Scaling nature-based solutions for climate resilient infrastructure

Role: Principal Investigator
Project: Future Landscape Optimisation for peri Urban Resilience and ecosystem Health in Africa
Affiliation: Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London; Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Namibia
ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2108-2554
Email: j.thorn@imperial.ac.uk or jthorn@unam.na

Dr Jessica Thorn is a lecturer in Global Food Security an Environmental Change at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London and a research fellow at the University of Namibia. She has a background in climate change adaptation, ecology and human geography, with a wide interest in future urban transformative adaptation in response to environmental change.

She leads an interdisciplinary international research programme “Future Landscape Optimisation for peri-Urban Resilience and Ecosystem Health in Africa (FLOURISH)” which investigates the effectiveness of green infrastructure on mitigating hydrometeorological risks in informal settlements in Namibia, Madagascar and Sierra Leone. She also has active projects in SADC on marine ecosystem-based adaptation, the Republic of Congo on peatlands, Kenya and Tanzania on environmental and social safeguards for transport infrastructure.

Methodologically, she employs participatory, scenarios, systematic reviews, ecosystem service quantification and land use change analyses. As a Namibian, Jessica draws from 17 years’ work experience in academia, as a consultant for various UN, CGIAR, conservation and governmental agencies. With an interest in science-policy guidance, she was a coordinating author for the State of Urban Forestry in Sub-Saharan Africa, a UN Environment Programme Global Environmental Outlook Business brief, and a contributing author to the International Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report, The Economics and Ecosystems and Biodiversity Report and African Union’s climate resilient strategy.

As an aspiring transdisciplinary practitioner, she prioritises knowledge coproduction with academics, civil society, conservation NGOs and governments mostly in Africa and Asia. Prior to coming to Imperial, Jessica earned her doctorate in Zoology from the University of Oxford and worked at the University of St Andrews, Colorado State University and University of York with visiting positions at ETH Zurich and the African Climate Development Institute, University of Cape Town.