Remembering Ignacy Sachs

The social sciences have lost one of its brighter lights. The distinguished economist, a pioneer in the rigorous treatment of environmental issues, Ignacy Sachs, passed away on August 2 in his Paris residence at the age of 95 years. Polish in origin, French in nationality, Brazilian by adoption, and citizen of the world, Ignacy opened the way to integrate systematically and with a humanist perspective the social, environmental and institutional aspects of development strategies and policies. He created the concept of ecodevelopment, which clearly advanced more than half a century ago the imperative of respecting and preserving the ecosystems that support human life and allow progress towards more equitable societies.

Ignacy’s influence was visibly since the early times of the 1972 UN Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm, for he advised the Canadian diplomat Maurice Strong, the Secretary General of the Conference. Twenty years later he would do the same for the UN Conference on Environment and Development that took place in Rio de Janeiro. During many years he was professor and researcher at the Ecole Pratique de Hautes Etudes in Paris, as well as advisor to numerous governments and international organizations.

I had the privilege of meeting Ignacy in October 1970, when working at the Organization of American States (OAS) while completing my PhD studies at the University of Pennsylvania. We coincided in an OAS-OECD conference on the design of science and technology for development strategies. Since then, I was fortunate to have his counsel, guidance and support during my whole professional life. A sample of the interest with which he helped me were his comments on the final draft of my PhD dissertation. He visited Peru in several opportunities, usually extending his annual trips to Sao Paulo. During one of his visits we prepared a document suggesting guidelines for taking advantage of resources from oil extraction in the jungle to support sustainable development in the Amazon region.

In addition to our professional and intellectual relation, I also had the privileging to know and became a close friend of Ignacy’s family, including his wife Viola, leading expert on American literature, and his children, including Celine with whom we edited a book for the United Nations University, Wladimir, with whom we shared teaching duties at the University of Pennsylvania, and Karol, a specialist on cooperative finances.

My condolences to the family. We have lost one of the giants of development and environment thinking.

Francisco Sagasti

Lima, August 2023