Dr Camilla Toulmin is Director of the International Institute for Environment and Development based in London. (IIED). An economist by training, she has worked mainly in Africaon agriculture, land, climate and livelihoods. This has combined field research, policy analysis and advocacy. Her work has aimed at understanding how environmental, economic and political change impact on people’s lives, and how policy reform can bring real change on the ground.
 
As Director of IIED since 2004, Camilla has focused on developing the institute’s strategy and communications. The institute has grown under her leadership from £5m turnover per year in 2005 to more than £20m in 2010-11. IIED’s new strategy 2009-14 focuses on four principal goals that bring together the diverse areas of work on climate change, human settlements, natural resources, and sustainable markets. This year, the institute celebrates 40 years of ideas and action for sustainable development, to feed into the Earth Summit – Rio 2012.
Camilla studied Economics at Cambridge and London, before gaining her doctorate in Economics at Oxford. Camilla is fluent in English and French. She is trustee of ICARDA (Syria), the Franco-British Council and a number of other boards. Her latest book is Climate change in Africa (Zed Books, 2009).