SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE
Summer 2013
"Progress in Energy Innovation, Development, and Deployment"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Andrew Facini, Communications Assistant
"As the financial and environmental costs of current-generation energy sources continue to mount, development and implementation of innovative new energy sources have become increasingly important. Belfer Center experts are putting their research to work to foster changes in government and industry alike to push forward these energy technologies."
Summer 2013
"Roy Family Honored for Environmental and Student Support"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
"Since 1999, the Roy Family has been supporting environmental research and projects coordinated by the Belfer Center’s Environment and Natural Resources Program (ENRP). In early May, ENRP gave special thanks to the Roy Family at a special reception where they also announced the most recent recipients of Roy Family internship and fellowship awards."
April 30, 2013
"Global Grand Challenges for Engineering and International Development"
Op-Ed, Technology+Policy | Innovation@Work
By Sujata K. Bhatia, Associate, Science, Technology, and Globalization
"Africa has demonstrated the capability to innovate in hardware and software, and that it is easier to introduce novel technologies in settings where no incumbent industries exist; this presents a unique advantage for innovators in the developing world and must be emphasized in policy discussions."
Spring 2013
"Breaking Down Walls Between Basic and Applied Research"
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Andrew Facini, Communications Assistant
Questions about the very nature of scientific discovery are being raised by Belfer Center experts Venkatesh (Venky) Narayanamurti, Tolu Odumosu, and Lee Vinsel...Their new discussion paper, entitled “The Discovery-Invention Cycle: Bridging the Basic/Applied Dichotomy,” describes the longstanding paradigm that separates basic research and discovery from applied research and implementation – for example, separating the study of the DNA of a bacteria from the application of that knowledge to develop new drugs and compounds.
March 2013
Sustainability Certification in the Biofuel Sector
Discussion Paper
This paper assesses how certification programs adopted by EU countries have affected biofuel development in Brazil, and identifies some of the lessons learned in designing future certification programs. The paper challenges the idea of the central importance of market benefits as the driving force behind private regimes for environmental and social governance.
Spring 2012
From the Director
Newsletter Article, Belfer Center Newsletter
By Graham Allison, Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs; Douglas Dillon Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School
As time passes since Paul Doty’s death, we begin to move beyond our grief to a deeper appreciation of all the ways Paul’s work lives on. Nowhere is this legacy more vividly alive than at Harvard in the Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, of which he was the founding member.
AP Photo
March 8, 2012
"Precision Farming Yields Many Gains"
Op-Ed, China Daily
By Robert Paarlberg, Advisory Board Member, Agricultural Innovation in Africa Project; Former Research Fellow, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project/Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, 2007–2008
"Greater precision in modern farming raises a farm's income, brings down food prices, and is good for the environment. China will want to move toward precision farming using its own unique mix of solutions, based on both high-tech and low-tech methods, including both conventional and biotech seeds. The new Chinese farming model that emerges can lead agriculture in all of Asia toward a more prosperous, environmentally sustainable future."
January 2012
"Socio-Economic Sustainability of Biofuel Production in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from a Jatropha Outgrower Model in Rural Tanzania"
Discussion Paper
By Elisa Portale
This new discussion paper investigates whether an outgrower scheme for a Jatropha production project in Tanzania is capable of developing “socio-economic sustainable outcomes for farmers.” The answer relies on the inclusion of an analysis of the farmers’ material benefits and subjective perceptions about the overall welfare contribution of the outgrower scheme. This research is the first to propose a practical way to operationalize such an analysis and to apply it to a concrete investment project.
Monsanto Company Photo
December 2011
"Feeding the Next Generation: Science, Business, and Public Policy"
Discussion Paper
By Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa, Josh Drake, Former Belfer IGA Fellow 2009-2011, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and L. Val Giddings
Today, three of ten people on the planet rely on others to grow their food and 900 million remain chronically food insecure. By 2050 the global demand for agricultural production is expected to double. Half of the global population will live in cities and will need to be fed through market channels. Meeting these demands will require significant increases in agricultural productivity. Modern, science-driven farming including genetically modified crops represents the best chance of generating the increases in agricultural productivity necessary to feed our future. This paper's overall conclusion is that genetically modified crops can and should play a critical role in agricultural productivity. It is offers a roadmap for those interested in objectively evaluating both the risk and benefits of biotechnology in agriculture.
November 22, 2011
Researchers Draft Blueprint to Boost Energy Innovation
Press Release
By James F. Smith, Communications Director, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
The U.S. government could save the economy hundreds of billions of dollars per year by 2050 by spending a few billion dollars more a year to spur innovations in energy technology, according to a new report by researchers at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. The three-year project by the Belfer Center's Energy Technology Innovation Policy research group calls for doubling investment and adopting policy changes in energy technology.
