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The November 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, established a loss and damage fund, which will provide financial assistance for the most vulnerable countries. Countries have one year to assess the fund's structure, financing, and accessibility. What did it take for loss and damage to make it onto the COP27 agenda? Will industrialized countries take responsibility for their part of the climate crisis? Is the creation of this fund a first step to achieve climate justice for the most vulnerable countries?

Join Perry World House for a discussion on this history-making agreement and learn from experts who attended COP27 and helped negotiate these agreements.

Panelists

Stacy-ann Robinson, the 2022-23 Lightning Scholar at Perry World House, is assistant professor of environmental studies at Colby College. She researches the human, social, and policy dimensions of climate change adaptation in Small Island Developing States, with a special focus on climate justice and adaptation finance, an area in which she is a certified expert. She is also a Contributing Author to Chapter 15 (Small Islands) of Working Group II’s contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s Sixth Assessment Report. Outside of academia, Robinson has fifteen years’ experience in the government, non-profit, and private sectors, including time spent representing the Government of Jamaica in the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) of the United Nations General Assembly and the International Seabed Authority. Professor Robinson received a BSc in International Relations and Political Science from the University of the West Indies, Mona and a PhD in Global Environmental Change from The Australian National University.

Jimena Leiva Roesch is the Director of Global Initiatives and Head of Peace, Climate, and Sustainable Development at the International Peace Institute. From 2009 to March 2015, Jimena was at the Permanent Mission of Guatemala to the UN in New York, where she last served as Counselor. Guatemala and Colombia were the first countries that developed the idea of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Jimena played a key role in crafting this global framework. She was also Guatemala’s lead negotiator for the Paris Agreement on climate change. Jimena represented the voice of the developing world in multiple negotiations at the UN. Jimena offers hands-on training on diplomacy and leadership in academic institutions around the world. Jimena was an active member of Guatemala’s Security Council team from 2012-2013, when Guatemala was a non-permanent member. She was also responsible for emerging issues, such as the security implications of climate change and the link between natural resources and conflict prevention.

Zinta Zommers is a humanitarian affairs officer with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. She is a specialist in risk management and climate change adaptation, working to reduce vulnerability to climate shocks by strengthening early warning and anticipatory action systems. Zommers has held a variety of roles with the UN, including as part of the Secretary-General’s climate change team and a member of the UN Chief Scientist’s Office. She is also a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and has authored and edited two books on climate change adaptation and early warning systems. Zommers has an MPhil in development studies and a DPhil in zoology from the University of Oxford, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

Moderator

Michael Weisberg is senior faculty fellow and director of post-graduate programs at Perry World House, as well as Bess W. Heyman President's Professor and Chair of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. An expert in philosophy of science, climate policy, and social ecology, he serves as Editor-in-Chief of Biology and Philosophy, advisor to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Nairobi Work Programme and the Republic of Maldives, and directs Penn’s campus-wide research in the Galápagos. He is the author of Simulation and Similarity: Using Models to Understand the World and Galápagos: Life in Motion, as well as a contributing author to the "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Sixth Assessment Report." Professor Weisberg received a BS in chemistry and a BA in philosophy from the University of California, San Diego in 1999, and he continued graduate study in philosophy and evolutionary biology at Stanford University, earning a 2003 PhD in philosophy.

COVID-19 Guidelines

Perry World House is following the University of Pennsylvania’s COVID-19 guidelines. In-person access to our hybrid events is now open to the public as well as the Penn community.

In keeping with the University’s latest update on COVID-19 protocols, masks are optional for all visitors to Perry World House. PennOpen Pass and PennOpen Campus screenings are no longer required for entry to our events.

We will continue to provide virtual access to all events planned with hybrid programming. Zoom details will be available in your order confirmation email.

Please note that our current arrangements are subject to change as guidelines evolve, and other restrictions may be put in place. We will share an email ahead of each event with the latest information on how to take part. If you have any questions, please contact us at worldhouse@pwh.upenn.edu. If you are not already on our mailing list for news and updates, you can sign up here.