Charles "Chip" Barber is Director of the Forest Legality Initiative at the World Resources Institute (WRI) and also serves as the Institute's Senior Biodiversity Advisor. Before joining WRI, Chip was Forest Chief at the U.S. Department of State from 2009-2014, where he led U.S. diplomacy on numerous aspects of bilateral and multilateral forest policy.
Chip takes us through the development of the modern climate movement, from the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment in 1972 to the founding of the United Nations Environmental Program and the 1992 Earth Summit in Brazil.
He also touches on the power of self-generating coalitions, most notably the signing of the Leaders Pledge For Nature by 75 countries, and the U.K.'s groundbreaking move to develop legislation to tackle 'forest risk commodities' and the emergence of Colombia as an environmental leader.
We also explore the difference between legal and sustainable, inequity, poverty and human rights issues that arise around commodity production and how former CEO, Paul Polman led Unilever to become a more sustainable corporation.
Chip closes with a look back on his travels and offers advice for a young person seeking a career in conservation.