Giesberta, an Engineering Geologist with eight years of experience across Namibia, South Africa, and Rwanda, specializes in geological hazard mapping for risk-informed urban planning. Now a PhD student in the FLOURISH project, she explores Nature-based Solutions for flood, heat, and erosion control in Namibia’s informal settlements, integrating science and indigenous knowledge.

Dr. Jessica Thorn, a lecturer at Imperial College London and ARISE Fellow at the University of Namibia, researches climate adaptation, biodiversity, and land use. With 17 years’ experience across 65+ countries, she has secured £7M in funding and influenced global policy on environmental change, infrastructure, and ecosystem-based adaptation.

Dr. Jessica Thorn, a lecturer at Imperial College London and ARISE Fellow, researches climate adaptation, biodiversity, and land use change. With 17 years across 65+ countries, she’s secured £7 million in funding, influenced global policy, and supervises PhD students, postdocs, and interns in interdisciplinary environmental research.

Participant No. 1 Michael Leering has been working within the standard community for over 17 years and currently is the Director of Environment & Business Excellence Standards for the Canadian Standards Association. He oversees standards development in Environment and Natural Resources areas with a specific focus on climate resilience solutions. Participant No. 2 Jeff Menard is Program Manager for Natural Resources Standards with CSA Group serving to coordinate and drive a team of project managers in efforts to manage and develop natural resource focused standards solutions. Jeff is passionate about developing solutions to build environmental sustainability and climate resilience in communities.