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Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 2002 |
Speakers |
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Mohan Munasinghe was born in Sri Lanka, and received the B.A. (Hons.) and M.A. degrees in Engineering from Cambridge Univ., U.K. in 1967, S.M. and Ph. E.E. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Inst. of Technology, U.S.A. in 1970, Ph.d. in Solid State Physics from McGill Univ., Canada, in 1973, and M.A. in Development Economics from Concordia Univ., Canada, in 1975. 2. Appointments Presently, he is Chief Energy Advisor to the Govt. of Sri Lanka; Chairman, Munasinghe Institute for Development (MIND), Sri Lanka, Visiting Professor, Inst. of Advanced Studies, United Nations University, and Vice Chair, Bureau of the Intergovenmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He is also Chancellor, International Water Academy, Oslo, and Founding-President, Lanka International Forum on Environment and Sustainable Development (LIFE). During the past decade, he has served as Senior Advisor for Sustainable Development, and Division Chief for Environmental Policy, World Bank, Washington, DC. While working 30 years in the international development area, he has acquired field experience in environment, energy, electricity, water, transport, urban infrastructure, and telecommunications projects in most developing countries. During 1990-92, he served as Advisor to the US President's Council on Environmental Quality (PCEQ). From 1982 to 1987, he was Senior Energy Advisor to the President of Sri Lanka, formulating and implementing national energy strategy. He developed the Sri Lanka computer policy, as Chairman, Computer and Information Technology Council (CINTEC). He serves on the Editorial Boards of a dozen international periodicals 3. Teaching, training and publications He has taught university courses for the past 30 years, on energy, water, resource management, and environmental economics, in Sri Lanka, Canada, and the US. He has organized and conducted international training seminars on the environmental economics, energy, water and information technology. He is the author of several hundred technical papers in well-known scientific journals; and over 65 scholarly books). 4. Awards and achievements He has won a number of international prizes and honours. In 1998, the green award for exceptional contributions to sustainable development was presented to him at the Sixth World Congress of the International Federation of Environmental Journalists. He received the international best treatise award and medal for sustainable water resource management from the International Foundation for Water Science and Technology at the 1994 World Water Congress in Abu Dhabi. In 1990, two commemorative volumes of his selected papers in energy and electricity were issued, with felicitations from eminent experts as well as 20 leading international journals. He is also the recepient of the international prize for outstanding work in electric power and energy systems analysis and pricing awarded in 1988 at the Fifth Latin American and Caribbean Energy Conference, and the annual award for exceptional contributions to energy research and policy applications, presented in 1987 by the Int. Assoc. for Energy Economics, U.S.A. In 1985, he received the Sinha Gold Medal for outstanding scientific achievement in Sri Lanka, from the Lions International Organization. His academic awards include the 1966 J. W. Beauchamp Prize from the Inst. of Electrical Engineers (UK), and the 1968 Albert M. Grass Prize at MIT (USA). Prof. Munasinghe is a Fellow of the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics - Royal Swedish Acad. of Sciences, Third World Acad. of Sciences, Italy (FTWAS), National Academy of Sciences, Sri Lanka (FNASSL), Royal Society for Arts, UK (FRSA), International Water Academy, Norway (FIWA), Institution of Electrical Engineers, UK (FIEE), and Institute of Engineers, Sri Lanka (FIESL). 6. Other Prof. Munasinghe has represented Sri Lanka (Juniors) and Cambridge University in ltennis and won a number of national titles. His interests include swimming, wind surfing, chess, bridge, saxophone playing, tai-chi, and meditation. |
