David is an environmental anthropologist interested in promoting sustainable land management for the benefit of local communities, biodiversity, and broader ecosystem services. He lived in Southeast Asia for a total of 18 years while holding a variety of teaching, research, and program management positions based at or affiliated with the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), the International Rice Research Institute, Visayas State University, Yale NUS College, National University of Singapore, Andalas University, and others. David holds a B.A. in political science and history from Northwestern University, a M.S. in geography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a M.Phil. and Ph.D. from the joint program in forestry & environmental studies and anthropology at Yale University. In addition to his work with ELTI, David is a founding board member of a US-based nonprofit, Reforest our Future. He now lives in Portugal.