Leslie Lipper biography

Leslie Lipper is a natural resource economist who has worked for more than 30 years in the field of sustainable agricultural development.  She holds a doctorate in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California at Berkeley and recently retired from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. One of the predominant themes Leslie has explored over the past twenty years is- synergies and tradeoffs between social and environmental objectives in agricultural development, and in building evidence to support policy-makers and others to effect change.

Most recently Leslie was the Executive Director of the Independent Science and Partnership Councilof the CGIAR, which provides independent advice to the CGIAR System Council comprised of funders and representatives of developing countries tasked with reviewing the strategy, mission and impact of the CGIAR System of agricultural research for development. Prior to the ISPC, Leslie worked for over 15 years directing a program of applied natural resource economics research and policy analysis in support of sustainable agricultural development at FAO. In this capacity, she led in the development of the Climate Smart Agriculture concept in order to help FAO and member countries engage in international and national climate change, agriculture and food security policy processes. She played a lead technical role in the development of the FAO common vision and coordinated approach to sustainable food and agriculture.

Lipper has published extensively in the peer-reviewed journal literature, has edited four books and was lead author on several major FAO technical documents. She was a contributing author to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report WG II chapter on Food Security and Production Systems,and lead author on a 2014 publication in Nature Climate Changeon Climate Smart Agriculture.