keynote speakers

Lorne Taylor

Board Chair of the Alberta Environmental Monitoring Evaluation and Reporting Agency (AEMERA), Dr. Lorne Taylor is a consultant and businessman based in Medicine Hat in southeastern Alberta, and was the founding Chair of the Alberta Water Research Institute. He is currently the Special Advisor to Alberta WaterSMART. He has held tenured

positions at several universities.

Dr. Taylor entered politics in 1993 by being elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for the riding of Cypress Medicine Hat. From 1993 to 2004, he served as Alberta's Minister of Science, Research and Information Technology, Minister of Innovation and Science, and Minister of the Environment. While in government, Dr. Taylor was instrumental in the creation of the Alberta Ingenuity Fund, Alberta SuperNet, and the Water for Life Strategy which remains the government's water strategy to this day. [email protected]

Arthur Hanson

Art Hanson is a Distinguished Fellow with the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and earlier served as IISD’s President and CEO. He conducts research, and provides advisory services on innovation for sustainable development, environment and economy relationships, biodiversity, oceans, and international development. Currently, he is the International Chief Advisor and a Member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED). This body provides advice to the State Council and Premier of China.

Dr. Hanson has a strong interest in linking science to public policy, and has worked with government bodies in Canada, the United States and Asia on natural resources and environmental management, and on mechanisms of accountability and governance for sustainable development. Institutional strengthening and capacity-building projects have also been an important focus of his work. In recent years much of his professional time has been spent working with China. Previously, Dr. Hanson initiated major environment and development capacity-building efforts in Indonesia working with the government, NGOs, universities and the private sector. He is a member of the Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation (KEHATI) Board.

He served two terms on Canada’s National Round Table on the Environment and Economy (NRTEE) and was Canada’s Ministerial Ocean Ambassador with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for four years. Dr. Hanson was a member of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) for a decade, and a Mentor in the Trudeau Foundation. He has provided advice to the Office of the Auditor General of Canada since 1990, and to many other branches of the Canadian Government.

From 1978 to 1991, he was Professor and Director of the School for Resource and Environmental Studies at Dalhousie University. Dr. Hanson holds a PhD from the University of Michigan in the field of Fisheries Ecology and Natural Resources and a Masters degree in Zoology/Fisheries from the University of British Columbia. He has an Honorary Doctorate of Law Degree from Mount Allison University. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada. Arthur Hanson lives in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada