Iris Borowy, Shanghai University, China "Health - Environment - Economy: The Fateful Triangle at times of Covid-19"

Meeting ID: 657 7006 3005

Passcode: 247348

Abstract

Health - Environment - Economy: The Fateful Triangle at times of Covid-19 A healthy population is essential for a functioning economy, but a functioning economy, providing jobs, income, and funding for health care, is also important for people’s health. At the same time an intact environment, i.e. clean air, clean water and a stable climate, is also essential for population health. However, economic performance frequently causes environmental destruction, so that the three items are tied into a triangular relation in which developments of one parts can have both positive and negative effects on the others. This triangle is nothing new, but Covid-19 has revealed it in starker than usual terms: Collapsing economies have threatened people’s livelihoods and sometimes taken their jobs and homes, but they have also provided clear skies and pedestrian-friendly roads in places where this had not been seen for a long time. This talk seeks to unravel these relations and to discuss a few possible options of how to use this triangle to an advantage.

Bio

Iris  Borowy is distinguished professor at the University of Shanghai and director of the Center for the History of Global Development . Prof. Borowy received her Ph.D. from the University of Rostock, Germany and has worked at various universities in Germany, France, Norway and Brazil. Iris Borowy’s research has addressed the history of international health, the history of international organizations as well development concepts and the evolution of the idea of sustainability. She has published about sixty academic papers and articles, five (co-)edited volumes and four monographs. Her publications include Defining Sustainable Development for Our Common Future. A history of the World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission) (Milton Park: Routledge, 2014). At present, she is working on a project on the policies of international organizations regarding waste.