Dr. Sarah M. Walker serves as the Director of WCS’s REDD+ Program focused on employing climate finance for WCS’s country landscapes and programs through the development of large-scale avoided deforestation and forest restoration carbon projects around the world. She also leads WCS’s GHG global integrity work which includes leading the development of updated voluntary carbon market GHG accounting methodologies, providing technical guidance into the leading voluntary carbon market standards, and serving on various advisory groups.

With over twenty years of experience across more than 25 countries in designing and applying the requirements of national GHG inventories, national and jurisdictional REDD+, and the regulatory (CDM) and voluntary carbon market (VCS, ACR, CCB), Sarah focuses on translating scientific and technical innovations into practical guidance, standards, methods, tools, and programs that can be applied to protect natural ecosystems and improve the sustainability of governance systems and commodity production. Sarah has served as a leading advisor to a range of national and jurisdictional REDD+ programs and regulatory market (CDM) and voluntary carbon market projects (VCS, ACR, CCB, Plan Vivo) along with authoring regulatory and voluntary carbon market approved methodologies and standards. Prior to joining WCS, Sarah served as the Chief Conservation Officer for Lestari Capital as the Director of the Ecosystem Services Unit at Winrock International. She holds a PhD in Environmental Science from the University of Virginia.