International Development Conference » Research http://www.idc2006.org Fulfilling the Development Promise: Transforming Ideas into Actions. IDC - International Development Conference. Sponsored by the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Business School. Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:42:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Track II: Environment, Natural Resources and International Development http://www.idc2006.org/trackII.htm http://www.idc2006.org/trackII.htm#comments Sat, 28 Jan 2006 22:48:41 +0000 admin http://www.idc2006.org/?p=52 Panel I: Improving Access to Modern Energy Services: Lessons Learned and Future Opportunities PANELISTS
  • Dominique Lallement, ESMAP Program Manager and Energy Adviser, The World Bank
  • Richard Hansen, Principal, Global Transition Consulting
  • Philip LaRocco, Executive Director, E+Co (Energy through Enterprise
  • Peter Haas, Lead Technician, CEO, Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group, Inc
MODERATOR
  • Ellen Morris, President, Sustainable Energy Solutions
Two billion people, or roughly one third of humanity, still lack access to modern energy services such as heat, light and mechanical power, all of which are integral to economic development. Employing sustainable energy technologies to increase access to these services has proven beneficial to poor, underdeveloped communities by improving livelihoods and generating sources of income. In addition to the significant environmental benefits associated with sustainable energy technologies, cleaner technologies are often the most cost-effective solutions in remote, rural areas. In the case of electricity, for example, conventional grid-extension can be prohibitively expensive. Moreover, studies indicate that poor energy consumers have a high willingness and ability to pay for these technologies given the proper financial mechanisms. If the provision of modern energy services through sustainable energy technology creates a potential win-win solution for the environment, the private sector as well as poor, rural energy consumers, why haven’t more projects succeeded? Which economic, financial and policy barriers exist to successful implementation of profitable rural energy programs? What is the role of government, multi-lateral institutions, and the private sector? What are the important lessons to be learned from past rural energy efforts and how can we make projects more self-sufficient in the future? Lastly, what creative solutions can we employ to improve access to energy services in underdeveloped countries?
Panel II: Is Giving Land Rights to the Poor in Developing countries “Win-Win”? Do Secure Land Rights Help or Hinder Natural Resource Conservation and Economic Growth? PANELISTS
  • Xavier Gine, The World Bank
  • Sriram Raghavan, President, Comat Technologies, Ltd
  • Maryam Niamir-Fuller, Principal Technical Advisor, Land Degradation, UNDP
  • Lakshmi Iyer, Assistant Professor for Business, Government and the International Economy, Harvard Business School
MODERATOR
  • Abhijit Banerjee, Department of Economics, MIT
As a source of economic growth, natural resources are traditionally viewed as assets which can be collected, sold and consumed, and not as assets themselves. Land, a natural resource is an economic asset unto itself. Some posit that lack of formal land markets is a major hindrance to economic development in the developing world. Land markets allow secure identity of land ownership at transparent prices which can be used as collateral for investments and spur entrepreneurial activity. Land Markets also allow for better protection of unsustainable natural resources, and give increased value to protecting those natural resources, through conservation systems such as national parks or reserves. Further land markets can be seen as a way to preserve cultural heritage. Land markets are essential to economic development. Creating such markets, however, can be a long, complex, politically charged process, especially where most land is untitled and where there are conflicting claims. This panel will outline some of the major challenges created by malfunctioning land markets, and offer insights to various projects that are currently being implemented in various countries in the developing world, like India, Peru and Thailand and the challenges that lay ahead.
Panel III: Improving Access to Safe Drinking Water – Role of Public Private Partnership PANELISTS
  • Allain Locussol, Lead Water & Sanitation Specialist, South Asia region, The World Bank
  • Gonzalo Pizarro , Policy Advisor for Water Resources, UN Millennium Project
  • Maude Barlow, Founder, Blue Planet Project
  • Philippe Laval, Chief Operating Officer, Veolia Water North America
MODERATOR
  • Henry Lee, Lecturer in Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Access to safe drinking water is one of the important elements for sustainable development and poverty reduction. Today, nearly 1.1 billion people around the world have no access to safe drinking water. At the world summit on sustainable development held in Johannesburg in 2000, a commitment has been made to halve by 2015 the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water. The magnitude of the access gap and cost to achieve the same is considerable. Even though there is a consensus to achieve the same, the question of “how” is still open to debate. Can Public – Private – Partnership, among other initiatives contribute in achieving this development goal? What has been the experience till date? Are PPPs opposed to the goal of social equity or can they be used to achieve the same? What are the critical success factors in design of an effective Public Private Partnership?
Panel IV: Conflict Resolution through Sharing of Natural Resources: Middle East Negotiations on Water PANELISTS
  • Lawrence Susskind, Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning, MIT
  • Franklin M. Fisher, the Jane Berkowitz Carlton and Dennis William Carlton Professor of Microeconomics, Emeritus, MIT
  • Aly M. Shady, Senior Water Advisor, CIDA
  • David Brooks, Director of Research, Friends of the Earth- Canada
When, if ever, have shared environmental concerns over shared resources brought potentially hostile countries closer together? When have they created a space for peaceful negotiations? How can countries that cooperate and come together to manage shared water resources?
As natural resources become scarcer, are we doomed to a future of war? Are there take home lessons from success stories that can be applied to all natural resource and environmental issues that affect multiple countries?
Track III: Health and Growth Track IV: Trade for Development Track V: Bottom Up Planning ]]> http://www.idc2006.org/trackII.htm/feed 0 Keynote Speaker 2 http://www.idc2006.org/keynotespeaker1.html http://www.idc2006.org/keynotespeaker1.html#comments Sat, 28 Jan 2006 22:22:49 +0000 admin http://www.idc2006.org/?p=37 WILLIAM EASTERLY

Economist & Professor at New York University

William_EasterlyWilliam Easterly is Professor of Economics at New York University, joint with Africana Studies, and Co-Director of NYU’s Development Research Institute. He is also a non-resident Fellow of the Center for Global Development in Washington, DC. William Easterly received his Ph.D. in Economics at MIT. He has spent sixteen years as a Research Economist at the World Bank. His work has been discussed in media outlets like National Public Radio, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, the Economist, and Financial Times.

Easterly’s areas of expertise include the determinants of long-run economic growth and the effectiveness of foreign aid. He has worked in most areas of the developing world, including Mexico, Jamaica, Ghana, the Gambia, Colombia, Thailand, Russia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Bolivia, South Africa, and Pakistan. Easterly is an associate editor of the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the Journal of Economic Growth, and of the Journal of Development Economics.

He is the author of the upcoming book, The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good (Penguin 2006), as well as the much acclaimed, The Elusive Quest for Growth: Economists’ Adventures and Misadventures in the Tropics (MIT, 2001).

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