Three representatives from the Center for Public Policy and Administration (CPPA) participated this week in the U.S. launch of an international project that aims to give ordinary people a voice in biodiversity discussions at the United Nations.
Students Maria Delfin Auza (MPPA ’13) and Lindie Martin (MPP ’14) attended the World Wide Views on Biodiversity kick-off at the Washington, D.C., Koshland Science Museum on June 5. Also in attendance was CPPA lecturer Gretchen Gano, who co-directs the Massachusetts branch of this global project.
The CPPA team, in collaboration with the Museum of Science in Boston, is organizing a day-long discussion to be held at the museum in the fall, when 100 people from across Massachusetts will discuss regional biodiversity issues and related public policy issues. Massachusetts is home to one of 45 sites across the globe participating in the World Wide Views project by convening a day of citizen dialogue on September 15. Results of the conversations in Boston and the other 44 sessions taking place that day will be presented to U.N. delegates who work on biodiversity issues, thereby helping to shape the agenda and deliberations of the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity in India this October.
A UMass Public Service Endowment grant to the university’s Science, Technology and Society Initiative made it possible for CPPA to participate in the World Wide Views on Biodiversity project. The Science, Technology and Society Initiative is a CPPA-affiliated endeavor that conducts multidisciplinary research on the intersection of science and technology with today’s social, political and economic issues.