Andy White will lead a course on Indigenous and Community-Led Conservation and Climate Action at SEAS. He currently serves as an advisor to the First Nations Development Institute, the Department of Natural Resources of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, the Center for Native Health, and the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities.

He serves on the board of directors of the Rights and Resources Group (RRG), the secretariat of the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), a global coalition of Indigenous and community organizations and their allies dedicated to advancing the land, development and governance rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendants, that he co-founded in 2005. Between 2005 and 2021, White served as president of RRG and the coordinator of RRI. Prior to RRI, he served as senior director at Forest Trends and natural resource management specialist at the World Bank. He worked as a consultant to the International Food Policy Institute, Save the Children Federation, and the Inter-American Foundation.

As coordinator of RRI, he instigated and co-chaired MegaFlorestais, the international network of forest agency leaders and the Interlaken Group network of private investors and NGOs committed to securing community land rights. He also co-created the International Land and Forest Tenure Facility (TF), the world’s first international financial mechanism dedicated to securing the land and self-governance rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and the Community Land and Conservation Finance Initiative, a complementary financial mechanism to channel funds to indigenous and local organizations for their advocacy, conservation, and governance initiatives.

White has had sustained professional engagement with leaders and organizations in over 30 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, in addition to Europe and North America. He has a special love for Haiti and its people from whom he has learned so much about life and “development”. His research and publications have focused on collective action to provide public goods: forest tenure, policy and trade; and the role of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in climate change.