Marc A. Levy

Biography

Marc Levy is deputy director of CIESIN. He is a political scientist specializing in the human dimensions of global environmental change. He is a a political scientist utilizing interdisciplinary research to understand how humans can better manage complex, interlinked systemic risk. He is well known for his work on environmental security, on global environmental governance, and on sustainability indicators. His research has been supported by a number of agencies, including the National Science Foundation, U.S. Agency for International Development, National Intelligence Council, National Aeronautic and Space Administration, UN Environment Programme, UN Development Programme, and Skoll Global Threats Foundation. He has served as lead project scientist of the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center since 1998.

He is frequently called on for advisory and assessment processes. He has served on four committees of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and was a Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change Fifth Assessment, Working Group II chapter on human security. He has served as coordinating lead author for several UN Environment Programme Assessments and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. He has served on the Political Instability Task Force since 1996.

He is a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Agenda Council on Measuring Sustainability. He has co-led, with Daniel Esty, production of the Environmental Sustainability Index and Environmental Performance Index, which have been released regularly at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland since 1999. He also serves on the high-level advisory board on Sustainability and Competitiveness of the WEF.

Levy is an adjunct professor in the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, where he teaches graduate courses on environment-security linkages. He also co-directs Columbia’s Certificate Program in Environment, Peace and Security.

Recent Publications

Levy, Marc A. Sampling bias does not exaggerate climate-conflict claims. Nature Climate Change 8(6): 442. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0170-5, also https://bit.ly/2sx8js8.

Marc A. Levy, Testimony to House Committee on Homeland Security Subcommit-
tee on Oversight and Management Eciency, Hearing on Examining DH'Ss Mis-
placed Focus on Climate Change, July 8, 2015. PDF | Video (at 1h34m).

Marc A. Levy and Michelle Scobie, Goal 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies
for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective,
accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels pp. 73-76 in International Council for
Science, ed., Review of Targets for the Sustainable Development Goals: The Science Perspective (2015) ISBN: 978-0-930357-97-9.

ONeill, Brian C., Elmar Kriegler, Kris Ebi, Eric Kemp-Benedict, Keywan Riahi, Dale Rothman,
Bas van Ruijven, Detlef van Vuuren, Joern Birkmann, Kasper Kok, Marc Levy, Richard Moss,
William Solecki, The Roads Ahead: Narratives for Shared Socioeconomic Pathways
describing World Futures in the 21st Century, Global Environmental Change (2015)
doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.01.004.

Neil Adger, Juan Pulhin, Jon Barnett, Geoff Dabelko, Grete K. Hovelsrud, Marc A. Levy,  Úrsula Oswald-Spring, Coleen Vogel, "Human Security," Chapter 12 in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Working Group II, 2014.

Marc A. Levy, Trends in Climate Stress: Implications for Instability over the Coming
Decade Paper prepared for Political Instability Task Force conference, Over the Horizon, 22
October 2014. DOI 10.13140/RG.2.1.5173.9363.

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