Glenn Denning joined Columbia University's Earth Institute in 2004 as Senior Research Scholar and Associate Director of the Tropical Agriculture and Environment Program. He helped establish the MDG Centre, East and Southern Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, and served as its director for five years. With more than 25 years of experience in international agricultural research and development, Denning provided leadership to the MDG Centre's agenda in agriculture and rural development and its support to the African Green Revolution.
From 2004 to 2006, Denning served on the UN Millennium Project Hunger Task Force. He is currently a member of the Senior Steering Group of the UN High Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis and a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP). Denning also serves on the board of the Institute of African Leadership for Sustainable Development (UONGOZI Institute).
Denning previously held senior management positions in the International Rice Research Institute and the World Agroforestry Centre. In 2000, he was honored by the Government of Cambodia as Commander of the Royal Order of Sahametrei for his role in establishing the Cambodian Agricultural Research and Development Institute and his contributions to increasing national rice production.
Dr. Denning has received an AC4 faculty research award for an applied research project to promote the contribution of extractive industries to sustainable development. Extractive industries pose unique challenges for sustainable development; mining has sometimes been a springboard to development and at other times a source of corruption, social degradation, environmental catastrophe, and even civil war. Sustainable investing in the extractive sector is particularly challenging as many mining deposits are located in poor countries, where there are pre-existing governance constraints, political instability, and major development challenges. Dr. Denning is working with the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment (VCC) at Columbia University to conceptualize a mutually beneficial framework for investors, governments, and other stakeholders to approach the common challenge of ensuring that extractive industry investments contribute to development. The grant will specifically support implementation of the framework in the Lower Zambezi Valley, where the VCC has been engaged for the past year. Dr. Denning and his team will continue to adapt the framework and tools to facilitate implementation based on further engagement with local stakeholders.
U6043: Integrated Development Practice
