For more than 35 years John Waugh has worked at the interface of environmental and social resilience worldwide. Recently his focus has been on systems approaches encompassing sustainable finance, social benefits, and health and biodiversity interfaces. He is the author or co-author of more than 25 books, chapters, or reports on environmental policy, and has extensive experience in communicating environmental policy, ranging from village level negotiations to addressing the UN General Assembly.

After completing the Intensive Humanities program at the University of Montana, he worked as a wildland firefighter, forestry technician, national park ranger, Peace Corps volunteer, and for 20 years, as a policy analyst and program manager for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In recent years he has focused on the design of solutions at the interface of natural resource management and poverty alleviation. He has expertise in monitoring and evaluation, having led or managed more than 15 program reviews, assessments and related studies. His volunteer work includes technical support for the Bonobo Conservation Initiative and Africa ASAP, and service as the regional chair for North America for the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management. John has worked extensively in Africa and Southeast Asia, also has experience throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific.