"Climate Change Crisis and Tropical Forest and Biodiversity Conservation: An Afro-Colombian Perspective"

Date: 

Friday, November 8, 2019, 12:00pm to 2:00pm

Location: 

Hutchins Center, 104 Mount Auburn Street 3R
Luis Gilberto Murillo-Urrutia is a Former Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development of Colombia and a very well-known national political figure in that country. He is a policy expert with nearly 30 years of experience in public policy design, implementation and advocacy; particularly, in the areas of sustainable regional development, social inclusion and peace building. Mr. Murillo-Urrutia has led numerous initiatives, both domestically and internationally. A decade ago, he played a key role as leading voice in advocating in Washington, DC for a U.S. policy towards Colombia that supports peace and social development and was inclusive of ethnic minorities both Afro-Colombians and Indigenous people. He served as Senior Adviser for International Policy at Lutheran World Relief, Vice-President for Programs and Strategy at Phelps Stokes Fund, and external consultant for several multilateral organizations. When Mr. Murillo-Urrutia returned to Colombia, he served in key positions in the public sector. He was elected Governor of the predominantly Afro-Colombian State of Choco, and in President Santos’ administration he served as senior Presidential Advisor and Director for the Pacific Development Plan, and Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development from which he played leading role on expanding forest and biodiversity protected areas, climate change, and on issues of environment and peace accord implementation and social agreements with AfroColombians, Indigenous and local communities within the context of the massive social mobilizations of 2016 and 2017. Mr. Murillo currently is a Research Fellow at American University’s Center for Latin America and Latino Studies (CLALS) and Adviser to the Environmental Solutions Initiate (ESI) at MIT.
luis_gilberto_poster.pdf341 KB