All Speakers

Speaker Simon STUART
Simon STUART

Chief Scientific Advisor

Synchronicity Earth

Simon served as Chair of the Species Survival Commission (SSC) for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) from 2008 to 2016. He has undergraduate and doctoral degrees from the…
Speaker Clemens KüPPER
Clemens KüPPER

Programme Officer

IUCN Secretariat

Clemens Küpper is Evaluations and Operations Officer for World Heritage at IUCN and the IUCN World Heritage Panel’s Executive Officer. He is responsible for coordinating the technical evaluation of…
Speaker Marie Fischborn
Marie Fischborn

Senior Manager - Knowledge Management

IUCN - International Union for Conservation of Nature

Marie Fischborn is an experienced conservation professional, specializing in knowledge management, learning and exchange. Her thematic expertise also includes protected and conserved areas, with…
Speaker David ROY
David ROY

Executive Director, Workshops for Biodiversity

Workshops for Biodiversity

David Roy is the Executive Director of Workshops for Biodiversity, an organization he founded in 2023 to help integrate biodiversity into decision-making across sectors. He is fully committed to…
Speaker SANJOG THAKALI
SANJOG THAKALI

Master in Environment Science and management

Teen Gaule Thakali Community

My name is Sanjog Thakali, and I am an indigenous youth from Gharapjhong-5, Mustang, Nepal. I hold a Master of Science in Environmental Management. I have been actively engaged in conservation…
Speaker Ben AKATCH
Ben AKATCH

Mobile Education Officer

IUCN Commission on Education and Communication 2021-2025

I am a committed and passionate conservation Education Officer with relevant experience. currently I work for wildlife clubs of Kenya helping in reaching out to empower and impart the youths with the…
Speaker Emily COFFEY
Emily COFFEY

Vice President of Conservation and Research

Atlanta Botanical Garden

Dr. Emily E. D. Coffey is VP for Science and Conservation at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Coffey joined the Garden in 2017 to lead the Conservation and Research Department where she leads and…
Speaker JUDITH OCHIENG
JUDITH OCHIENG

PROJECT& FUNDRAISING MANAGER

A Rocha Kenya

Judith is a conservation practitioner with more than six years of experience working alongside communities, governments, and NGOs to protect coastal Kenya’s marine and terrestrial ecosystems. She is…
Speaker Harry JONAS
Harry JONAS

Co-Director

IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic, and Social Policy 2021-2025

International lawyer and Senior Director at WWF. 
Speaker Mehdi AJANA
Mehdi AJANA

HEAD OF STRATEGY AND PARTNERSHIPS

NABAT

After several years in strategy consulting and technology commercialization, I recently joined Nabat, driven by a mission to build meaningful tools that support the urgent work of protecting and…
Speaker Melinka NAJERA
Melinka NAJERA

Coordinadora regional del Programa Enlazando

IUCN

After my graduation in Spain and Belgium as a forestry engineer with a master in tropical forestry and development, I moved to the Central America region in 2011. During my career, I have gained…
Speaker Tamer KHAFAGA
Tamer KHAFAGA

Research & Natural Resources Management Director

King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Royal Reserve Development Authority

My work and study are focused on conservation biology and sustainable use of natural resources. While working with the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency as Conservation Botanist in the St.…
Speaker Olivier CHASSOT
Olivier CHASSOT

Senior Project Coordinator, AlUla PAN Project

International Union for Conservation of Nature

Dr. Olivier Chassot is the Senior Programme Officer for Protected, Conserved, and Heritage Areas at the IUCN Asia Regional Office. He previously served as a Steering Committee member of the IUCN…
Speaker Craig BENNETT
Craig BENNETT

CEO

The Wildlife Trusts

Biography for Craig Bennett (for IUCN WCC) (English)Chief Executive, The Wildlife TrustsCandidate for IUCN Councillor elected from the Region - West Europe Craig is Chief Executive of The…
Speaker Dörte SEGEBART
Dörte SEGEBART

Advisor

GIZ

Geographer (PhD), currently advisor at GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), focus on protected and conserved areas, governance, equity, human rights-based approaches. Over…
Speaker Marcela FERNANDEZ
Marcela FERNANDEZ

Founder

Glacier Nation

 Colombian environmental activist and the founder of Cumbres Blancas, an NGO focused on raising awareness about the rapid disappearance of tropical glaciers. Learning that these are the first to…
Speaker Fedes VAN RIJN
Fedes VAN RIJN

Policy & Impact lead

Commonland

Speaker Mateo PORTER PARTIDA
Mateo PORTER PARTIDA

Student

EducationNatureNexus

I am a 17-year-old Mexican student living in Canada with a deep passion for marine ecosystems and sustainability. As I navigate my final year of high school, I aspire to study marine biology and…
Speaker Sean BREYER
Sean BREYER

Director, ArcGIS Living Atlas

Esri Inc.

Sean Breyer is the Director for ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World at Esri, where he leads the development of the world’s most comprehensive collection of global geographic information. With a degree…
Speaker David AINSWORTH
David AINSWORTH

Senior External Relations Officer

Global Environment Facility

David has over two decades of work in communications management, marketing and campaign development in the field of biodiversity and sustainable development.  He has worked as head of…
Speaker Lara HUSSEIN
Lara HUSSEIN

Co-founder, CEO, Soil Builder

The Waste Lab

Lara Hussein, co-founder of The Waste Lab, is pioneering a revolution in food waste management. Along with Ceylan Uren, they co-founded this impact-driven startup, in Dubai, to turn food scraps from…
Speaker Jorge ALVAREZ-ROMERO
Jorge ALVAREZ-ROMERO

Spatial Planning and Strategy Scientist

The Nature Conservancy

Jorge is the Spatial Planning and Strategy Scientist at The Nature Conservancy’s Global Science team. He applies a diverse suite of spatial planning tools and approaches to advance effective and…
Speaker Pam MCELWEE
Pam MCELWEE

Professor

Rutgers University

I am an environmental anthropologist with additional training in geography and forestry & ecology. My interests are in the social impacts of global environmental problems, and the distributional…
Speaker Christopher Dickinson
Christopher Dickinson

Asian Development Bank

Chris Dickinson is a Senior Specialist in Climate Change (Adaptation) at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), bringing extensive expertise from his previous role as a Senior Specialist and Lead in…
Speaker Jatna SUPRIATNA
Jatna SUPRIATNA

Chief

RCCC UI

Jatna Supriatna graduated from the Master's and Doctoral programs at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, the United States, in 1986 and 1991 in Biological Anthropology, followed by post-…
Speaker James ALLEN
James ALLEN

Executive Director

IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management 2021-2025

James Allen is director and co-founder of Olab, a Brazilian organization seeking to address climate challenges linked to forests and food systems. Olab has been leading the facilitation of multi…
Speaker Eresha FERNANDO
Eresha FERNANDO

Programme Officer (Freshwater Biodiversity)

IUCN

I am a conservationist with expertise in assessment work for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. I work as a Programme Officer for Freshwater Biodiversity within the IUCN Biodiversity Assessment…
Speaker JIALI ZHANG
JIALI ZHANG

Senior Engineer

CREEI

ZHANG Jiali, Deputy Director of Department of New Energy, China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute. She is a senior engineer with over ten years of experience in the renewable energy sector. Her…