Janessa Price Learns about the Conflict Between Natural Resources & Development

Janessa Price is a recent graduate of the Maxwell and Newhouse School’s Public Diplomacy Program. She also interned at the Joint Inspection Unit of the United Nations in Geneva.

Janessa Price

This spring, I had the opportunity to intern with the Freshwater team at the World Wildlife Fund in Washington D.C. My decision to pursue an internship with WWF came after taking a course on development and sustainability with Dr. Farhana Sultana, which gave me a greater insight into the conflict between natural resource preservation and economic development. Working with WWF allowed me to explore the relationship between development and sustainability further while simultaneously honing my communications skills.

The work of WWF’s freshwater team spans the globe and ranges from promoting good water governance to protecting freshwater ecosystems to working with the private sector on water stewardship and conservation. This spring, in conjunction with the Policy and Advocacy group, the team launched its new Water and Security Initiative. Through this initiative, WWF seeks to inform U.S. development policy by showing that support for cooperative arrangements over shared water resources and other environmental considerations can reduce the likelihood of social and economic disruptions. As a communications intern, I was tasked with helping develop an outreach strategy for this initiative that would help inform policymakers, media and the general public about the critical linkage between global freshwater challenges and U.S. national security.

This experience was particularly valuable as it gave me greater insight into how NGO advocacy can be successfully conducted, even in what could be considered a hostile or at least atypical political environment. As an organization focused on environmental and ecological preservation, it was both interesting and promising to see how WWF found ways to maneuver and push its agenda forward despite the current administration’s apathy toward environmental health. At the same time, WWF provided a perfect example of the struggle between environmental sustainability and human development. While the organization was created with the protection of nature for nature’s sake in mind, it has slowly recognized that the needs of people must too be considered in any approach to environmental sustainability.

Learn more about the Washington Public Diplomacy program