Jennifer Pierce

Jennifer Rae Pierce (she/her/Mx) leads the IUCN CEM Urban Ecosystems specialist group. She is a political ecologist, urban planner, and urban biodiversity specialist with 18 years of experience with cities and nature. She holds a master’s degree in urban planning from Cornell University and in environmental science and policy from Central European University. She is now earning her PhD from UBC on urban biodiversity engagement. She is the co-founder of Urban Biodiversity Hub (UBHub) which hosts the largest global database on urban biodiversity activities, publishes research on local practices and global targets for biodiversity, and supports related indicator tracking and development for local governments. She has prepared local government tools and reports including a biodiversity and ecosystem services mainstreaming toolkit for ICLEI, the Urban Nature Indexes for IUCN, and the Science-Based Targets for Cities for Nature. She also serves as a consultant on urban biodiversity for the World Bank. Her research experience includes global comparative work across many cities as well as more in-depth explorations in the cities of India, Japan, Singapore, Israel, Canada, the USA, Brazil, and South Africa.