Who We Are

Ben Cashore is Professor of Environmental Governance and Political Science at Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and holds a courtesy appointment in Yale’s Department of Political Science. He is a faculty affiliate of the Center for Business and Government at Yale, and the Global Institute of Sustainable Forestry.

His research interests focus on non-state market-driven environmental governance, the impact and opportunities of globalization and internationalization on domestic and local environmental policy, firm-level “beyond compliance” sustainability initiatives, and comparative environmental policy.  He is a prolific author of books and articles that integrate public policy, corporate social responsibility and international environmental governance.

His work has won a number of awards/distinctions including winning the International Studies Association’s Sprout Award for the best book on international environmental policy and politics for, Governing Through Markets: Forest Certification and the Emergence of Non-state Authority (with Graeme Auld and Deanna Newsom),

He serves, or has served, on the editorial boards of the Journal of Natural Resources Policy Research, Business and Politics, the Journal of Forest Policy and Economics, and the Journal of Sustainable Forestry.

Stefan Renckens is the coordinator for the Program on Private Authority and Environmental Governance. His doctoral research focuses on the interaction between EU public policy and private environmental and social regulation. Other research interests include the emergence, uptake and impacts of transnational private governance and the role of business in international politics. Substantively, his research covers issue areas such as renewable energy, electronic waste (e-waste), fisheries, fair trade, and organic agriculture. For his research, he has received a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant and scholarships from the Yale MacMillan Center, the Belgian-American Educational Foundation, and the Flemish Research Foundation. Stefan holds an M.Phil. in Environmental Politics (2011) from Yale, and MA degrees in Political Science (2002), Economic Policy (2003), and Conflict and Peace Studies (2005) from the University of Leuven in his native Belgium. At the Political Science Department of the University of Leuven, he worked as a research and teaching fellow between 2003 and 2006, and as a research fellow of the Flemish Research Foundation between 2006 and 2008. He was a visiting researcher at Yale in the fall of 2007 and at the University of California, Berkeley in the spring of 2008.

Sébastien Jodoin is is a member of the Governance, Environment & Markets Initiative and leads its research program on law, rights, and environmental governance. He is a PhD Candidate, Trudeau Scholar and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, where his research focuses on the relationship between human rights and environmental governance. He is also a Lead Counsel with the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law and the Director of the One Justice Project. He currently serves on the national council of the Canadian Environmental Network, the board of governors of the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law, and the editorial board of the Canadian Journal of Poverty Law. Sébastien previously worked for the Canadian Centre for International Justice, the Canadian branch of Amnesty International, and the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. He holds graduate degrees in law, international law, and international relations from McGill University, the London School of Economics, and the University of Cambridge and has been called to the bar in Ontario. Sébastien has received numerous awards and honours, including the 2012 Public Scholar Award from the Yale Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, a John Humphrey Fellowship in Human Rights from the Canadian Council on International Law, and a Public Interest Law Articling Fellowship from the Law Foundation of Ontario.

Michael Stone has led the program on Forest Governance and Policy since 2009. He has focused his research on forest governance from a comparative political perspective. He has devoted his time to three primary issues: 1) Community Forest Management in China, 2) Legality Verification globally, 3) Comparing forest management in Canada, China, and the United States. His work aims to use many different methodological approaches to look a variety of political contexts, but always using impacts on forests as the primary lens.

Jasmine Hyman is currently completing a doctorate at the Yale School of Forestry and the Environment, where she seeks to identify design principles for global climate finance schemes that promote equitable development and social justice. Prior to her research at Yale, Jasmine was the Director of Programs and Partnerships at the Gold Standard Foundation, a certification scheme for greenhouse gas emission reduction projects under the Kyoto Protocol's offset scheme and for the voluntary carbon offset markets in the US and Australia. From 2001-2005, Jasmine worked on climate and sustainable agriculture issues at the Food and Agriculture Or ganization of the United Nations. She was the head writer and correspondent for the International Year of Rice in 2004, where she wrote speeches for the Food and Agriculture Director General and varying representatives to ASEAN. Jasmine began her study of greenhouse gas emission markets in earnest while doing a Masters of Science at the London School of Economics in Environment and Development in 2005. She earned an honors B.A in Urban Studies at Columbia University in 2001. Jasmine's current research is supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship; the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, and the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies.

Matto Mildenberger is a current PhD student at Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. A political scientist by training, his current research examines the role of ideology and emotions in shaping political bargains over climate policy. His work also focuses on the applications of complex systems theory to political science and environmental policy.  Matto co-directs the Program on Climate Governance and Policy in the Governance, Environment and Markets (GEM) lab, and is affiliated with the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication. With Stephen Clarkson, he is the author of Dependent America? How Canada and Mexico Construct US Power (University of Toronto Press, 2011). Matto has an MA (Global Governance) from the University of Waterloo, and an Hon. B.Sc. (Botany and International Relations) from the University of Toronto.

Laura Bozzi is a doctoral candidate at Yale University's School of Forestry and
Environmental Studies. With grounding in institutional theory and public policy scholarship, her research focuses on the history of policy change and political conflict surrounding mountaintop removal and surface coal mining in central Appalachia. In all her work, she looks to uncover the historical drivers to environmental problems and to identify strategies for achieving durable solutions. Before returning for her PhD, Laura worked as a groundfish fishery policy analyst at the Pacific Fishery Management Council, and she staffed the NOAA Science Advisory Board as a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow. Laura holds a BS in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from Yale College and a Master of Environmental Management from F&ES.

Lindsay Buchanan is a Program Assistant in the Law, Rights, and Environmental Governance program. She is currently completing her Master of Environmental Management degree at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies where her work is focused on the intersection of community rights and sustainable landscape management and policy, specifically in agricultural systems. It addition to her work with GEM, Lindsay works on communications and outreach strategy with the Working Lands Alliance and food systems research with the Betsy and Jesse Fink Foundation. She also served as a graduate intern at the United Nations Environmental Programme in Nairobi, Kenya where she authored case studies of innovative community-based landscape management programs. Prior to coming to Yale, Lindsay served as the Program Director for the No Impact Project in New York City. She holds dual BAs in Anthropology and Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis.

Joanna Dafoe is a Master of Environmental Science candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and research assistant for the GEM Initiative. Her master's research focuses on the role of business actors in the context of Canadian climate policy. In addition to pursuing her MESc, Joanna also works as a writer for the Earth Negotiations Bulletin and consultant for the International Institute for Sustainable Development. Prior to joining Yale, Joanna served on the Canadian Government Delegation to the 16^th and 17^th United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development as a civil society representative. Joanna received her Hon. B.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies and Environmental Policy from the University of Toronto.

Urs Dieterich is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. His focus is on international forest governance and how the potential of forests to contribute to climate change mitigation can be realized. In this regard, he looks at policy mechanisms like REDD+ and private initiatives like forest certification. Urs researches corporate and political environmental campaigns as a means to achieve paradigmatic change in the environmental performance of major industries. Being actively involved in the International Forestry Students’ Association (IFSA), which promotes forest education and youth participation in enviropolitical processes, Urs explores options to increase public environmental and political awareness. At the United Nations Forum on Forests he is the focal point to the Major Group Children and Youth. Urs received his B.Sc. in forest science and resource management at the Technische Universität München.

David Emmerman is a Program Assistant for the Climate Change and Private Authority programs, and is currently a master's degree candidate at Yale's School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.  David focuses on energy systems, and his research looks at the interplay between social movements and energy policy instrument design.  David also works for the Yale Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering, and served as an organizational representative at the 2012 United Nations climate change negotiations (COP-18) in Doha, Qatar.  Before coming to Yale, he was awarded a 2011-2012 Fulbright Research Fellowship to conduct a study of feed-in tariff policy for renewable energy in Portugal, and he has previously worked at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  He holds a B.A. in Political Science and Environmental Studies from Amherst College.

Devin Judge-Lord works for the GEM Program on Forest Policy and Governance analyzing forest certification standards, boreal forest policy, and methods used in publications on environmental politics. His broader research focuses on the politics and law that governs private lands, water quality, and environmental offset markets. Prior to Yale, Devin was a Ducey Fellow for Public Policy and Ecosystem Services Specialist for the Willamette Partnership coordinating conservation and environmental markets in the Northwest. He also previously worked with the Center for Transboundary Cooperation and the U.S. Consulate General’s American Corner Program in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Devin holds a B.A. in political science from Reed College.

Desirée Lopes is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Class 2014. She is the current co-chair of the International Society of Tropical Foresters - Yale Chapter, affiliated with the Environmental Leadership Training Initiative and part of the GEM Initiative team.
 
A forest engineer by training with experience in forest conservation in the Brazilian Amazon, her training and research focus on financial mechanisms and public policy to promote forest conservation in the tropics, especially in Brazil. Prior to Yale, Desirée worked as the Project and Operations manager at Biofílica Environmental Investments, the first private Brazilian company focused on conservation of rainforest landscapes with a model based on the commercialization of environmental services. Desirée has also coordinated research projects on tropical forest management and ecosystem services with institutions such as Brazilian National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), National Trade Social Service (SESC), Tropical Forest Institute (IFT), and received six awards for exceptional academic and professional performance. Desirée has now been working for the development of the Amazon region for more than 6 years.

Rauf Prasodjo is currently pursuing a Master of Environmental Management specializing in Business and the Environment at Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. His research interests include integrative corporate environmental strategy, sustainable agriculture practices and REDD+. Prior to graduate school, Rauf was a consultant and researcher at the World Resources Institute (WRI), based in Jakarta, Indonesia, working on Project POTICO, a project designed to promote economic development and decrease deforestation by diverting planned oil palm plantations from forests to degraded land. He also assisted the WRI’s Governance of Forests Initiative in Indonesia. Previously, Rauf worked as an international broadcaster and reporter at the Voice of America News in Washington D.C., where he reported on issues including economics and environmental issues for radio, television, and on-line media. He also worked in Washington D.C. at the Academy of Education Development (currently fhi360) in their Educational Policy and Data Center. In Jakarta, he interned at the Office of the Presidential Spokesperson of the Republic of Indonesia and a financial security firm. Rauf holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and International Studies from Kenyon College. He speaks fluent Indonesian and is proficient in French.

Lucía Ruiz is currently completing a Masters in Environmental Management at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. A biologist by training, she is interested in environmental policy regarding biodiversity and forest conservation. Her work focuses on forest governance in Latin America, valuation of natural capital, sustainability indicators, and the study of REDD+. Lucía holds a BS in Biology from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

Tse Yang Lim is a Master of Environmental Management student at Yale F&ES. He has an obsession with large-scale interactions and linkages, particularly between environment and development and between science and policy. His current research focuses on policy learning architectures. He has previously worked at the Marine Conservation Institute in Washington, DC; the Center for Governance and Sustainability in Boston; and the Permanent Mission of Afghanistan to the United Nations. Tse Yang hails from Singapore, and graduated from Yale with a B.S. in Biology.

Alisa Zomer is a Master of Environmental Management candidate at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Her master’s research focuses on the governance dimensions of climate change adaptation and mitigation in cities. As part of the GEM Initiative, Alisa is researching policy diffusion and implementation as it impacts the management and governance of forests around the world. Prior to Yale, Alisa worked at the World Resources Institute in Washington, DC on environmental governance issues related to access to information, participation, and justice in environmental decision-making. She has traveled and worked on environmental justice issues in many countries including Brazil, Chile, India, Israel, and Uganda. Alisa has a B.A. in International Affairs and Environmental Resources from The George Washington University. Follow her on twitter @azomer.