Glenn K. Bush Ph.D.

Senior Scientist

I am an environmental economist driven by a desire to find equitable resolutions to the long-standing conflict between human development and environmental conservation. I am interested in how people’s values influence choices to convert or conserve natural landscapes and how social and economic structures from local to global scales shape both land use decisions and living standards.

My work addresses the policy, social, and microeconomic factors that influence resource use decisions, with a particular focus on households, agricultural communities, and enterprises in forest landscapes. I am engaged in real-world evaluation of strategies to scale Nature-based Climate Solutions (NbCS) and their potential to deliver sustainable rural development while conserving primary forests.

I lead Projet Équateur, a multi-faceted policy research and capacity-building program aimed at scaling the deployment of NbCS to improving quality of life in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I have previously lived and worked in Africa and in Central and Southeast Asia as a researcher, project manager, and consultant on natural resource, environmental management, and conservation projects in the public and private sector. I have held positions with the UK Government Department for International Development, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International.

I enjoy sailing, clamming, hiking, and being in the woods. My family and I are volunteer stewards for a parcel of upland fields and forest held by The 300 Committee Land Trust.

Climate change is really about poverty. The poorest people in tropical areas will be hit hardest, and it’s not their fault. Effective, equitable solutions have to account for social and economic factors, not just emissions.