IDC 2010 - Panel speaker bios

SAT, 4/10, 11:10 - 12:30 PM. Location: TBD

This panel will examine the role of technology, in particular water management, sustainable farming practices and seed development, as well as the role of trade policies to enhance future food security. In 2008, the world was unprepared for the sharp rise in food prices that led to much higher food costs, reduced food accessibility and violent demonstrations in the streets of many developing economies. Although by the end of 2008, food prices had dropped, production shortfalls will occur again. In addition in the long run, food demand will rise with population and incomes. Global demand for food, feed and fiber is expected to nearly double by 2050. Agriculture has to compete for scarce land and water resources while adjusting to climate change and to doing its part to preserve natural habitats, endangered species and biodiversity. Will we be able to feed the world? What types of technology and investment are needed? Are existing trade policies appropriate for these future developments? Moderated discussion with the panelists will be followed by a question and answer session.

Biographies

Robert Paarlberg received his B.A. in government from Carleton College in Minnesota and his Ph.D. in government from Harvard. He has served as visiting professor of government at Harvard, as a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate, and as an officer in the U.S. Naval Intelligence Command. His principal research interests are international agricultural and environmental policy. His most recent research focus has been on the regulation of modern technology, including biotechnology. In 2004-05 he published articles on the competitive posture of scientific research in the United States and on the global stem cell research competition. He has worked most intensively on policies toward genetically modified crops and foods in developing countries. In recent years he has done research on this topic in Kenya, Zambia, Brazil, Cameroon, Senegal, India, China and Argentina. Paarlberg has also recently completed major studies of regional policy harmonization toward biotechnology in eastern and southern Africa, for the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) on the politics of accepting biofortified food crops in developing countries, commissioned by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

His latest book, Starved for Science: How Biotechnology Is Being Kept Out of Africa (Harvard University Press, March 2008), explains why poor African farmers are denied access to productive technologies, particularly genetically engineered seeds with improved resistance to insects and drought. He also has published books on the use of food as a weapon (Food Trade and Foreign Policy, Cornell University Press), on international agricultural trade negotiations (Fixing Farm Trade, Council on Foreign Relations), on environmentally sustainable farming in developing countries (Countrysides at Risk, Overseas Development Council), on U.S. foreign economic policy (Leadership Abroad Begins at Home, Brookings), on the reform of U.S. agricultural policy (Policy Reform in American Agriculture, Chicago University Press, with David Orden and Terry Roe), and on the regulation of biotechnology in developing countries (The Politics of Precaution, Johns Hopkins).

Paarlberg is currently a member of the Board of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the National Research Council of the National Academies. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of Winrock International, a member of the Emerging Markets Advisory Committee at the United States Department of Agriculture, a scientific liaison officer to IFPRI from the U.S. Agency for International Development, and a consultant to the National Intelligence Council (NIC), USAID, IFPRI and the World Bank.

John Briscoe's career has focused on the issues of water and economic development. He has worked as an engineer in the water agencies of South Africa and Mozambique; as an epidemiologist at the Cholera Research Center in Bangladesh; as a professor of water resources at the University of North Carolina; and, for the past 20 years in a variety of policy and operational positions in the World Bank. Most recently he has served as the Bank's Senior Water Advisor and the Country Director for Brazil. He received his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering at Harvard University in 1976 and his B.Sc. in Civil Engineering at the University of Cape Town, South Africa in 1969. In addition to the United States, Briscoe has lived in his native South Africa, Bangladesh, Mozambique, India and Brazil.

Briscoe has served on the Water Science and Technology Board of the National Academy of Sciences and was a founding member of the major global water partnerships, including the World Water Council, the Global Water Partnership, and the World Commission on Dams. He currently serves on the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum; is a member of the Council of Distinguished Water Professionals of the International Water Association. He has published extensively in economic, finance, environmental, health and engineering journals. Recently he authored Water Sector Strategy, India's Water Economy: Bracing for a Turbulent Future, and Pakistan's Water Economy: Running Dry.

Stephan L. Tubene initiated and implemented innovative and creative extension programs for Maryland small business entrepreneurs. He also organized international seminars and workshops in the U.S., Congo and South Korea. He founded and is presiding over the “Federation des Congolais de l’Etranger”, a Congolese Diaspora organization that seeks to strengthen linkages of the Congolese living abroad and the institutions of their home-country. He also co-founded the Institut Superieur des Sciences Agronomiques de Kinshasa (ISSA/Kinshasa), a three-year private Agricultural Science College and generated grants and fellowships for ISSA's faculty through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). He is the co-author of “Renaissance of the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Stakes and Perspectives”. His research, teaching, and consulting interests include: International Agricultural Development; Production Economics; International Economics; Managerial Economics; Technology Development and Transfer; Community Development; Agricultural Policy; and Farm and Risk Management. Dr Tubene holds a Ph.D., Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University.

Alexandra Spieldoch works in the Global Governance team toward policies and democratic institutions that support human rights, a healthy environment, and fairer rules in food and agriculture. Alexandra has been engaged in WTO and regional trade advocacy since 1999. She has published various research and popular education materials on international policy from a human rights and development perspective. Formerly, she coordinated the secretariat for the International Gender and Trade Network (IGTN) based out of Washington, D.C., and co-directed the Global Women's Project at the Center of Concern. She studied at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, as well as the University of Caen in Normandy, France. Alexandra has a B.A. in French literature from Washington University in St. Louis. She received her M.A. in international policy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies.

Natalie leads Monsanto’s Sustainable Agriculture Partnerships Initiative overseeing the development of public-private partnerships to improve food security, conserve natural resources and improve the livelihoods of farmers around the world through the adoption of new technologies and practices.

Natalie has worked with Monsanto for twelve years in roles ranging from global environmental stewardship and harmonization of global regulatory structures to promotion of biotechnology acceptance.

Prior to her employment with Monsanto, Natalie served as a Federation of Animal Sciences Societies Congressional Science fellow in Washington, DC where she worked on agriculture and environment-related issues and focused on the use of science in policy making.

She received her B.A. in Biology and Environmental Biology from St. Mary’s College in 1989 and her Ph.D. in Environmental Toxicology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1995.