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William Clark

William Clark

Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

william_clark@harvard.edu

John F. Kennedy School of Government

Titles

  • Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
  • Member, Board of Directors of the Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation at ASU

Biography

William C. Clark is the Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Trained as an ecologist, his research focuses on sustainability science: understanding the interactions of human and environmental systems with a view toward advancing the goals of sustainable development. He is particularly interested in how institutional arrangements affect the linkage between knowledge and action in the sustainability arena.

At Harvard, he currently co-directs the Sustainability Science Program.  He is co-author of Pursuing Sustainability: A Guide to the Science and Practice (Princeton, 2016), Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management (Wiley, 1978), and Redesigning Rural Development (Hopkins, 1982); editor of the Carbon Dioxide Review (Oxford, 1982); coeditor of Sustainable Development of the Biosphere (Cambridge, 1986), The Earth Transformed by Human Action (Cambridge, 1990), Learning to Manage Global Environmental Risks (MIT, 2001), Global Environmental Assessments (MIT, 2006) and The Global Health System: Institutions in a Time of Transition (Harvard, 2010);  and co-chair of the US National Research Council’s study Our Common Journey: A Transition Toward Sustainability (NAP, 1999).  He serves on the editorial board of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Clark is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  He is a recipient of the MacArthur Prize, the Humboldt Prize, the Kennedy School’s Carballo Award for excellence in teaching, and the Harvard College Phi Beta Kappa Prize for Excellence in Teaching.

 

Education

  • BSc, Yale College
  • PhD, University of British Columbia

External Links

Journal Articles

2016

Clark, W. C., T. P. Tomich, M. van Noorwijk, D. Guston and D. Catacutan. 2016. Boundary work for sustainable development: Natural resource management at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 113(17):4615-4622. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0900231108. (link )

Reid, R. S., D. Nikedianye, M. Y. Said, D. Kaelo, M. Neselle, O. Makui, L. Onetu, S. Kiruswa, N. Ole Kamuaro, P. Kristjanson, J. Ogutu, S. B. BurnSilver, M. J. Goldman, R. B. Boone, K. A. Galvin, N. M. Dickson and W. C. Clark. 2016. Evolution of models to support community and policy action with science: Balancing pastoral livelihoods and wildlife conservation in savannas of East Africa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 113(17):4579-4584. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0900313106. (link )

2007

Clark, W. C., R. W. Kates, J. F. Richards, J. T. Mathews, W. B. Meyer, B. L. Turner II, S. T. Pickett, C. G. Boone and M. L. Cadenasso. 2007. Relationships of environmental justice to ecological theory. Bulletin for the Ecological Society of America 88:166-170. DOI: 10.1890/0012-9623(2007)88[166:ROEJTE]2.0.CO;2. (link )

2005

Morgan, M. G., R. Cantor, W. C. Clark, A. Fisher, H. D. Jacoby, A. Janetos, A. P. Kinzig, J. M. Melillo, R. B. Street and T. J. Wilbanks. 2005. Learning from the U.S. National Assessment of climate change Impacts. Environmental Science & Technology 39(23):9023-9032. DOI: 10.1021/es050865i. (link )

2003

Clark, W. C., D. W. Cash, F. Alcock, N. M. Dickson, N. Eckley, D. H. Guston, J. Jager and R. B. Mitchell. 2003. Knowledge systems for sustainable development. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100(14):8088-8091. DOI: 0.1073/pnas.1231332100. (link )

Khagram, S., W. C. Clark and D. Firas Raad. 2003. From the environment and human security to sustainable security and development. Journal of Human Development 4(2):289=313. (link )

Book Chapters

2004

Kinzig, A. P., W. C. Clark, O. Edonhofer, G. Gallopin, W. Lucht, R. B. Mitchell, P. Romero-Lankao, S. Sreekresh, S. Tickell and O. R. Young. 2004. Science, society, and sustainability. Pp. 409-434 In: Schellnhuber, H. J., P. Crutzen, M. Claussen and H. Held eds., Earth System Analysis for Sustainability. MIT Press. ISBN: 9780262195133.