Jonah Busch is the Senior Environmental Economist with WRI’s Cities4Forests and Natural Infrastructure initiatives. In this role he works to value and finance the benefits that people living in cities receive from forests, including cleaner water, lower fire risk, and cooler air.

Jonah has advised on the design of climate and forest finance mechanisms for numerous governments and international institutions. He has published more than forty-five scientific articles on climate, forests, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem finance, and sustainable development. He is the co-author of the book Why Forests? Why Now? The Science, Economics, and Politics of Tropical Forests and Climate Change. He has also published on the economics of penguins, pandas, and surfers. He serves on the editorial board of Conservation Letters.

Previously, Jonah has held positions with Conservation International, Center for Global Development, Earth Innovation Institute, and Columbia University. He has been a visiting scholar at University of California, Berkeley and Zhejiang University. He was a high school math teacher in the Peace Corps (Burkina Faso, '00-'02). He holds a B.A. in mathematics, geography, and environmental studies from Indiana University and a Ph.D. in economics and environmental science from University of California, Santa Barbara.