SIPA students Jennifer Fong and John Dulac were among the presenters at day 2 of the conference

Day two topics at the 2009 GPPN Conference included “Economic and Environmental Sustainability” and “Economic Crisis and Asia” featuring speakers from the Singapore Ministry of Environment and Water Resources, Asian Development Bank, and Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. The morning panel highlighted Singapore’s water and natural resource management. SIPA’s own Jennifer Fong and John Dulac presented at the GPPN Student Conference in the afternoon breakout session on sustainable cities. Fong presented an overview of principles for sustainable city governance and highlighted US policy examples such as the No Child Left Inside Act and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s stringent guidelines for new building. Dulac presented disturbing data on projected growth of emissions from the transport sector and recommended policy shifts that increase shared modal spaces and access to public transportation. Other participants from Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy presented research on the effect of economic capacity on population growth in Singapore and energy efficiency in Asia. Dr. Eduardo Araral closed the conference stating that “change is not driven by old folks, but is driven by young people…I have made the conclusion that only the young people can change the course of history.”