Frances Seymour is an expert on tropical forests and climate change. She is currently a Senior Policy Advisor for Woodwell Climate Research Center and IPAM Amazonia. She previously served as Senior Advisor for Forests in the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate at the U.S. Department of State, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the World Resources Institute, Chair of the Board of the Architecture for REDD+ Transactions, and McCluskey Fellow in Conservation at the Yale School of the Environment. She is the lead author of the book, Why Forests? Why Now? The Science, Economics, and Politics of Tropical Forests and Climate Change. Seymour has lived and worked in Indonesia for a total of 11 years, including six years as Director General of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) from 2006 to 2012, for which she was awarded France’s Order of Agricultural Merit for her leadership on forests and climate change research. She holds an M.P.A. from Princeton University and a B.S. and an honorary Doctor of Laws from UNC-Chapel Hill.
