He played a key role in transforming UNDP from a development organisation into a leading global environmental actor.  He is currently the Senior Advisor on Forests & Climate for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and is overseeing the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative, an international alliance bringing faith-based leadership to local and global efforts to end tropical deforestation. Previously, Dr. McNeill managed UNDP’s work on forests, biodiversity, climate change, sustainable energy, stakeholder engagement and public-private partnerships. In that capacity he founded and led catalytic global initiatives, including the UN-REDD Programme, the Equator Initiative, the global coalition that delivered the New York Declaration on Forests at the 2014 UN Climate Summit, and the Indigenous Peoples Initiative for the 2015 Paris Climate Conference. He also served on the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Forests. Dr. McNeill received his Ph.D. in Genetics with a focus on conservation biology, from the University of California in Davis.