Andrew Norton
Director
Andrew Norton is director of IIED. He is an applied anthropologist who works to promote social and environmental justice.
His career spans both research and operational roles in academic and development contexts. He has worked extensively on the social dimensions of climate change, poverty, gender and social analysis, social policy and human rights in development practice.
Andrew has experience of working in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Climate change; natural resource governance; social policy; social inclusion; human rights; poverty; gender; social analysis; and urban social change.
Oversees the full range of IIED's policy and action research activities; particularly focused on the politics and social dimensions of climate change and climate action.
- Director of research for the Overseas Development Institute
- Lead social scientist in the World Bank
- Head of social development for the UK Department for International Development (DFID)
- Doctoral fieldwork in Mali
English, French and Bambara
Andrew Norton's blog posts
The Paris Agreement on climate change enters into force today. IIED director Andrew Norton argues that the voices of the world's poorest and most vulnerable people must be heard if the treaty is to be truly effective.
The global goals, which UN members signed up to last year, are for all countries, not just poor ones. How is the UK going to implement them?
IIED's director Andrew Norton argues that a spirit of internationalism must live on in the UK following the seismic shock of Brexit.
Action in policy and practice is needed to ensure the many benefits from oceans, seas and coasts are available to all.
An estimated 54.5 per cent of the world's population live in urban areas, compared with 37.9 per cent 40 years ago. In this context, can Habitat III deliver the 'new urban agenda' we need?
As Christiana Figueres stands down as executive secretary to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, IIED director Andrew Norton argues the time is right for an LDC representative to take the reins.
New figures show an overall decline in aid to the world's Least Developed Countries, yet commitments made in Paris and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda call for more aid, not less.
Building on the historic agreement forged in Paris, IIED's director Andrew Norton looks at the opportunities to ensure global agreements on the need for sustainable development reach the local level.
A historic agreement on climate change in Paris must drive ambition for climate action post-2015, says IIED director Andrew Norton.
There is much debate as to whether the Paris climate summit can deliver an adequate response to the challenge of climate change. In the wake of the tragedy of last Friday's attacks in the French capital, Andrew Norton pays tribute to France's efforts to secure an ambitious agreement and hopes for success.
The Sustainable Development Goals, to be agreed in New York later this month, are a key step on the road to a climate agreement in Paris in December, but must set the agenda for resilient low carbon development beyond Paris to 2030.
The Syrian crisis has been described as the worst humanitarian emergency since the Second World War. It is time to put aside the semantics of migrants versus refugees, and face up to the human suffering as a global community.
IIED's director Andrew Norton reflects on the Financing for Development conference in Addis and the challenge of 'universality'.
Halting planetary warming is fundamental. But as we find safe and affordable solutions to our future society's energy needs, how could we build a world that is more equal and more democratic?