Featured Speaker
Emma Donnelly
Deputy Director International Nature, Climate and Development
UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)
Emma leads Defra’s international work to promote environmentally sustainable agricultural production, trade and economic development. She oversees several regulations designed to reduce international deforestation, and a suite of Official Development Assistance programmes on sustainable agriculture, integrating nature into national planning, and research and development. Before joining Defra in 2020, Emma worked for the former Department for International Development, most recently leading development programmes in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, Yemen and Zambia. She has previous experience on secondment to the World Bank in Nigeria and to the UK Treasury. Before joining the civil service, Emma qualified as a teacher and taught English in Northern Nigeria. When she’s not working, she is reading, cycling, cooking and watching films in and around Brighton.
