She specializes in bringing together diverse perspectives — from farmers and indigenous groups to high-level policymakers — to create positive solutions that protect wildlife while improving the livelihoods of those living near the animals. D

r. Laurel A. Neme, an international consultant specializing in natural resource management, has worked in dozens of countries around the world and understands the real-life tradeoffs between wildlife protection and human economic needs. She has extensive experience with environment and natural resource management; policy analysis; environmental and social impact assessment; evaluation of institutional incentives; and stakeholder analysis. Her work has encompassed a wide range of types of organizations, including government agencies (e.g., US Treasury Department), multilateral lending institutions (e.g., World Bank); bilateral donors (e.g., USAID); and NGOs (e.g., Environmental Defense, the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund), giving her the ability to work on both policy and village-level project implementation.

As an official at the US Treasury Department’s Office of Multilateral Banks, Dr. Neme oversaw billions of dollars of investments, with her negotiations improving the environmental and social impacts of key projects. With FRAME, a program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), she helped build knowledge-sharing networks of natural resource professionals, first in Africa and later worldwide. She specializes in bringing together diverse perspectives — from farmers and indigenous groups to high-level policymakers — to create positive solutions that protect wildlife while improving the livelihoods of those living near the animals.

Currently, Dr. Neme works as a writer/editor for Earth Negotiations Bulletin, a publication of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) Reporting Services that covers major international environmental negotiations and meetings, such as the Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species (CITES). She has also written numerous articles and documents, ranging from Annual Reports to Congress for the US Treasury Department to technical reports published by the government (USAID, etc.) and other organizations (e.g., The Nature Conservancy, Environmental Defense, Rainforest Action Network) and academic articles (e.g., Journal of  Modern African Studies). She holds a PhD in international and public affairs from Princeton University and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy and a B.A. (cum laude) in Political Science from the University of Michigan.

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