Worldwatch Institute Staff

Biography

Robert Engelman, Vice President for Programs

Email: rengelman@worldwatch.org
Phone: +1 (202) 452-1992

Robert Engelman is Vice President for Programs at the Worldwatch Institute, a globally focused environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C. Bob provides strategic direction for the Institute's research and programs and is a specialist in issues of population, reproductive health, global public health, climate change, and food security. Prior to joining Worldwatch, Bob was Vice President for Research at Population Action International, a policy research and advocacy group in Washington, and directed its program on population and the environment. He has written extensively on population's connections to environmental change, economic growth, and civil conflict.

A former newspaper reporter specializing in science and the environment, Bob has served on the faculty of Yale University as a visiting lecturer and was founding secretary of the Society of Environmental Journalists. He is the author of the 2008 book More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want, and his writing has appeared in scholarly and news media including Nature, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.

Bob serves on the boards of the Center for a New American Dream, the Population Resource Center, and the Nova Institute. He holds a master's of science degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Chicago. Bob speaks basic Spanish and is conducting a tour of major U.S. cities in May, June, and July of 2008 to discuss his new book, More.

Selected Publications

"Introduction: Climate, People, Fisheries and Aquatic Ecosystems," in Nicholas Polunin, ed., Aquatic Ecosystems: Trends and Global Prospects (Cambridge University Press, 2008), co-authored with Daniel Pauly, Dirk Zeller, Ronald G. Prinn, John K. Pinnegar, and Nicholas V. C. Polunin.

More: Population, Nature, and What Women Want (Island Press, 2008).

The Shape of Things to Come: Why Age Structure Matters to a Safer, More Equitable World (Population Action International, 2007), with Elizabeth Leahy (first author), Carolyn Gibb Vogel, Sarah Haddock, and Tod Preston.

"The Many, The Voracious, and the Lethally Successful: The Influence of Human Population and Consumption on Biodiversity," in John A. Riggs, ed., Conserving Biodiversity: The Report of an Aspen Institute Environmental Policy Forum (The Aspen Institute, 2004).

"Chasing Too Few Fish: Addressing the Core Constraints of Human Population Expansion on Environmental Sustainability," in E. Eric Knudsen, Donald D. MacDonald, and Yvonne K. Muirhead, eds., Sustainable Management of North American Fisheries, (American Fisheries Society, 2004).

"Demographics of Discord: Conflict Thrives Where Young Men Are Many," The International Herald Tribune, 2 March 2004, co-authored with Richard P. Cincotta.

The Security Demographic: Population and Civil Conflict After the Cold War (Population Action International, 2003), with Richard P. Cincotta (first author) and Daniele Anastasion.

"Hope in Numbers," in Juliet B. Schor and Betsy Taylor, eds., Sustainable Planet: Solutions for the Twenty-first Century (Beacon Press, 2002).

"Rethinking Population, Improving Lives," in Worldwatch Institute, State of the World 2002 (W.W. Norton & Company, 2002), with Brian Halweil and Danielle Nierenberg.

"Human Population in the Biodiversity Hotspots," Nature, 27 April 2000, with Richard P. Cincotta (first author) and Jennifer Wisnewski.