Elevator Stories: Moving Up at the World Bank
05/04/09 09:35
There are three major global water-related meetings: the World Bank’s Water Week every February, World Water Week in Stockholm every August, and the World Water Forum, which occurs every three years (and is discussed in another recent entry). Last February, I was invited to speak about some work I was leading for a team at the Bank’s Water Week. Water Week occurs in Washington, DC, where the World Bank’s global headquarters is located. The World Bank was founded after World War II at the Bretton Woods Conference along with the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund to promote equitable economic development. Water is a critical element in the Bank’s strategy: reliable and sustainable water use and infrastructure development are critical to development in most (all?) parts of the world, so the Bank advises on and funds projects such as dams, irrigation programs, and even habitat restoration. But the World Bank is not a normal place to be for a conservation biologist. Either from the Bank’s perspective or from the biologist’s. We don’t really go to the same kinds of parties.
I felt quite self-conscious on entering the Bank’s main building. Conservation biologists are not known for our tendency to wear suits and ties nor to speak to economists and financial policy audiences. I was sure many of my conservation colleagues would claim I had given into the enemy simply by being present. But I was also glad to be at the Bank — to learn something more about how the world’s power brokers work and think, and perhaps so that they could learn something about how I work and think too. The bad news is that the IMF and Bank don’t have a great reputation from the 1960s and 1970s for development. But the good news is that the Bank — and some other development-oriented Banks — have been giving a lot more thought to ecologically sustainable development and water management (the subject of a 2008 entry).
I came early so I could meet with my contact on the staff and look at the room where I would be speaking. I also met one of my fellow speakers — a prominent water lawyer working on environmental flows. After lunch, the lawyer and I headed off to an elevator. We pressed the button to summon our ride. I turned to him: Have you been here many times before?
He nodded. He’s been working in the area for a long time and has a solid relationship with many members of the Bank’s staff. I nodded as the elevator arrived. A man and a woman were already on, speaking to one another about something related to their work. I noted that the woman had a beautiful French accent.
Well, I have to confess, I told him as we walked on, this is pretty exotic for me. Conservation biologists don’t mix that often here. We’re much more used to being irrelevant. In fact, I think we’re really much more comfortable ranting about policy and finance rather than engaging. Policy people just don’t care much about what we have to say.
My colleague looked hard at me and I noticed that behind me the couple seemed quiet. I finally added, I don’t feel entirely comfortable here in such a great seat of power.
The elevator dinged my floor and the doors slid open before.
But we need more of you here! the woman called after me. I turned and smiled at her, feeling much more welcome.
