domingo, abril 08, 2007
Panel Sobre Política Ambiental en Colombia
Colombia's is a country bless with incredible biodiversity, geography and location. We are here today to discuss how we can achieve our goals for development while managing the impact that such a development will have on our environment. And I want to focus on one thing, can the use of environmental policy stimulate innovation, competitiveness and sustainability for Colombia. I believe it can, and today we have gather a group of people with the proper expertise to tell us how this can be so.
Nicholas A. Ashford is Professor of Technology and Policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he teaches courses in Environmental Law and Policy; Technology, Law and Public Policy; and Sustainability, Trade and Environment. Dr. Ashford is a Faculty Associate of the Center for Technology, Policy and Industrial Development in the School of Engineering; the Institute for Work and Employment Research in the Sloan School of Management; and the Environmental Policy Group in the Urban Studies Department. He holds both a Ph.D. in Chemistry and a Law Degree from the University of Chicago, where he also received graduate education in Economics. Dr. Ashford also holds adjunct faculty positions at the Harvard and Boston University Schools of Public Health.
Dr. Ashford's research interests include regulatory law and economics; the design of government policies for encouraging both technological innovation, and improvements in health, safety and environmental quality; pollution prevention and cleaner/inherently safer production; the effects of liability in improving product and process safety; the consequences of low-level exposure to chemicals; sustainability, trade and environment; labor's participation in technological change; and environmental justice. He has developed methodologies for decision-making in the regulation of chemicals and has extensively investigated the effects of regulation on technological innovation in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and automobile industries. Dr. Ashford's research activities include work for the United Nations Environment Programme, the OECD, and the European Union, as well as for U.S. regulatory agencies and the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment.
Senator for Colombia Nancy Patricia Gutierrez
Nancy Patricia is a Senator of Colombia and a lawyer specialized in public law. She is a political leader who has worked in all levels of State government.
Nancy Patricia’s early career started when she was the first woman elected mayor of Agua de Dios, a Special Village in Colombia, where many of the inhabitants suffered from Hansen’s disease. She came to office during a period when the country was initiating a new political system and for the first time electing mayors of individual cities and towns. She was elected mayor after the habitants of Agua de Dios, protested the inefficiency of the provision public health system.
After serving as mayor, Nancy Patricia moved to the Department level and served two consecutive terms as a representative of Department of Cundinamarca from 1998 – 2006. While working at the Department, she was director of the Institute of Child Protection in Cundinamarca (ICBF) and was in charge of the department’s administration and environmental program.
Ms. Patricia was elected to the Colombian Senator on March of 2006. She was the first woman elected President of the Chamber of Representatives. Her election followed a major corruption scandal involving the previous President of the Chamber and Nancy Patricia was nominated as a symbol of renovation and message of restoring dignity to the Chamber.
In Congress, Nancy Patricia has stood out for her work on environmental, public health, social and political issues. She was coauthor of the Main Water Law in Colombia that working on actualizing the reform in the Colombian legislature. This project address the task of protecting water as a resource and guaranteeing water access for all Colombians in the quality and quantity required basic for human needs.
She also has been lead projects related to: free trade, commerce, intellectual property, access to pharmaceuticals, the infant law, the last political reform in the country and human trafficking (a criminal statue). At the regional level, she has been working on the decontamination of the Bogota River (one of the most contaminated rivers in Colombia) and infrastructure design for the development of Cundinamarca state. Additional regional projects Nancy Patricia has been involved in include: potable water, environmental issues on the paramount, the “fuquene” lake, munna reservoir, fair trade for farmers, access to potable water and electric energy, production of the “paneleros” and other issues in the countryside. She is also involved in a policy to educate people about environmental protection.
Sandra Suarez
Harvard University Mason Fellow
As minister of environment, housing, and territorial development from 2003 to 2006, Sandra Suárez Pérez managed Colombia’s national environmental policy and directed its national environmental system. Prior to holding this position, Ms. Suárez served for a year as the presidential adviser for Plan Colombia; she was the scheduler for President Alvaro Uribe during his campaign.Ms. Suárez has a background in communications, including four years as a brand manager at Prebel S.A. Ms. Suárez taught a seminar on public and political image at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, where she earned a degree as a publicist. She also holds a specialist’s certificate from that university in political studies, and one in international marketing from the Universidad Eafit. She is currently a candidate for a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University.(1.2007)
Nicholas A. Ashford is Professor of Technology and Policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he teaches courses in Environmental Law and Policy; Technology, Law and Public Policy; and Sustainability, Trade and Environment. Dr. Ashford is a Faculty Associate of the Center for Technology, Policy and Industrial Development in the School of Engineering; the Institute for Work and Employment Research in the Sloan School of Management; and the Environmental Policy Group in the Urban Studies Department. He holds both a Ph.D. in Chemistry and a Law Degree from the University of Chicago, where he also received graduate education in Economics. Dr. Ashford also holds adjunct faculty positions at the Harvard and Boston University Schools of Public Health.
Dr. Ashford's research interests include regulatory law and economics; the design of government policies for encouraging both technological innovation, and improvements in health, safety and environmental quality; pollution prevention and cleaner/inherently safer production; the effects of liability in improving product and process safety; the consequences of low-level exposure to chemicals; sustainability, trade and environment; labor's participation in technological change; and environmental justice. He has developed methodologies for decision-making in the regulation of chemicals and has extensively investigated the effects of regulation on technological innovation in the chemical, pharmaceutical, and automobile industries. Dr. Ashford's research activities include work for the United Nations Environment Programme, the OECD, and the European Union, as well as for U.S. regulatory agencies and the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment.
Senator for Colombia Nancy Patricia Gutierrez
Nancy Patricia is a Senator of Colombia and a lawyer specialized in public law. She is a political leader who has worked in all levels of State government.
Nancy Patricia’s early career started when she was the first woman elected mayor of Agua de Dios, a Special Village in Colombia, where many of the inhabitants suffered from Hansen’s disease. She came to office during a period when the country was initiating a new political system and for the first time electing mayors of individual cities and towns. She was elected mayor after the habitants of Agua de Dios, protested the inefficiency of the provision public health system.
After serving as mayor, Nancy Patricia moved to the Department level and served two consecutive terms as a representative of Department of Cundinamarca from 1998 – 2006. While working at the Department, she was director of the Institute of Child Protection in Cundinamarca (ICBF) and was in charge of the department’s administration and environmental program.
Ms. Patricia was elected to the Colombian Senator on March of 2006. She was the first woman elected President of the Chamber of Representatives. Her election followed a major corruption scandal involving the previous President of the Chamber and Nancy Patricia was nominated as a symbol of renovation and message of restoring dignity to the Chamber.
In Congress, Nancy Patricia has stood out for her work on environmental, public health, social and political issues. She was coauthor of the Main Water Law in Colombia that working on actualizing the reform in the Colombian legislature. This project address the task of protecting water as a resource and guaranteeing water access for all Colombians in the quality and quantity required basic for human needs.
She also has been lead projects related to: free trade, commerce, intellectual property, access to pharmaceuticals, the infant law, the last political reform in the country and human trafficking (a criminal statue). At the regional level, she has been working on the decontamination of the Bogota River (one of the most contaminated rivers in Colombia) and infrastructure design for the development of Cundinamarca state. Additional regional projects Nancy Patricia has been involved in include: potable water, environmental issues on the paramount, the “fuquene” lake, munna reservoir, fair trade for farmers, access to potable water and electric energy, production of the “paneleros” and other issues in the countryside. She is also involved in a policy to educate people about environmental protection.
Sandra Suarez
Harvard University Mason Fellow
As minister of environment, housing, and territorial development from 2003 to 2006, Sandra Suárez Pérez managed Colombia’s national environmental policy and directed its national environmental system. Prior to holding this position, Ms. Suárez served for a year as the presidential adviser for Plan Colombia; she was the scheduler for President Alvaro Uribe during his campaign.Ms. Suárez has a background in communications, including four years as a brand manager at Prebel S.A. Ms. Suárez taught a seminar on public and political image at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, where she earned a degree as a publicist. She also holds a specialist’s certificate from that university in political studies, and one in international marketing from the Universidad Eafit. She is currently a candidate for a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University.(1.2007)
