Ethan Budiansky

Ethan Budiansky is the Associate Director, Sustainable Commodities for the Markets team in the Global Conservation Program for the Wildlife Conservation Society. He has over 20 years of experience in conservation, climate change adaptation, sustainable agriculture, natural resource management, agroforestry, and rural development.

Prior to WCS, he served as Senior Director of Environment at the World Cocoa Foundation, leading the overarching strategy on environmental sustainability across the cocoa sector for 13 years. Heading both the Climate Smart Cocoa Program and the Cocoa and Forest Initiative, he helped cocoa and chocolate companies advance their environmental sustainability commitments, addressing deforestation and the impact of climate change in cocoa growing regions. Ethan also co-led the Cocoa Livelihoods Program to improve farm-level productivity and the livelihoods of cocoa farmers.

Prior to joining WCF, he was Head of International Programs at Trees for the Future, where he managed agroforestry and sustainable agriculture programs with smallholder farmers in Africa and the Caribbean.

Ethan was a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal from 2001 to 2003. He holds a B.A. in Zoology from Connecticut College, and two M.A. degrees in Sustainable Development and Natural Resource Management from American University in Washington, DC and the University for Peace in Costa Rica. He has a passion for wildlife and is currently training to be a wildlife rehabilitator for raptors.