Ronnie is a senior conservation scientist at Nature United. He provides leadership and applied science to help solve thorny conservation problems by providing high-quality information to decision makers. He led the 2021 publication of a large collaborative study on natural climate solutions (NCSs) that provided first comprehensive assessment of nature-based mitigation of climate change in Canada. He holds a doctorate in biology from the Université du Québec à Montréal and a master’s in resource and environmental management from Simon Fraser University.
NCSs are promising options to protect, manage and restore ecosystems for climate mitigation additional to reducing use of fossil fuels. NCSs differ in their magnitude, immediacy of mitigation potential, cost-effectiveness and co-benefits they offer. Based on these four criteria, Nature United proposes a general rule of thumb to protect, manage and then restore lands, while also illustrating how these criteria can explain alternative prioritizations or project portfolios. Ronnie will present on this hierarchy at the CFGA annual conference, which offers a decision-making framework to optimize the effectiveness of NCSs when resources are constrained and time is short.