WRI is pleased to invite you to join a discussion of the findings of the National Intelligence Council (NIC) Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds. This report explores how meta-trends such as demographic shifts, technological developments, and resource availability may shape the geopolitical landscape in the coming decades.

Presenting the findings of the Global Trends 2030 Report will be its principal author, Mathew Burrows, Counselor and Director at the NIC. Mathew will be joined by Alex Evans, Senior Fellow, NYU Center on International Cooperation, and WRI’s Managing Director, Manish Bapna, who will take turns to discuss how the international community can address questions of emerging resource scarcity. Active audience participation will be encouraged.

A light lunch will be available afterward.

About the speakers

  • Dr. Mathew J. Burrows is Counselor to the National Intelligence Council (NIC) and Director of the Analysis and Production Staff. He was the principal drafter for the NIC publication – Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds, which has received widespread recognition and praise in the international media and among academics and think tanks. Dr. Burrows joined the CIA in 1986, where he served as analyst for the Directorate of Intelligence (DI), covering Western Europe, including the development of European institutions such as the European Union. In 1998-1999 he was the first holder of the Intelligence Community Fellowship, and served at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York. Other previous positions included assignments as special assistant to the US UN Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, 1999-2001, and Deputy National Security Advisor to US Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill in 2001-2002. He is a member of the DI’s Senior Analyst Service. Dr. Burrows graduated from Wesleyan University in 1976 and in 1983, received a PhD in European History from Cambridge University, England.

  • Alex Evans is a senior fellow at CIC, where he works on issues including climate change, resource scarcity, international development, and and global public goods. His recent publications include Climate, Scarcity and Sustainability in the Post-2015 Development Agenda (2012), Beyond the Millennium Development Goals (2012, with CIC’s David Steven), Resource Scarcity, Fair Shares and Development (2011) and 2020 Development Futures (2011). He was seconded from CIC to the United Nations Secretary-General’s office in 2011 as the writer for the UN High-level Panel on Global Sustainability. Other current and recent projects include working with UNDP’s senior management team on their next Strategic Plan, helping former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown with a forthcoming book on the world in 2025, and supporting Unilever CEO Paul Polman on his membership of the current UN High-level Panel on the Post-2015 International Development Agenda. Alex also co-edits GlobalDashboard.org, the foreign policy blog, and was one of Devex's "40 under 40" international development leaders in 2011. From 2003 to 2006, Alex was Special Adviser to Hilary Benn MP, then UK Secretary of State for International Development. He currently lives and works in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

  • Manish Bapna is the executive vice president and managing director of the World Resources Institute (WRI), which focuses on the intersection of the environment and development. He served as WRI’s acting president for 18 months from 2011-2012. Prior to WRI, Manish was the executive director of the nonprofit Bank Information Center (BIC), and held positions at the World Bank and McKinsey & Company. Manish chairs WRI’s management team and oversees the impact and quality of program strategies. Under his leadership, the institute has developed its current five-year strategic plan, deepened its engagement in China, India and Brazil, and initiated new work on climate change adaptation, sustainable cities, and development finance. Manish has been cited in front-page articles in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and International Herald Tribune and his op-eds are featured in major international and national newspapers. He received his graduate degrees from Harvard and an undergraduate degree from MIT.