Lisa Speer

Lisa Speer directs the International Oceans Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental organization dedicated to protecting natural resources and public health with offices in the United States and China.

Ms. Speer’s work currently focuses on conservation and management of marine biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. Comprising nearly two-thirds of the world’s ocean, the high seas lack basic management tools to address growing threats including overfishing and destructive fishing practices, plastic waste, chemical and noise pollution, warming and acidification.

Ms. Speer’s other major focus is promoting integrated, ecosystem based management in the Arctic Ocean, which faces major new industrial development at a time when warming and loss of sea ice is profoundly affecting Arctic marine life and the people who depend on it for their livelihoods.

Ms. Speer has served on a number of U.S. National Academy of Sciences’ Committees on the Arctic and marine issues, and served a six year term as a member of the Academies’ Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology. Ms. Speer received her Master’s degree from Yale University and her bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College.