Barbara Ward -- Her Life and Letters

Continuum Books has just published Barbara Ward -- Her Life and Letters, a book by Jean Gartlan about IIED’s founder Barbara Ward.

Barbara Ward was one of the world’s most outstanding writers and speakers on environment and development issues. She was a pioneer of the international movement which led on issues from resource scarcity, development and protecting the environment to climate change and planetary survival. ‘Our visionary perspective is the true realism – and that is what we must pursue’, she wrote.

She founded the International Institute for Environment and Development to promote the realization of such concerns. When the Brundtland Commission sought to define sustainable development, it drew this from Barbara Ward’s book with Rene Dubos, Only One Earth, published in 1972.

Barbara Ward was a close ally of world politicians both in the United States and the United Kingdom; she was a confidante of figures such as Ernest Bevin, Adlai Stevenson and Lyndon Johnson. This book brings all Ward’s genius and qualities to life - her eloquence, her intellect, her charm and her unique ability to analyse the challenges of development in the contemporary world.

The book is available from Amazon.co.uk