Topic: The Program on the Environment (PoE) has organized a public
lecture entitled War and the Environment for Spring Quarter 2005. An
evening event open to the public will be held on Tuesday, May 17, 2005
at 7:00 p.m. in 220 Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus.

This important discussion will focus on damage to the natural and human
environment as a direct or indirect consequence of conflict: the role
of environment in Post-Conflict settings, and how environmental
questions can contribute to confidence-building efforts.

In 2001, the United Nations Environment Programme launched a
Post-Conflict Assessment Unit (PCAU). PCAU's approach is to demonstrate
the linkages between environmental degradation, public health and
sustainable development in order to identify risks, make
recommendations and promote sustainable resource use. Pekka Haavisto
will share PCAU's experiences from several countries, with special
emphasis on two of the more recent areas of conflict, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Speaker: Pekka Haavisto, Chairman of the United Nations Environment
Programme's Post-Conflict Assessment Unit (PCAU)
(http://postconflict.unep.ch/) in Geneva, Switzerland, and head of
UNEP's Iraq Task Force. The PCAU, established in 2001, works in areas
of the world where the natural and human environment has been damaged
as a direct or indirect consequence of conflict, investigates
environmental impacts of conflicts and recommends strategic priorities
for cleanup and remediation. Two of its more recent reports are,
Afghanistan Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment Report (2003) and
Desk Study on the Environment in Iraq (2003).

Haavisto is a former Finnish Minister for Environment and Development
Co-operation (1995-99) and a member of the Finnish Parliament
(1987-95). He has been a Visiting Researcher at the Finnish Institute
for International Affairs, a Visiting Professor to the University of
Bristol and a Visiting Lecturer to the University of Helsinki and to
the NATO School in Oberammergau. He has been an adviser to the United
Nations Secretariat of the Convention to Combat Desertification, and a
member of the Heinrich Boll Foundation "Jo'burg Memo" team prior to the
Johannesburg 2002 WSSD Summit. He is a member of the UN Millennium Task
Force. He currently works for the PCAU and has been chairing UNEP's
environmental assessments to Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, Afghanistan
and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. He has also chaired the
depleted uranium assessments to Kosovo, Serbia-Montenegro and to
Bosnia-Herzegovina. In March 2003 he was invited as the Chairman for
UNEP Iraq Task Force and in December 2003 as the Chairman of UNEP
Liberia Task Force. In February 2005, Haavisto chaired a
UNEP-sponsored bilateral meeting between Israeli and Palestinian
delegations to discuss how to save the Jordan River.

For further information, contact:

Terry Rustan
Administrator Email: trustan@...
Program on the Environment Tel: 206.616.3310
274D Mary Gates Hall, MS 352802 Fax: 206.616.2465
University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-2802