The Social Policy Program of the Graduate School of Social Sciences at Middle East Technical University, UNDP and the World Bank Turkey Offices hosted Dr. Cecilia Ugaz (UN), whose seminar was entitled "The Social Impacts of Climate Change and Government Reactions". Dr. Ugaz elaborated on the potential adverse effects of climate change on human development. Dr. Ugaz explained how carbon emissions and footprints have impacted global warming and in return human beings' livelihood around the world. She specifically stressed that vulnerable groups in developing countries would be most impacted by these environmental challenges. Finally, Dr. Ugaz emphasized the importance of national action and international cooperation in adapting to environmental challenges and reiterated that adopting the human development lens to assess the impacts of climate change calls for early and prioritized national and international action.

Short Biography
Cecilia Ugaz headed the National Human Development Report Unit (NHDR unit) and the coordination of research for the preparation of the last three Global Human Development Reports, of which recently was conducted on Climate Change. Before joining the UNDP Human Development Report Office in 2005, she was a research coordinator at UN Research Institute for Social Development in Geneva. Prior to that, she was a fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex and a research fellow at the World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU/WIDER) in Helsinki. She is the editor of "Social Provision in Low Income Countries: New Patterns and Emerging Trends," (with G. Mwabu and G. White), Oxford University Press (2001); "Utility Privatization and Regulation: A Fair Deal for Consumers?" (with C. Waddams Price), Edward Elgar (2003); and "Commercialization, Privatization and Universal Access to Water".

Born in Lima, Cecilia Ugaz was educated in Peru and France. She holds a PhD in Economics from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris and a Diplôme d'Études Approfondies en Analyse et Politiques Économiques from the EHESS and the École Nationale de Statistique et de l'Administration Économique (ENSAE).
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