is Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), appointed on May 1, 2001. He previously served at USAID as director of the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance from 1989 to 1991 and as Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Food and Humanitarian Assistance from 1991 to 1993. He is also Special Coordinator for International Disaster Assistance and Special Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sudan.
Before assuming his current position, Mr. Natsios was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority; Secretary for Administration and Finance for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; Vice President of World Vision U.S.; and Executive Director of the Northeast Public Power Association of Milford, Massachusetts. In addition, he served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1975 to 1987, and retired with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel after serving 23 years in the U.S. Army Reserves.
Mr. Natsios is a graduate of Georgetown University and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government where he received a master’s degree in public administration. He is the author of numerous articles on foreign policy and humanitarian emergencies, as well as the author of two books: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and The Great North Korean Famine.
Per Pinstrup-Andersen
2001 World Food Prize Laureate
Senior Research Fellow and Former Director General
International Food Policy Research Institute
Dr. Pinstrup-Andersen has been Director-General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) since 1992. Dr. Pinstrup-Andersen received the World Food Prize in 2001 for his contribution to agricultural research, food policy and uplifting the status of the poor and starving citizens of the world.
Dr. Pinstrup-Andersen personally initiated the research effort which enabled several governments to reform their food subsidy programs, dramatically increasing food availability to the most poor in each country. This research laid the foundation for the establishment of "Food For Education" programs in which the families receive food subsidies when children stay in school. Driven by a deep desire to alleviate the suffering of malnourished and starving children, Dr. Pinstrup-Andersen initiated a global effort to uplift those most at risk by formulating IFPRI's 2020 Vision Initiative. Over the past decade, the 2020 Vision Initiative has alerted world leaders to potential crises in food security issues, helped reverse the trend of decreasing global developmental assistance, and led to actions which have brought about an important reduction in world hunger and poverty levels.
Sandra Postel
Director
Global Water Policy Project
Transcript
Sandra Postel is Director of the Global Water Policy Project in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her research focuses on international water issues and strategies. She is also Visiting Senior Lecturer in Environmental Studies at Mount Holyoke College. Ms. Postel is a leading authority on global freshwater issues and has published extensively in both popular and scholarly publications. She is the author of Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle Last? and Last Oasis. Before her work at the Global Water Policy Project, she served as Vice President for Research at the Worldwatch Institute, where she remains affiliated as a Senior Fellow.
Ms. Postel studied geology and political science at Wittenberg University and resource economics and policy at Duke University. She has been awarded the Duke University School of Environment’s Distinguished Alumni Award, as well as an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. In 1999 Ms. Postel was granted a lifetime Chair in the International Water Academy in Oslo, Norway.
Ambassador Kenneth Quinn
President
World Food Prize Foundation
Dr. Kenneth M. Quinn, former U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia, assumed the leadership of the World Food Prize Foundation on January 1, 2000, following his retirement from the State Department. ...more
Claudia Ringler
Post-Doctoral Fellow
International Food Policy Research Institute
Transcript
Dr. Claudia Ringler has been working with the Environment and Production Technology Division of the International Food Policy Research Institute since 1996. She was outposted in 2000 to the Sub-Institute for Water Resources Planning in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. There she focuses on the development of an integrated economic-hydrologic model for water allocation and use in the Dong Nai River Basin in South Vietnam.
Dr. Ringler, a citizen of Germany, received a B.A. in business management (ESB) from the Fachhochschule fuer Technik und Wirtschaft in Reutlingen, Germany, and from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (ICADE) in Madrid, Spain. She received an M.A. in international and development economics from Yale University, and a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Bonn University. Her research interests are water resources management, in particular, river basin management and agricultural and natural resource policies for developing countries.
Mark Rosegrant
Senior Research Fellow
International Food Policy Research Institute
Transcript
Dr. Mark W. Rosegrant is a Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). He has 24 years of experience in research and policy analysis in agriculture and economic development, with an emphasis on critical water issues as they impact world food security and environmental sustainability. Rosegrant also developed IFPRI’s International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT), which has become a standard for projecting global and regional food demand, supply, trade and prices to 2020. He continues to lead the team that maintains the model, which has been used to examine key policy options concerning food prices, food security, livestock and fisheries demand, agricultural research allocation, water resources, environment, and trade.
Dr. Rosegrant received a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of Michigan. He is the author or editor of 4 books and over 100 professional papers in agricultural economics, water resources and food policy analysis.
Dr. Pedro Sanchez
2002 World Food Prize Laureate
Transcript
On August 11, Dr. Pedro Sanchez, former Director General of The International Center for Research in Agroforestry was named the recipient of the 2002 World Food Prize by Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn, President of The World Food Prize Foundation. The announcement was made at the opening plenary session of the 26th International Horticultural Congress in Toronto, Canada.
Dr. Sanchez has been selected for his groundbreaking contributions to reducing hunger and malnutrition throughout the developing world by transforming depleted tropical soils into productive agricultural lands ...more
Jerald Schnoor
Co-Director
Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research
University of Iowa
Transcript
Dr. Jerald Schnoor is the Co-Director of the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research at the University of Iowa and has recently been named the editor of the Environmental Science and Technology journal, the top journal in the world on environmental science and engineering. His research interests are in mathematical modeling of water quality, aquatic chemistry, ground water, risk assessments and impact of carbon emissions on global change. He is the editor of four books and the author of Environmental Modeling.
Dr. Schnoor earned his doctorate in environmental health engineering from the University of Texas.