Ani Dasgupta has spent a career trying to make cities fairer and the planet more livable, first as an architect in training, then as a World Bank hand in the churn of post-disaster recovery, and now as President and CEO of the World Resources Institute. His path runs from Delhi’s informal settlements to Banda Aceh after the 2004 tsunami to WRI’s global platform, where he argues that climate, nature, and development rise or fall together. The point, he says, is not elegant plans but outcomes that improve daily life. “Leadership isn’t about hierarchy or control, but about moral purpose, trust and collaboration.” Aceh provided the template. As the World Bank’s infrastructure lead in Indonesia, he coordinated dozens of donors with no formal authority, a lesson in convening rather than commanding. That experience animates his book, The New Global Possible, and his term of art for the work ahead: orchestration. In practice, he means stitching together actors who rarely meet so that local projects can take root and endure. “It’s about connecting funders, governments, NGOs and local communities so that projects can take root and sustain themselves.” Macadamia nut harvesting. Image by Third Factor Productions and WRI. The example he likes is decidedly unglamorous: a Kenyan macadamia venture that pays farmers promptly, restores degraded land, and turns a restoration pledge into steady income. Early catalytic support came via Terrafund for AFR100; commercial finance followed. Dasgupta is not blind to scale. He contends that nature delivers mitigation and adaptation at once, but…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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