Charles “Chip” Barber is Director for Natural Resources Governance and Policy in WRI’s Global Forests Program. In that role he directs the Forest Legality Initiative, the Nature Crime Alliance, and serves as the Institute’s senior biodiversity advisor. He lives in Washington, D.C.

Chip came to WRI in 2014 after five years as Forest Division Chief in the U.S. Department of State. Prior to that he worked for five years as Environmental Advisor at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Chip had previously worked for WRI from 1989 to 2001 on forest, biodiversity, and marine programs and from 1994 to 2001 was WRI’s first full-time overseas employee, based in the Philippines.

From 2001-2004, Chip worked as an independent consultant for clients including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, UN University, the Natural Resources Defense Council, IUCN, The Nature Conservancy, and various UN agencies.

Chip received his B.A. in Legal Studies from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; his M.A. in Asian Studies, J.D., and Ph.D. in Jurisprudence and Social Policy from the University of California at Berkeley. He can speak decent Bahasa Indonesia.