Lori Pearson, MPP
Senior Policy Advisor for Food Security and Climate Change | Catholic Relief Services
Baltimore, MD, UNITED STATES
Lori Pearson is a climate change expert and an advisor on agriculture and global hunger.
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Biography
Lori Pearson leads CRS’ response to the massive impact climate change is having on global agriculture and especially on the lives of smallholder farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America. She works with a team of technical advisors to pursue solutions such as climate smart agriculture. She also crafts policy and advocacy recommendations to climate change challenges and global hunger.
Lori has 18 years’ experience in humanitarian relief and development. She has lived and worked in both Africa, based in Benin and Cameroon, and Latin America, based in Peru. Prior to joining CRS, Lori was Associate Peace Corps Director for agricultural programs. Lori has served as CRS Team Leader for US Government funding and as Policy Advisor on Foreign Aid Reform.
Lori holds a master's degree in environmental policy from the University of Maryland, and an undergraduate degree in economics from the College of William and Mary.
Areas of Expertise (9)
Soil and Water
Watershed Mangement
Natural Resource Management
Climate-Smart Agriculture
Climate Change
Global Hunger
Water-Smart Agriculture
Regenerative Agriculture
Resilience
Education (3)
University of Maryland: MPP, Environmental Policy
University of Pennsylvania: MA, French
College of William and Mary: BA, Economics
Links (2)
Languages (3)
- English
- Spanish
- French
Recent Media Appearances (7)
Catholics push for strong climate deal at U.N. summit in Poland
Catholic Register online
2018-12-10
"With so many technical and procedural matters to contend with, it's been essential to bring everyone together and avoid duplication as we push for a deal," said Lori Pearson, who advises the U.S. bishops' overseas aid and development agency on food security and climate change issues. "While interesting, wonderful ideas are being generated at national and global level, they won't be implemented without local action," she said. "This is where Catholic organizations likes ours are playing a key role: in translating initiatives into real benefits for people on the ground."
COP24 opens in Poland with science clear, ambition hazy on climate
National Catholic Reporter online
2018-12-04
"We are seeing in our programs that we need to help people adapt to changing climate as the frequency and severity of shocks threaten to keep people in a cycle of poverty," said Lori Pearson, senior policy adviser on food and climate change for Catholic Relief Services who is in Katowice for the first week of COP24.
For faith-based organizations, climate change is a natural fit
Devex
2017-05-30
"When Lori Pearson, a senior policy advisor for food, security, agriculture and climate change at CRS, was in Peru a few years ago, there were around 40 dioceses that were doing work throughout the country. This gave CRS, which supports efforts to address illegal gold mining and its toll on the Amazon rainforest, the potential to be a national presence. It also gave the organization the ability to reach some of the most remote areas through numerous offices..."
Keep Earth’s soils healthy to feed world’s growing population — NGO
Arab News
2017-04-22
“If we don’t start to address the issue of soil erosion I don’t see how we can address the food security needs,” Lori Pearson, an agricultural adviser at CRS told the Thomson Reuters Foundation...
USAID Climate Action Review: 2010-2016 (Report Launch)
NewSecurityBeat
2016-12-19
Lori Pearson, senior policy advisor for agriculture and climate change at Catholic Relief Services, said they are seeing the communities they work with impacted in a multitude of ways. “We really need to shift our thinking from climate change as an environmental approach to climate change as a lens through which to see all of our programming,” she said. “All of our technical sectors need to be incorporating and shifting their thinking.”...
Vital changes to farming practices remain a tough sell
Humanosphere
2016-12-09
Humanitarian aid organization Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is one organization that uses this approach for smallholder farmers. CRS trains communities to create trenches, water infiltration pits and other water-management structures, as well as techniques like planting trees in strategic locations to reduce erosion. According to Lori Pearson, CRS senior policy adviser for agriculture and climate change, the process is faster than it sounds. “What we’re seeing in the work that we’ve done is that you can have very dramatic results in a pretty short time,” Pearson said in an interview with Humanosphere...
Meet the families bearing the consequences of environmental change
Catholic News Agency
2015-12-13
The environmental impact of pollution and changing weather patterns are felt not only by the Remocaldos and their neighbors but by families all over the world, said Lori Pearson, senior policy adviser for food security and agriculture at Catholic Relief Services. “We are seeing this in our everyday work,” she told CNA...
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