Edward Leo Davey
Head, World Resources Institute, UK; Partnerships Director, Food and Land Use Coalition

Edward Davey is Head of WRI UK. In this role, he is responsible for the care of WRI UK's 55+ staff; WRI's relationship with the UK government, UK-based Board members, foundations, and other key partners; and WRI's work with its royal patron, King Charles III. In this capacity, he serves as a member of WRI's Management Team, as well as the senior management team responsible for WRI Europe.
Edward also serves as Partnerships Director of the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU), a global platform led by WRI. Here, he advocates for global policy change on food and land use systems, working with national governments, international institutions, as well as FOLU's strategic partners and Ambassadors. In this role, he served as an adviser to the UK government during its Presidency of COP26, and was involved in the preparation of the Glasgow Leaders Declaration on Forests and Land Use, signed by 145 heads of state. He is now giving similar advice to the COP28 Presidency of the UAE on food and climate. Edward was WRI's first employee of FOLU, and has been involved in the coalition since its inception in 2017; from 2017 - 2020, he was responsible for establishing FOLU's country platforms in Colombia, Ethiopia, Indonesia, India, and China, as well as for forging links with its affiliated platforms in the UK, Australia, and the Nordic countries. He is a contributor to FOLU's flagship Growing Better report, as well as to the New Climate Economy's work on forests and land use.
Edward is also active in a new initiative led by WRI, with partners, to set out a 'new economy' for the Amazon Basin, the Congo Basin, and the forests of Indonesia. This new economy work seeks to articulate a political and economic path for the key tropical forest countries of the world, for the benefit of their people, as well as climate and nature.
Prior to WRI, Edward worked for The Prince of Wales' International Sustainability Unit as a senior programme manager on forests & REDD+, as well as speech writer; and before that, as lead adviser on environment to the Colombian Presidency, contributing to the environmental dimensions of the peace agreement under President Santos. He started his career as a researcher at Oxfam and the UN Human Development Report, and then worked for a humanitarian organization in the Middle East. He has a Master's with Distinction in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and an undergraduate degree in Modern Languages from the University of Oxford.
Edward lives in Lewes, in East Sussex, with his wife Davina, son Oliver, daughter Lara, and chocolate Labrador, Rosie. He is the author of 'Given Half A Chance: Ten Ways to Save the World,' published in 2019.
Insights
Projects
Food and Land Use Coalition
Launch PlatformLaunch Platform Visit ProjectA community of organizations and individuals committed to the urgent need for food and land use transformation to create a healthier planet and healthier people.
Part of Food