Harvard Kennedy School’s Arctic Initiative Welcomes Joel Clement as Senior Fellow

CAMBRIDGE, MA – The Arctic Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs has named Joel Clement a non-resident Senior Fellow. Clement, former Director of the Policy Office at the U.S. Department of the Interior, will collaborate with Arctic Initiative faculty and staff on research and outreach programs designed to bring attention to the rapidly changing, resource-rich, and environmentally sensitive Arctic region.

“Joel Clement brings to our Arctic Initiative enormous experience, expertise, and wisdom on Arctic issues,” said John P. Holdren, Co-Director of the Belfer Center’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program and former Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “Having worked with Joel closely in the Obama administration, I am looking forward to resuming that partnership,” Holdren said.

Clement is a science and policy consultant with a background in resilience and climate adaptation, landscape-scale conservation and management, and Arctic social-ecological systems. As Director of the Department of Interior’s Policy Office, he led a team of policy analysts and economists, provided advice and analysis to White House leadership and two Secretaries of Interior, developed innovative policies to address landscape conservation needs, and was the Interior Department’s appointed principal to the U.S. Global Change Research Program. On behalf of the government, he also co-chaired the Arctic Council’s groundbreaking 2016 Arctic Resilience Report. 

Before serving in the federal government, Clement was the Conservation Science Program Officer for a private foundation in Seattle where he focused on climate change adaptation strategies, landscape-scale conservation, and improving geospatial data-sharing capacity in the North American West. Throughout his career, he has remained focused on the critical need to bridge gaps between science and policy. He is currently an Associate with the Stockholm Environmental Institute and a Senior Fellow with the Union of Concerned Scientists.

 “Joel has demonstrated leadership in public service through his commitment to protecting ecosystems and people from the threat of climate change, while setting high standards of scientific integrity, said Henry Lee, Director of the Belfer Center’s Environment and Natural Resources Program, “I know our students and faculty will take advantage of the opportunity to learn from him during his engagement with the Kennedy School.”

The Belfer Center’s Arctic Initiative strives to increase understanding and improve policies to respond to the changing Arctic region by initiating new research, convening policymakers, scientists, and politicians, and developing a new generation of leaders in the field. Co-Directed by Holdren, Lee and Halla Hrund Logadóttir, the Arctic Initiative is a joint project of the Belfer Center’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program and the Environment and Natural Resources Program. 

The Arctic Initiative’s Senior Fellows Program attracts advanced scholars and practitioners to the Belfer Center to actively engage with students, faculty, and the broader community to increase understanding about complex issues at the intersection of science and policy.