John-Rob is the Senior Manager for UrbanShift in the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. He is also the Senior Manager for Nature-Positive Urban Development, supporting WRI’s efforts to integrate nature and biodiversity into urban development projects.
UrbanShift – funded by the Global Environment Facility, and delivered in collaboration with ICLEI, C40 Cities and UN Environment Programme – supports cities around the world to adopt integrated approaches to urban development, in an effort to build an equitable, zero-carbon future where both people and the planet thrive. The program brings together 23 participating cities on a wide range of urban sustainability issues including nature-based solutions, urban biodiversity, climate finance, climate action planning and strategic urban planning. In his role, John-Rob leads WRI’s UrbanShift team and manages WRI’s contributions to UrbanShift by overseeing the day-to-day management of the project. He leads on strategy, M&E and donor reporting, and partner engagement. He also develops and delivers technical content on nature-based solutions, urban biodiversity and urban climate finance for capacity building activities such as City Academies, Geospatial Planning Labs and Peer Exchanges. John-Rob is a published and recognized expert on urban nature-based solutions. He has authored and contributed to topical research, been invited to speak at multiple global conferences and events, and been cited in numerous media articles.
John-Rob holds a Master of Science in Environmental Policy from the University of Oxford, where he was a student of St Edmund Hall. 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, and enjoys being outdoors and in nature.