Ralph Chami is an Assistant Director at the IMF. He is currently on sabbatical from the IMF working on tackling the two risks to humanity – climate change and biodiversity loss. He has developed a model for valuing natural capital, including blue and green nature as well as flora and fauna, and a framework for developing the natural capital markets for ecosystem services. He has co-founded two entities working on bringing this new paradigm to life – Rebalance Earth and Blue Green Future that are engaged in realizing the value of the natural world to our well- being and integrating it into our economic system. He has co-authored a number of peer- reviewed publications that value the carbon sequestration service of keystone species such as the Great Whales and Elephants. His work on valuing natural capital has been featured at TED2022, TEDEx2022 Fiesole, UN, and in National Geographic, Financial Times, Washington Post, WEF, among others.                     

During his 24-year career at the IMF, he has been known as an expert on fragile states and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). His book on “Macroeconomic Policy in Fragile State,” was recently published by Oxford University Press.