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Barron Joseph Orr
Chief Scientist of the Science, Technology and Innovation

Barron Joseph Orr is the Lead Scientist for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Arizona (USA) where he also served as a NASA Geospatial Extension Specialist. As Profesor avalista at the University of Alicante (Spain), he helped develop a restoration ecology graduate degree. His career has been focused on coupled human and environmental systems undergoing environmental change and bridging the divides between science, policy, practice and society.

His work involving indigenous and local knowledge, participatory research, stakeholder engagement and user-centred design led to being named a Marie Curie Fellow as well as being selected as an independent scientist for the UNCCD Science-Policy Interface (SPI). After a career collaborating with local communities, he is now helping governments ensure that global policies on land and drought are evidenced based. He contributes scientifically to the development of global environmental monitoring frameworks, including one on SDG 15 “Life on Land” and another on drought resilience. He is also co-lead author of the Scientific Conceptual Framework on Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) which was formally endorsed by the 197 Parties to the UNCCD in 2017. He obtained a doctorate in Arid Lands Resource Sciences from the University of Arizona and a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University.

Barron Joseph Orr
Barron Joseph Orr
Chief Scientist of the Science, Technology and Innovation