Darby is an Earth Institute Fellow at Columbia University. His research centers on empirical analysis of human-environment interactions in developing countries. 

 

Current projects focus on vulnerability to climate change, economic approaches to valuing ecosystem services, and the political economy of forest conservation.  Darby's doctoral research at Harvard University analyzed the determinants of household energy technology choices by poor households in Latin America and the linkages between energy, indoor air pollution, and human health.  He  received his bachelor’s degree from Williams College in 1997. After college he spent two years analyzing strategies to promote sustainable forest management in Guatemala, Chile, and Bolivia as a Fellow of the Watson Foundation.   Darby  then worked for the Mountain Institute in Huaraz, Peru and helped start a consultancy that advises landowners and conservationists in Latin America on matters related to climate change.

 

He has received several awards and fellowships including the Thomas Hardie Prize from Williams College, YPF-Repsol and Joseph Crump Fellowships from Harvard University, a Heinz Environmental Scholars award and the Watson Fellowship.  He grew up in the North Cascades east of Bellingham, Washington.