Valerie Kapos

Dr Valerie Kapos  heads UNEP-WCMC’s Climate Change and Biodiversity Programme. Her research background is in tropical forest ecology and conservation science and practice, with field work focused primarily in Latin America.  Her current work focuses on the science-policy interface, and especially on the incorporation of biodiversity information into decision making on climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as on land use and conservation more broadly. In this context she has worked extensively on spatial planning for REDD+ and used land use Simulation Modelling (ABM/Predictive/Economic modelling) to assess the potential impacts of REDD+ related decisions on biodiversity. Her current work also focuses on the role of ecosystems in societal adaptation and resilience to climate change, and on how climate change itself may constrain the effectiveness of ecosystem based approaches to both adaptation and mitigation.