Lisa Beyer is Senior Manager, Nature for Urban Resilience, at the World Resources Institute as part of the Cities4Forests and Natural Infrastructure Initiatives. She is responsible for advancing the Cities & Nature agenda, elevating the role of nature in cities for multiple benefits and empowering communities with agency to direct and steward natural infrastructure in and around (i.e. watersheds) their cities.

Her work involves developing a strategy for Urban Resilience and Climate Justice to support cities in planning, designing, and implementing natural infrastructure systems to reduce the impacts of climate change, especially for the most marginalized and under-resourced. This includes leading the development and deployment of institutional best practices, community engagement, planning and design support for cities and local communities.

Lisa is collaborating with the WRI Africa team in delivering the Scaling Urban Nature-based Solutions for Climate Adaptation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SUNCASA) program to implement gender-responsive nature-based solutions (NbS) and sustainable systems for scaling NbS in three African cities, Dire Dawa, Kigali and Johannesburg. She is leading the development and scaling of the Strategic NbS Framework, a decision support tool that helps cities strategically assess and prioritize suitable NbS to address the multiple climate challenges they face. She is also responsible for the development and implementation of collaborative governance models, such as the Joint Benefits Authority (JBA), for urban resilience that prioritize nature as a key element to community resilience.

For the last twenty-five years, Lisa has been designing and managing urban infrastructure solutions in the US (New York City, San Francisco Bay Area, Philadelphia, St. Louis), and collaborating with the WRI Africa team in Ethiopia (Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa), Rwanda (Kigali), and South Africa (Johannesburg). Lisa is committed to design that advances sustainability, involves meaningful public engagement, placemaking, and long-term viability from project concept through operations and maintenance.

Based in San Francisco, Lisa is passionate about cities, nature, design and community. She enjoys urban hikes, dancing, and catching live music.