‍මොහාන් මුණසිංහ

Professor Mohan Munasinghe is internationally-recognized expert on energy, sustainable development and climate change, a Sri Lankan-born intellectual is the Chairman of his own institution called the Munasinghe Institute for Development , Sri Lanka. As the Vice President of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), he had the distinction to receive the IPCC's shared 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President of the United States Al Gore., thus being the first Sri Lankan to do so. Professor Mohan Munasinghe shares the Nobel Peace Prize of 2007 with IPCC colleagues and Al Gore, for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change. He is also Visiting Professor at the United Nations University in Tokyo. Prof. Munasinghe has served as an honorary senior advisor to every administration of Sri Lanka government since 1980. He was the senior energy adviser to Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayawardane, during 1982-87. He was Chancellor, International Water Academy, Oslo, and Founding-President, Lanka International Forum on Environment and Sustainable Development (LIFE). He helped to found the Computer Science and Engineering Faculty of University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka.

අධ්‍යාපනය

He was educated at the prestiges Royal College, Colombo and received the B.A. (Hons.) and M.A. degrees in Engineering from Cambridge University , UK in 1967. He also has obtained the prestigious S.M. and Ph. D E.E. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), U.S.A. in 1970. He also has a Ph.d. in Solid State Physics from McGill University from Canada, in 1973, and an M.A. in Development Economics from Concordia University, Canada, in 1975. He has received several honorary doctorates (honoris causa).

Positions Held

Presently, he is Chairman, Munasinghe Institute for Development, Colombo; Vice Chair, UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Geneva; Honorary Senior Advisor to the Government of Sri Lanka; and Visiting Professor, United Nations University, Tokyo. Until recently, he was Senior Advisor/Manager, World Bank, Wash. DC, covering sustainable development, environmental policy, water, energy and transport; and Chancellor, International Water Academy, Oslo. After working over 35 years in the international arena, he is recognized as a leading world authority on environment and development, with field experience in climate change, disaster management, economics, environment, energy, telecommunications, transport, urban infrastructure, and water resources projects in most developing countries.

From 1982 to 1987, Prof. Munasinghe was the Senior Advisor (Energy and Information Technology) to the President of Sri Lanka, helping to formulate and implement the national energy strategy and computer policy. He was founder Chairman, Computer and Information Technology Council (CINTEC), and served on the Presidential Commission that determined national telecommunications policy. From 1982 to 1987, he was Board Member, Natural Resources, Energy and Science Authority of Sri Lanka; Governor, Arthur Clarke Centre for Modern Technology, Sri Lanka. During 1990-92, he served as Advisor to the US President's Council on Environmental Quality (PCEQ).

Since 1972, he has also served as expert advisor/consultant to many world bodies. He is also Director of the Canifex International Socio Economic Development Centre (Canadian non profit foundation), and founding-Director of both the World Energy Efficiency Association (WEEA) in Washington DC, and the New Sun Foundation in Geneva. He is Patron and Founder of the Lanka Society for Sustainable Development (LASS), and President-Emeritus and Founder of the Sri Lanka Energy Managers Assoc. (SLEMA).

He has taught university courses for the past 30 years, on energy, water, resource management, and environmental economics, in Sri Lanka, Canada, and the US. He has organized and conducted international training seminars on the environmental economics, energy, water and information technology. He is the author of several hundred technical papers in well-known scientific journals; and over 90 scholarly books).He serves on the Editorial Boards of a dozen international periodicals,

Prizes And Honours

Prof. Munasinghe has won a number of international prizes and honours for research and applications. Most notably, as IPCC Vice Chair, he was co-winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize for Peace, for scientific contributions to knowledge about climate change and sustainable development. He received the 2007 Sarvodaya (Sri Lanka) Award for Humanity, Peace and Development. In 2006, he was awarded both the Zayed International Prize for Environment (jointly with other authors) for contributions to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and the Swarnavahini Sri Lanka Abhimanya (Excellence) Award. In 2005, the President of Bangladesh presented him with the Order of Fellowship of the Independent University of Bangladesh, for exceptional contributions to economics, energy and environment. In 2003, he received the award for outstanding lifetime achievements from a consortium of 16 major professional institutions in Sri Lanka. He was awarded the 2003 Adelman-Frankel prize for unique and innovative contributions to energy research, by the US Assoc. of Energy Economics – Int. Assoc. for Energy Econ. (USAEE-IAEE). The green award for exceptional contributions to sustainable development was presented to him in 1998, at the Sixth World Congress of the International Federation of Environmental Journalists. He received the international best treatise award and medal for sustainable water resource management from the International Foundation for Water Science and Technology at the 1994 World Water Congress in Abu Dhabi. In 1990, two commemorative volumes of his selected papers in energy and electricity were issued, with felicitations from eminent experts as well as 20 leading international journals. He is also the recipient of the international prize for outstanding work in electric power and energy systems analysis and pricing awarded in 1988 at the Fifth Latin American and Caribbean Energy Conference, and the annual award for exceptional contributions to energy research and policy applications, presented in 1987 by the Int. Assoc. for Energy Economics, U.S.A. In 1985, he received the Sinha Gold Medal for outstanding scientific achievement in Sri Lanka, from the Lions International Organization. His academic awards include the 1966 J. W. Beauchamp Prize from the Inst. of Electrical Engineers (UK), and the 1968 Albert M. Grass Prize at MIT (USA).

He is a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science, USA (FWAAS), Third World Acad. of Sciences, Italy (FTWAS), Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics - Royal Swedish Acad. of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, Sri Lanka (FNASSL), Royal Society for Arts, UK (FRSA), International Water Academy, Norway (FIWA), Institution of Electrical Engineers, UK (FIEE), and Institute of Engineers, Sri Lanka (FIESL).OTHER INTERESTS

OTHER INTERESTS Prof. Munasinghe has represented Sri Lanka (Juniors) and Cambridge University in lawn tennis and won a number of Sri Lanka National and other titles. His interests include swimming, wind surfing, chess, bridge, amateur astronomy, saxophone playing, tai-chi, and meditation.

Family

The Professor's wife Mrs. Sria Munasinghe is Vice Chair of MIND and supports his activities. She has had an important influence on Professor Munasinghe's life.

External links

• MIND - Munasinghe Institute for Development සංරක්ෂණය කළ පිටපත 2009-06-06 at the Wayback Machine - private, nonprofit organization, established to play a key role in nurturing communities of scholars and practitioners who will address sustainable development issues worldwide and explore viable means of achieving this goal in Sri Lanka and elsewhere without compromising economic, environmental and socio-cultural integrity.
• IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change