NEWS RAEL Launches new program on Conflict, Climate Change and Green Development, welcomes David Mozersky as DirectorJune 1, 2016

June 1, 2016 – Clean Energy Min­is­te­r­ial (CEM7), San Fran­cisco, CA

UC-Berkeley’s Renew­able and Appro­pri­ate Energy Lab (RAEL) launches Pro­gram on Con­flict, Cli­mate Change and Green Devel­op­ment, wel­comes David Moz­er­sky as Director.

Berke­ley and San Fran­cisco, Cal­i­for­nia – David Moz­er­sky has been appointed Found­ing Direc­tor of the Pro­gram on Con­flict, Cli­mate Change, and Green Devel­op­ment.  This new pro­gram will be under the lead­er­ship of Pro­fes­sor Dan Kam­men, Direc­tor of the Renew­able and Appro­pri­ate Energy Lab­o­ra­tory (RAEL; rael​.berke​ley​.edu) at the Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia, Berke­ley.  Kam­men is cur­rently serv­ing as the Sci­ence Envoy for the U. S. State Depart­ment for cli­mate change with a focus on Africa and the Mid­dle East.

“Energy, nat­ural resources and con­flict have long been con­nected and the source of local to global-​​scale dis­putes. These chal­lenges will accel­er­ate as demand for energy and water is increas­ing and avail­able resources con­strained. It is increas­ingly appar­ent that a rapidly chang­ing cli­mate strains these already del­i­cate rela­tion­ships and is cre­at­ing con­flicts.  We are excited to have Mr. Moz­er­sky to lead this new ini­tia­tive and hope­ful to cre­ate mean­ing­ful action,” said Dan Kam­men, who is a Pro­fes­sor in the Energy and Resources Group, the Gold­man School of Pub­lic Pol­icy, and in the Depart­ment if Nuclear Engi­neer­ing at UC Berkeley.

Pro­fes­sor Kam­men elab­o­rated, “Mr. Moz­er­sky has exten­sive expe­ri­ence in con­flict pre­ven­tion, nego­ti­a­tion and peace­build­ing.  He brings to RAEL a strong vision for how clean energy and green devel­op­ment may help mit­i­gate the con­flict dri­vers asso­ci­ated with the impacts cli­mate change.” He has worked exten­sively across Africa in a var­ied con­flict pre­ven­tion pro­grams since 2001. Mr. Moz­er­sky has tes­ti­fied before the US Con­gress and Cana­dian Par­lia­ment on issues relat­ing to con­flict as an inter­na­tion­ally rec­og­nized expert in the chal­lenges fac­ing the region. Most recently, he has been lead­ing a part­ner­ship to develop a clean energy devel­op­ment frame­work in South Sudan. “This pro­gram will con­duct research, develop part­ner­ships, and sup­port prac­ti­tion­ers in efforts to work on the grow­ing nexus of con­flict and cli­mate change. There is a clear role for renew­able energy and green devel­op­ment as a tool for peace­build­ing and con­flict pre­ven­tion,” stated Mr. Mozersky.

The empha­sis of the pro­gram is on action with three related goals: First, to build stronger links between the com­mu­ni­ties work­ing on con­flict pre­ven­tion and those work­ing on cli­mate change.  Sec­ond, to help encour­age the use of clean energy devel­op­ment pro­grams as accepted tools for peace build­ing and con­flict pre­ven­tion. Third, to high­light the oppor­tu­ni­ties for peace build­ing and inclu­sive polit­i­cal mobi­liza­tion that come from a shared threat of cli­mate change.

Cli­mate change and cli­mate induced nat­ural resource scarcity is a con­tribut­ing fac­tor in some of the world’s most dev­as­tat­ing con­flicts over the last decade. Energy scarcity is likely to increase with the esca­lat­ing impacts of cli­mate change and sub­se­quent con­flict. Coun­ter­ing this trend will require the adop­tion of new multi-​​sector strate­gies. The Renew­able and Appro­pri­ate Energy Lab­o­ra­tory and the pro­gram on Con­flict, Cli­mate Change, & Green Devel­op­ment will work with a wide range of part­ners to develop solu­tions and accom­plish these goals.

The Pro­gram on Con­flict, Cli­mate Change and Green Devel­op­ment team invites inquiries and looks for­ward to part­ner­ships with energy access and con­flict res­o­lu­tion pro­grams worldwide.

CONTACTS:

David Moz­er­sky, Pro­gram Director

Pro­gram on Con­flict, Cli­mate Change and Green Development

Renew­able and Appro­pri­ate Energy Laboratory

http://​rael​.berke​ley​.edu

Tel: +1–510-642‑1760

Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia, Berkeley

Berke­ley, Calif. 94720–3050

Email: dmozersky@​berkeley.​edu

Pro­fes­sor Daniel M. Kammen

Found­ing Direc­tor, Renew­able and Appro­pri­ate Energy Laboratory

Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia, Berkeley

http://​rael​.berke​ley​.edu

Tel: +1–510-642‑1760

Email: kammen@​berkeley.​edu

Twit­ter: @dan_kammen

Images (Left): Deserted town cen­ter in South Sudan fol­low­ing civil con­flict.  Rebuild­ing with clean-​​energy pro­vides a means to develop sus­tain­able infra­struc­ture that blends cur­rent needs and long-​​term recon­struc­tion in post-​​conflict states; (Cen­ter) Pro­gram Direc­tor David Moz­er­sky; (Right) Pro­fes­sor Dan Kammen

Ref­er­ence:

Kam­men, D. M. (2015) “Peace through grids”, MIT Tech­nol­ogy Review, May/​June, 2015.

https://​www​.tech​nol​o​gyre​view​.com/​s​/​5​3​6​7​1​6​/​p​e​a​c​e​-​t​h​r​o​u​g​h​-​g​r​i​ds/