NUS Geography Associate Professor Wong Poh Poh is the only Singaporean among the global team of scientists recognized in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize – awarded jointly to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC) and former US Vice-President, climate change campaigner Al Gore – acknowledged their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change”.
Associate Professor Wong is a Coordinating Lead Author for the coasts chapter in this year’s IPCC Working Group II report Impacts, Adaptations and Vulnerability. He was also a reviewer and a lead author in the second and third assessment respectively. The IPCC assessments are based on peer-reviewed scientific and technical literature. The reports were written by authors from all over the world who are recognized experts in their field. They represent relevant disciplines as well as differing scientific perspectives. This global coverage of expertise, the interdisciplinary nature of the IPCC team, and the transparency of the process, constitute the Panel’s strongest assets.
Prof Wong said the award would boost the work of the panel. He is optimistic that policymakers for the December 2007 Climate Change meeting in Bali will use the report productively. He commented that climate change is a security issue and not just an environmental one as droughts and rising sea levels are expected to contribute to a growing number of “environmental refugees”.
Prof Wong has been with the Department of Geography since 1966 and his research area focuses on coasts, small islands, tourism, coastal management, climate change and tsunamis. In 2005, he was one of the authors in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment to be awarded the Zayed International Prize for the Environment for scientific and technological achievements in environmental research.
