[April 16, 2015]

Yale Professor Urges Local Contribution to Mitigation of Global Climate Change

In responding to climate change, Professor Karen Seto from Yale University declaring that, "for you to look within for innovative solutions and not to only look outside for innovative solutions" at a panel discussion on April 15 held by National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Tainan, Taiwan.

Seto, Associate Dean of Research at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, gave a talk on Climate Change Mitigation at the panel discussion, shared the latest insights on mitigation of climate change in urban areas. The professor also served as the coordinating lead author of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5).

"One of the things we found in the IPCC assessment is most of the literature on the issue ends up being from cities like New York, and Los Angeles," sad Seto, "In the future we need to know more stories about cities like Tainan because most of the economic growth and many of the challenges will be faced by cities like Tainan."

"Cities like Tainan is very important that we don't understand a lot what's happening so I would say in the future we need to see and read a lot of literature and understand the results and how it could be learned from the places," according to Seto.

NCKU President Huey-Jen Jenny Su warmly welcomed Seto, international and domestic guests, and said that "my research interests are in air quality and human health, and I consider myself as part of the community of climate change, so this occasion is like being among familiar friends for me."

"Universities can function as a platform for knowledge and understanding in tackling climate change and link this to other stakeholders. We can then partner with federal and local governments in order to address the issues more effectively," according to President Su.

"In the past, IPCC chapters have focused on mitigation from a sector perspective," Seto said and adding that urban areas and human settlements were analyzed in major sectors, like transport, buildings and industries. Many of our mitigation strategies have focused on these sectors.

"Thinking about mitigation from an urban perspective allows you to develop integrated strategies that might provide more effective results than thinking about the individual sectors separately," she noted.

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