Life and achievements
Early life
Barbara Ward was born in 1914 in Heworth, York. A Quaker father and a Catholic mother raised her. Born in a strict religious family, she was enrolled in a convent school where she was taught the values of discipline and commitment, which she carried throughout her life. Ward received her education from Paris and Germany and then joined Somerville College, Oxford, where she read politics, philosophy, and economics and graduated in 1935. Experiencing the growth of fascism during her study abroad, she became interested in justice and cooperation on the international level, which became her lifelong concern and commitment to the development of the world and its peace.
Ward’s first job was at The Economist, where she was to work her way up to become the foreign editor of the magazine. She wrote mainly on international economic policy and became an expert on world politics. Her book of 1938, The International Share-Out, was a study of the reasons why the more advanced nations should share their wealth with the less fortunate ones, which was a subject that she would develop throughout her writing. Ward was an internationalist in outlook, having travelled widely and worked during the Second World War, broadcasting Christian messages of resistance and optimism during the war.
Legacy
Barbara Ward’s contribution is in integrating economic development with environmental conservation. She was one of the first to introduce the idea of sustainable development, which means that any further growth of the economy should not be achieved at the expense of the environment. It has been possible to identify many current issues in the contemporary world, such as climate change and depletion of resources, and her call for international cooperation is still timely in the discussions on sustainability.
It is not only in her writing that Ward made a mark; she also inspired others in many ways. She served as a counsellor to presidents and governments and influenced policies that supported economic equity and sustainability of the environment. Her establishment of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) put into formal structure her vision through the provision of a forum for further research and policy work on sustainable development. Ward was a devout Catholic, and religion played a significant role in her life and work; she regarded environmentalism and social justice as moral values that informed her public discourse and private conduct.
In her work Only One Earth, published in 1972 with co-author René Dubos, Ward understood the relationship between the economy and the environment, which made her pioneer the sustainable development concept that is popular today.
After she died in 1981, Ward’s ideas are still relevant. The IIED has continued this tradition through the Barbara Ward Lectures, where people such as Gro Harlem Brundtland and Mary Robinson delivered lectures on development. Today, Ward is not only considered an economist and an environmentalist but a woman who was able to envision the present global concerns on how human development can go hand in hand with preserving the environment.
Milestone moments
Jul 18, 1962
The series’s first publication is The Rich Nations and the Poor Nations.
Barbara Ward’s The Rich Nations and the Poor Nations, published in 1962, laid the foundation for understanding the rich and the poor.
The book stressed the need for the equitable distribution of wealth across the world and called on developed countries to help less developed countries establish sound economic systems.
The Rich Nations and the Poor Nations became a popular book, applauded for presenting a coherent and persuasive view that economic inequalities threaten the world order.
This milestone can be seen as a significant step in Ward’s career as she continued gaining prominence as an international development advocate.
Her ideas were disseminated among policymakers and other intellectuals worldwide.
This book formed the basis of her subsequent arguments on sustainable development, associating economic equity with environmental conservation.
Mar 14, 1971
Establishment of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED).
In 1971, Ward established the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) to integrate environmental conservation with development.
The IIED was established to foster research and policy change on sustainable development.
The organization’s key aim was to ensure that development did not negatively impact the environment.
This institute helped set the agenda for international discussions on sustainable development and contributed to significant events such as the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm.
Ward’s establishment of the IIED was a clear indication of her effort to ensure that the concept of sustainable development was well implemented so that others could build on the work she had started.
Mar 30, 1972
Only One Earth was published for the Stockholm Conference.
In 1972, Barbara Ward and René Dubos co-authored Only One Earth: The Care and Maintenance of a Small Planet, a report prepared for the United Nations for the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.
Only One Earth pioneered work in environmental conservation and management.
It called for protecting the world’s resources and international cooperation in environmental management.
The report outlined Ward’s concept of development and noted that environmental decay was a major problem affecting the Third World and that the whole world must devise measures to combat environmental pollution.
This milestone reinforced Ward’s position as one of the most influential advocates for environmental causes and influenced the development of international environmental politics for many years.
May 15, 1974
Commander of the Order of the British Empire – Dame Commander.
In 1974, Barbara Ward received the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) for her contributions to economics, the environment, and the development of the world.
This indicated that Ward had played a significant role in formulating policies on the world’s economic development and environmental conservation.
This achievement only boosted her reputation as one of the leading authorities on sustainable development and became the high point in her career as a public figure and an intellectual.
The DBE that Ward received was a formal affirmation of her long-standing as a public thinker, policymaker, and advocate for social justice and environmentalism.