The Vice Chair of the 2007 Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will address Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Board and Committee members, April 5, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Professor Mohan Munasinghe will keynote the scene-setting session "Climate Change – Obstacles and…
The Vice Chair of the 2007 Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will address Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Board and Committee members, April 5, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Professor Mohan Munasinghe will keynote the scene-setting session “Climate Change – Obstacles and Opportunities”, which will precede two days of high-level deliberations on the way forward for Asia Pacific’s leading travel trade association.
Later in April, Prof Munasinghe’s colleague, IPCC Chairman Dr Rajendra Pachauri, will deliver the keynote address at the PATA CEO Challenge 2008: Confronting Climate Change in Bangkok.
PATA President and CEO Peter de Jong said: “We are delighted that Prof Munasinghe has agreed to share with PATA’s leadership group some of his insights about climate change and the opportunities and threats it poses for sustainable development.”
In addition to his role at the IPCC, Prof Munasinghe is Founding Chairman of the Munasinghe Institute of Development; Honorary Senior Advisor to the Government of Sri Lanka; and Visiting Professor at the United Nations University, Tokyo, Japan.
During his 35 years of public service, Prof Munasinghe has won international prizes and medals for research, as well as authored more than 90 books and 300 technical papers on sustainable development, environment, information technology, energy, water resources, transport, and economics.
The PATA CEO Challenge, April 29-30, in Bangkok, Thailand, will be the first opportunity for the entire travel and tourism industry in Asia Pacific to agree to practical solutions to confront climate change.
During the opening session, Dr Pachauri will address travel and tourism leaders from all sectors, such as Marriott Hotels and Resorts’s Edwin Fuller; Cathay Pacific’s Tony Tyler; Tourism New Zealand’s George Hickton; and Lonely Planet’s Tony Wheeler.
CEOs and senior executives from Avis, Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts, British Airports Authority, Carlson Hotels Worldwide, Emirates Holidays, Hong Kong Disneyland, InterContinental Hotels Group, Six Senses Resorts and Spas, the Thai Government, Thomas Cook India, UNWTO, VisitBritain, and The Venetian Macau, are also among the many industry leaders who will be in Bangkok, April 29-30, for the Challenge.
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