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Environmental Health and Equity: Global Strategies and Innovation

Fifth Annual McGill Global Health Conference
Co-hosted with the Institute for Health and Social Policy
Saturday, April 30, 2011
OMNI Mont-Royal Hotel, Montreal

Featuring an international group of leading practice, policy and academic experts, this conference presented an opportunity to explore innovative and effective strategies on how to design policies and programs that promote environmental health and equity, and how to improve environmental sustainability while promoting economic growth and poverty reduction.

To view the full conference agenda click here: Environmental Health and Equity Conference Agenda [.pdf].


Opening Keynotes - Setting the Stage: Two Critical Global Challenges

David Satterthwaite: Senior Fellow, Human Settlements Group, International Institute for Environment and Development, and Editor of the international journal “Environment and Urbanization”
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William Cosgrove: President of Ecoconsult Inc., former Vice-President of the World Bank, President of the World Water Council, and President of the Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement du Québec
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Morning Panel 1 - Addressing Basic Needs: Water and Food

Håkan Tropp: Project Director, UNDP Water Governance Facility
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Donald Cole: Director, Collaborative Program in Global Health, University of Toronto
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Lise Bertrand: Montreal Department of Health and Social Services, Urban Environment and Health
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Morning Panel 2 - The Built Environment: Land Use, Transportation and Housing

Vikram Bhatt: Professor of Architecture and Director, Minimum Cost Housing Group, 㽶Ƶ
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David Banister: Professor of Transport Studies, Oxford School of Geography and the Environment
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Madhav Badami: Associate Professor, School of Urban Planning and McGill School of Environment
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Avi Friedman: Professor of Architecture and Co-Founder, Affordable Housing Group, 㽶Ƶ
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Luncheon Keynote - Environmental Health and Community Empowerment

Yuyun Ismawati: Founder and Director of Bali Fokus, engineer and developer of sustainable community-based waste and sanitation programs that prioritize environmental health and economic benefits for local people. Goldman-Environmental-Prize recipient 2009, Co-founder and Coordinator of Indonesia Toxics-Free Network
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Afternoon Panel 1 - Climate Change and Clean Energy

James Ford: Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, 㽶Ƶ
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Alexandra Lesnikowski and Jody Heymann: Institute for Health and Social Policy, 㽶Ƶ
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Tim Weis: Director, Renewable Energy and Efficiency Policy, Pembina Institute (invited)
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Afternoon Panel 2 - Green Jobs and Social Entrepreneurship

Sean Sweeney: Director, Cornell Global Labor Institute
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Ted Howard: Founding Executive Director, Evergreen Cooperative Initiative
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Stephen Huddart: Vice-President and COO, J.W. McConnell Family Foundation
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Closing Keynotes - Citizen Participation in Environmental Decisions

Lalanath de Silva: Director of the Access Initiative, World Resources Institute, and co-founder of the Environmental Foundation Ltd and the Public Interest Law Foundation in Sri Lanka, the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide and the International Public Interest Defenders in Geneva
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Angela Glover Blackwell: Founder and CEO of PolicyLink, a US research and action institute advancing economic and social equity and eliminating racial health disparities by using research to demonstrate the possibilities for positive change
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Poster Presentations: Case Studies of Global Innovations

Paul Giang: Community Involvement and Public Support in Sustainable Transportation Planning: A Case Study from Janmarg, Ahmedabad, India

Kelly Graham: The Evergreen Initiative: Strengthening the local economy, creating jobs, and being green

Denise Maines: Long-term Management of an Urban Renewal Process in Malmö, Sweden

Cosmin Paduraru: Creating Career Paths for Disadvantaged People through Education and Green Job Training: Lessons from Austin and Oakland

Nick Salter: Slum Upgrading and Community Participation: A Policy to Avoid Relocation for Juan Bobo Residents: Case Study in Medellin, Colombia

Mitra Thompson: Building Social Equity and Fighting Unemployment Through a Program of Community Recycling and Urban Sustainability: Lessons from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside



This conference was co-hosted by McGill Global Health Programs and the McGill Institute for Health and Social Policy

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McGill GHP Logo (McGill crest separated by a vertical bar from a purple globe and a partial arc with "McGill Global health Programs" in English & French)

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