Rachel is a Jamaican national who has dedicated the last 25 years to environmental and climate change issues. She has played various roles, regionally and internationally, with governments, private sector, and academia. Prior to managing a 1.2B global climate resilience fund, Rachel was a lead negotiator at the UNFCCC loss and damage- seeing it through until it became the Warsaw Mechanism. She also held advisory roles such as Senior Climate Change Adviser to the Government of Jamaica; Adviser to the Association of Small Island States (AOSIS) and Regional Adviser for Climate and Disaster Risk Management at the World Food Program, for the Asia and Pacific Region.
Her research at the University of the West Indies, focused on various elements of the Blue Economy, slow onset impacts of climate change on coastal ecosystems – including on female fishers, livelihoods, and the macro and micro economic impacts.
Rachel is an avid SCUBA diver and when not hiking with her rescue dog, a Frenchie named “Malu”; she spends her spare time working with a mentoring program for “at risk” girls, using environmental and marine science as a means of redirection and engagement.
