David Michel

David Michel is the senior fellow for water security with the Global Food and Water Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). His work explores the emerging challenges and policy solutions to growing pressures on the world’s interdependent water, food, energy, and climate systems. Before joining CSIS, he served as senior researcher with the Environment of Peace 2022 initiative at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, supporting governments and social institutions to anticipate, evaluate, and address complex ecological risks. As senior manager in the Transboundary Water Department with the Stockholm International Water Institute from 2017–2019, he worked to promote cooperative resources governance in major river basins across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. From 2010–2015 he was founding director of the Environmental Security Program at the Stimson Center. David has written widely on water and climate security, environmental resilience, and sustainable resources management, and has contributed policy analyses and strategic risk assessments for government agencies, development institutions, and international organizations such as the World Bank, United Nations, and U.S. National Intelligence Council. His analyses appear in academic and policy journals including Applied Energy, Journal of Hydrology, Water International, and Foreign Policy, and have featured in media outlets such as The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Guardian, Voice of America, and the BBC. He was educated at Yale University, the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and École Normale Supérieure in Paris, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.