Mark Wishnie

Recent research indicates that building with mass timber can both reduce the embodied carbon of new construction and store large amounts of carbon in the built environment. But, what are the likely impacts of increased demand for mass timber on land use and forests? How can forests supply this increased demand for raw materials, and support the emerging bioeconomy, while also providing critical ecosystem functions?

Speaker Biography

Mark heads BTG’s Landscape Capital and provides overall leadership on sustainability policy and performance for the BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group (TIG). Mark previously led the Global Forestry program at The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and before joining TNC, led Portfolio Management, Portfolio Analytics, and Research at TIG. Mark was a Founder and Managing Director of Equator, LLC and its Brazilian subsidiary, TTG Brasil Investimentos Florestais Ltda, which was acquired by BTG Pactual in 2012. Prior to his work with Equator, Mark led reforestation research for the Smithsonian Institution and served as Program Director for the Yale Tropical Resources Institute. Mark currently serves on the Executive Committee of The Forests Dialogue at Yale University and as an external adviser to the Climate-smart Forest Economy Program of the Good Energies Foundation and to the Hoffmann Centre for Sustainable Resource Economy at Chatham House. Mark’s research has been published in scientific journals such as Forest Ecology and Management, Conservation Biology and The Annual Review of Anthropology. Mark received his B.S. in Forestry from the University of Washington and his Master of Forest Science from Yale University.