Panelists
Dr. Caleb McClennen: “Expanding Global Fisheries Production While Securing Long Term Food and Income Security in Coastal Developing Countries: Present Challenges and Future Opportunities”
Caleb McClennen is the Director of Marine Conservation at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) where he oversees marine conservation efforts primarily in ten coral reef seascapes and four large marine seascapes. An interdisciplinary conservationist, Caleb has served as a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analyst and educator; a Marine Scientist conducting blue water oceanographic research with the Woods Hole Sea Education Association while sailing throughout the world’s oceans; and an advisor to the government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) on a range of environment, fisheries and conservation management programs. His work in the RMI included the implementation of Environmental Impact Assessment legislation, development of a National Coastal Management Framework, construction of National Conservation GIS system, both national and local conservation area and fisheries planning and the development of technical studies and legal texts for the negotiation of Maritime Boundaries of the RMI for the purposes of improved pelagic fisheries enforcement. Caleb holds an undergraduate degree from Middlebury College in Environmental Studies and Geography and a Masters and PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in International Environmental Policy and Development Economics.
Dr. Charles C. Chester: “Biodiversity Conservation, Greenhouse Gas Mitigation & Climate Change Adaptation: Three pillars of sustainable development”
Charles C. Chester teaches on global environmental politics at Brandeis University and the Global Master of Arts Program at The Fletcher School, Tufts University. He is currently editing a volume on climate change and landscape-scale biodiversity conservation, and is working with The Nature Conservancy to integrate two online resources on climate change and conservation (TNC’s Knowledge Base for Climate Adaptation and the Conservation & Climate Change Clearinghouse). Chester has consulted for the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Henry P. Kendall Foundation, and other environmental organizations. He has served on the boards of Bat Conservation International and Root Capital, and is currently Co-Chair of the Board of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative. He is the author of Conservation Across Borders: Biodiversity in an Interdependent World (Island Press 2006), which originated in his Fletcher Ph.D. thesis (2003) and focuses on case studies of transborder conservation in North America.
Mr. Shotaro Sasaki: “Bridging Sustainable Development between Academia and Development Organizations”
Shotaro Sasaki is a PhD candidate at The Fletcher School. He worked at a power company for over 11 years after graduating from Sophia University in Japan with a master’s degree in engineering. He has operated coal thermal power stations in Japan, managed waste-to-energy projects, and constructed biomass power plants in Thailand. In 2005, Sasaki graduated from the dual master’s degree program of The Fletcher School and the Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning at Tufts University where he studied international environmental policy. Since then he worked for the Asian Development Bank (ADB), integrating his skills as an engineer with his recent professional interests in environmental policy making. He worked for various energy projects in China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan as an energy specialist, and also worked energy projects in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan as an environment specialist. Taking a special leave from ADB, he is pursuing a PhD at Fletcher in related studies. His goal is to contribute to society through environmental problem mitigation considering energy supply system and sustainable development.