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April 26, 2010

InteRDom Fellow Will Present at Panel on Sustainable Transport Organized by GFDD and FUNGLODE at United Nations Headquarters in NYC

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On Monday, May 3, InteRDom Fellow Carl Allen will present the findings of his research during the panel: “A Multidimensional approach to Sustainable Development and the Millennium Development Goals: The Santo Domingo Metro system as a model for Mass Sustainable Transport,” which will take place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City during the Eighteenth Commission on Sustainable Development. The activity is being organized by Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) and Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE) with support from InteRDom, the UN Global Compact, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation, and the Columbia Consortium for Risk Management (CCRM) of Columbia University. The program will take place from 1:15 pm to 2:45 pm in Conference Room 6.

The panel will feature a presentation by InteRDom Fellow and Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs Fellow and Public Policy & Urban Planning Ph.D. Candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Graduate School of Design, Carl Allen; Omar Ramírez, Executive Vice-President of the Presidential Commission on Climate Change and the Clean Development Mechanism for the Government of the Dominican Republic, Director of the FUNGLODE Center for Environmental and Sustainable Development Studies, and former Minister of the Environment, Dominican Republic; Leonel Carrasco, Sub-Director of the Transport Reform Office (OPRET) of the Dominican Republic; andOneximo González, Project Manager of Transvial S.A., General Manager of Bunkermym S.A., and Honorary Advisor to the Transport Reform Office (OPRET) of the Dominican Republic. The event will be moderated by John R. Gagain Jr., Director of the FUNGLODE Center for Global Studies and Senior Advisor to the UN Global Compact in New York, and will include remarks by Ambassador Francis Lorenzo of the Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations; Yamile Eusebio, GFDD New York Branch Director; and Kerry Stefancyk, GFDD/FUNGLODE Representative to ECOSOC and InteRDom Research Coordinator.

Panelists will examine the social, environmental, educational and economic benefits of the metro already being felt. Presentations will outline gains associated with pollution control, congestion, time savings, public safety, poverty alleviation, commerce and education, and the importance of mainstreaming sustainable transport within overall national development plans.

The organization of this panel is part of GFDD and FUNGLODE’s commitment to contribute to the United Nations’ work agenda. In preparation for CSD-18, GFDD and FUNGLODE developed a report on the contributions of the Santo Domingo Metro System to sustainable development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The report, prepared by InteRDom Fellow, Carl Allen, responds to CSD’s 2010/2011 Programme of Work, which is devoted to the thematic areas of Transport, Chemicals, Waste Management, Mining, and Sustainable Production and Consumption. Mr. Allen’s comprehensive study is an analysis of the potential impact of the metro in Santo Domingo on poverty alleviation, congestion, pollution reduction and social and educational development. As an InteRDom Fellow, Mr. Allen interviewed key people in the area of transportation and conducted survey studies of Santo Domingo’s ridership. The outcome of his research is an extensive report on the effects of the metro on the nation’s urban development, which includes recommendations for maximizing societal benefits.

The Harvard Kennedy School student was the first researcher to participate in the InteRDom Fellows Program. The Program, a division of GFDD and FUNGLODE’s internship and academic study program InteRDom, was developed in 2009 to respond to the Foundations’ desire to create a community of scholars that contributes to GFDD and FUNGLODE’s growing body of research on matters of international concern that directly impact the Dominican Republic. The initiative complements GFDD and FUNGLODE’s overall mission to promote academic exchange, generate scholarship, and influence the creation of public policy related to economic and social development both at the national and international level. Through the Fellows Program, GFDD and FUNGLODE seek to develop scholarship on issues at the forefront of the United Nations agenda in order to give voice to national and regional concerns and offer viable solutions to domestic and international challenges.

GFDD and FUNGLODE have consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Department of Public Information (DPI), the Global Compact Office (UNGC), and the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

See Invitation/ Program

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