John-Rob is the Manager of Knowledge and Partnerships for UrbanShift at the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. In this role, John-Rob overseew the day-to-day management of the project, leads on M&E, reporting and partner engagement, helps to develop content for technical capacity-building courses, and organizes peer exchanges and other learning events for cities.
Prior to UrbanShift, John-Rob was the Implementation Manager for Cities4Forests, a WRI initiative that aims to cultivate awareness and catalyze action on the part of urban residents and city governments to conserve, manage and restore trees, forests and other nature-based solutions (NbS) inside and outside city boundaries. He helped to start the initiative in 2018 and then managed project delivery with WRI’s international teams in Brazil, Central Africa, Colombia, Ethiopia, Kenya, India, Indonesia, Madagascar and Mexico.
John-Rob holds a Master of Science in Environmental Policy from the University of Oxford. He also holds a Bachelor of Science (Honors) in Biodiversity and Conservation and a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and Environmental Science, both from Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. John-Rob is originally from Botswana and is a dual national of South Africa and the United Kingdom. He speaks fluent Setswana and Sotho and conversational Afrikaans and French.
Latest content
How Forests Near and Far Benefit People in Cities
A growing body of research shows that even forests located far away from urban centers provide tremendous benefits in regulating the global climate, water and biodiversity systems that are essential to people’s health and quality of life.
Better Forests, Better Cities
This report evaluates how forests both inside and outside city boundaries benefit cities and their residents, and what actions cities can take to conserve, restore and sustainably manage those forests.
Buenos Aires Hosts UrbanShift's Second City Academy
The three-day workshop brought together 24 Latin American cities to learn about and exchange ideas on developing vibrant, sustainable neighborhoods and promoting urban biodiversity as strategies to create greener and more resilient cities.
The Potential for Nature-Based Solutions Initiatives to Incorporate and Scale Climate Adaptation
This paper explores how existing NbS initiatives can better incorporate climate adaptation. It investigates the barriers these initiatives face, as well as new opportunities and lessons learned in implementation.
