Julia Naime is a PhD candidate at the Norwegian School of Life Sciences (NMBU), where she is studying the underlying drivers of land use change. She is interested in improving REDD+ reference levels at different scales, as well as in identifying the most effective policies to reduce deforestation. Julia holds a bachelor’s degree in both Biology and Economics, and has a master degree in Environmental Economics and Climate Change. Before starting her PhD, Julia was in Mexico working at the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC) and at the Centre for Global Change and Sustainability (CCGSS), where she coordinated and conducted research focused on REDD+, agriculture, and ecosystem services provision. She has fieldwork experience in Mexico and Brazil.