Benjamin Bosland
Benjamin Bosland is a member of the Class of 2020 at the George Washington University studying International Affairs at the Elliott School with a concentration in Conflict Resolution. He is also pursuing a minor in Public Health at the Milken Institute School for Public Health.
Before interning at the Environmental Change and Security Program, Benjamin studied abroad in Geneva, Switzerland with the School for International Training’s Global Health & Development Policy Program. He has also worked with the Vermont Council on World Affairs and the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training.
With a particular interest in the nexus between water security and conflict, Benjamin would like to pursue a career in water diplomacy and international affairs.
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David DeArmey on Engaging Communities to Increase Water Point Functionality
›Friday Podcasts // Water Security for a Resilient World // Water Stories (Podcast Series) // September 6, 2019 // By Benjamin Bosland
This article is part of ECSP’s Water Security for a Resilient World series, a partnership with USAID’s Sustainable Water Partnership and Winrock International to share stories about global water security.
“Water point functionality goes beyond the mechanical structure of a pump,” says David DeArmey, Director of International Partnerships at Water for Good in this week’s Water Stories podcast. “Community dynamics play a role in how the water point is managed on a daily basis.”
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With Knowledge Comes Responsibility: A Conversation with Sylvia Earle on the Ocean
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“Having a planet that is suitable for us has taken a very long time, like four and a half billion years,” said Sylvia Earle, Explorer in Residence at the National Geographic Society, in a podcast interview with Ambassador David Balton before a recent Wilson Center event on marine protected areas. “It’s taken us about four and a half decades to significantly unravel, deplete, [and] modify those precious systems that really have little margin of error.” -
Erika Weinthal on the Weaponization of Water in Conflict Settings
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“When you’re in a post-conflict phase, it means we really should be moving away from humanitarian assistance into development because we’ve moved along the conflict spectrum toward peace and development,” says Erika Weinthal, the Lee Hill Snowdon Professor of Environmental Policy at Duke University, in this week’s Water Stories podcast. -
Partnerships, Politics, & Plastic Pollution: A Conversation with Rob Kaplan on Reducing Ocean Plastics
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“I’ve never seen this kind of political and public sector engagement in an environmental topic happen so fast,” said Rob Kaplan, the Founder and CEO of Circulate Capital in an interview with Ambassador David Balton following a recent Wilson Center event on reducing marine plastic pollution. Interest in reducing ocean plastics has gone from a blip on the radar at ocean conferences to “now becoming a top priority,” said Kaplan. -
Africa in Transition: Highlights from a Conversation on Investing in Youth for Economic Prosperity
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Africa in Transition, a new series hosted by the Wilson Center and the Population Institute, explores the role of population trends—migration, urbanization, fertility, maternal mortality—in shaping sub-Saharan Africa’s chances for prosperity, health, and security. In this podcast, we share highlights from the first Africa in Transition event. Parfait Eloundou-Enyegue, Professor at Cornell University, starts the conversation by reminding us that “African countries are in the middle of multiple transitions that have the potential to create opportunities for prosperity, growth, and increased human capital, but also to create greater inequality. The challenge, therefore, is to build prosperity, but to do it for all.”
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Ambassador Marcia Bernicat on the U.S. Global Water Strategy
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The overarching goal of the U.S. Global Water Strategy is to create a more water secure world, said Ambassador Marcia Bernicat, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Oceans, and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs at the U.S. Department of State at a recent Wilson Center event. “Simply put,” she said, “a world where people have the water they need, where they need it, when they need it, without living in fear of floods or droughts.” -
A Look Downstream: Thoughtful Water Infrastructure Planning May Yield Economies of Flexibility
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Three big trends are coming, said Ken Conca, Professor at American University’s School for International Service at a recent Wilson Center event that explored the future of water. “We’ll be storing a lot more water,” he said. “We’ll be recycling a lot more water. And we’ll be thinking much more systematically and foundationally about flood risk.”
