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This panel will dive into the push and pull factors behind irregular migration from Central America to the U.S. and outline Washington’s response.

Experts from Abt, the UN, USAID, and other organizations discuss approaches to using insurance to address climate risks in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

As conditions for the adoption of productive uses of energy improve in sub-Saharan Africa, this paper makes suggestions to accelerate their adoption.

Dr. Hecht is an environmental economist with more than 19 years of experience in economic analysis, policy analysis, and research. His primary areas of expertise are in environmental economics, cost-benefit analysis, regulatory economics, and decision analysis. Dr. Hecht is an expert in estimating the monetary value of “non-market” benefits, such as improvements in environmental quality, public health, safety, and security. Dr. Hecht has over 10 years of experience in the economic analysis of climate change and in evaluating the costs and benefits of climate change mitigation measures.

Jennifer Cissé leads Abt’s Climate Adaptation and Resilience practice, including strategy development, business development, project execution, and thought leadership across its public and private sector client portfolio, both in the U.S. and internationally. She uses her more than 15 years of experience as a risk and resilience expert to serve as the climate adaptation technical lead for public and private sector clients.

Ellen Bomasang is a global development professional whose focus has been clean energy, climate, and inclusive growth across emerging economies in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Bomasang’s more than 25 years of experience have earned her recognition as a thought leader in clean energy and gender equality and social inclusion (GESI). She has led GESI-related interventions around the themes of women’s and girls’ leadership, male allyship, women’s economic empowerment, GBV prevention and response in energy/infrastructure projects, and building diverse, respectful workplaces.

For more than 20 years, Jeffrey Conrad Wuorinen has focused on bridging divides and convening partnerships to take on intractable social, economic, governance, and environmental problems. Through his work in 100 countries, he has helped to mobilize more than $8 billion in capital and capacity investment into economic, social, and environmental infrastructure across the global south.  Wuorinen has worked at the grassroots level with some of the world’s most underserved and overburdened communities and he has advised at the highest levels of governments and international organizations.

Shelley Martin is a gender and sustainable development advisor with a background in women and youth empowerment, inclusive business and innovation, and human rights in supply chains and communities. Her work has engaged local and global organizations in numerous sectors across 15+ countries, spanning climate-smart agriculture, land rights, finance, entrepreneurship, clean energy, STEM, infrastructure, manufacturing and consumer goods.

Bennett LaFond is an agroecologist with eight years of experience working to strengthen U.S. and international agriculture and food systems. His work has centered around developing market-led approaches to improving livelihoods and creating resilience for farmers and their committees. He has worked with agribusinesses; a broad range of U.S. state and federal agencies; international donors and non-profits; and tribal, state, and national governments to design and implement programs to help farmers and their communities increase resilience, earnings, and production.