Science, Environment and Development Group

Back to main page for Occasional Speaker Series on Research Topics in Sustainable Development

Monday, 1 December 2003
Making Sustainable Development Operational
Alan D. Hecht, Director for Sustainable Development, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
12:00-1:30 pm, Perkins Room (E-415), 4th Floor, Eliot Building, KSG (Map)
Lunch will be served
RSVP required - please contact cid_events@harvard.edu if you plan to attend

Biography:

Dr. Alan D. Hecht is Director for Sustainable Development in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development. He served as Director for International Affairs at the National Security Council and Associate Director for Sustainable Development at the White House Council on Environmental Quality (2002-2003). Hecht participated in both the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio and the 2003 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. His most recent publication on sustainable development is in the Environmental Law Institute’s magazine The Environmental Forum (September/October 2003).

Spanning a federal career of 29 years, Hecht previously served as the Principal Deputy and Deputy Assistant Administrator for International Activities at the U.S. EPA (1989-2001). He was the Acting Assistant Administrator for International Activities from 1992-1994. Hecht served in science and policy positions with the National Oceanographic Administration (1982-1989) and the National Science Foundation (1976-1982). He was Director of the National Climate Program from 1981 to 1989, and Director of the Climate Dynamics Program at NSF from 1976 to 1981.

Hecht has a BS (Geology) from Brooklyn College (Brooklyn, New York) and a Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve (Cleveland, Ohio). He has published numerous technical reports, edited two books on paleoclimatology and served as Chief Editor for journals of the American Meteorological Society.

Presentation slides:

Hecht, Alan D. "Making Sustainable Development Operational." PowerPoint presentation from Research Topics in Sustainable Development seminar, 1 December 2003, Center for International Development, Harvard University.

Background document:

Hecht, Alan D. 2003. "Building Blocks." The Environmental Forum. September/October: 18-27.

Policymakers in the international arena have long regarded sustainable development as a process, but that means they have focused on institutions, not foundations. Instead, if one views sustainable development as a construct, attention can be paid to the basic building blocks and the mortar that binds them together. Those blocks are "law and the rule of law," including basic rights, with the political will to implement them, enforce them, and develop norms of good governance based on them -- including environmental protection.

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