Keynotes and Agenda
Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, CEO and Chairperson of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF)
Carlos Manuel Rodríguez was selected as CEO and Chairperson of the Global Environment Facility in June 2020. Rodríguez, a Costa Rican national, was a pioneer in the development of Payment for Ecosystem Services and strategies for forest restoration, ocean conservation, and decarbonization. During his three terms as Environment and Energy Minister, Costa Rica doubled the size of its forests, made its electric sector fully renewable, and consolidated a national park system that has made the Central American country a prime ecotourism destination. Rodríguez has also founded and served on the board of several environmental NGOs and tropical research institutes. After his second tenure as minister, he was Vice President for Global Policy at Conservation International for 12 years.
Rhett Ayers Butler, Founder and CEO of Mongabay
Rhett Ayers Butler founded Mongabay in 1999 with the mission of raising awareness about tropical forests. Today Rhett serves as editor-in-chief and CEO of Mongabay, a non-profit media organization with 110 staff across five bureaus and a network of around 1,000 correspondents in 80 countries. Beyond Mongabay, Rhett has advised a broad range of organizations, from philanthropists to media outlets. Rhett’s writing has been published widely, while his photos have appeared in hundreds of publications. In 2014, Rhett became the first journalist to win the Parker/Gentry Award from the Field Museum in Chicago. In 2022, he was honored with the Heinz Award. Based in California, Rhett has traveled extensively to tropical forests around the world.
Santiago Gowland, CEO of the Rainforest Alliance
As the Rainforest Alliance’s chief executive officer, Santiago Gowland oversees the organization’s strategic, programmatic, financial, and operational leadership. Gowland has dedicated his career to driving organizational innovation and sustainability strategies.
Prior to joining the Rainforest Alliance, Gowland served as the executive vice president for Latin America and global innovation for The Nature Conservancy (TNC). In his role as managing director for the region, he led the Latin American Conservation Council, an unprecedented group of leaders working with TNC to identify solutions to help tackle Latin America’s greatest environmental challenges, including water security, sustainable food production, and smart infrastructure.
Before joining TNC, Gowland led the development of sustainable business innovations for some of the world’s leading brands, including Unilever, Nike, Inc., and The Estée Lauder Companies, Inc.
Gowland holds a degree in law and political science from Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA) and an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University in Phoenix, Arizona. He currently resides with his family in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Emma Torres, Vice President of Americas, United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)
Emma Torres is SDSN Vice-President for the Americas and Strategic Coordinator of both the Science Panel for the Amazon and the Science Panel for the Congo Basin. She enjoys a long experience in the United Nations, with responsibilities involving management, strategic programme development, and negotiations to promote sustainable development initiatives globally and regionally. She coordinated the strategic initiative A Biodiversity SuperPower, which makes the case for biodiversity’s importance to the development, equity, and long- term competitiveness of the Latin America and Caribbean region. As UNDP coordinator for the Commission on Development and Environment for Latin America and the Caribbean she produced the Our Own Agenda and Amazonia without Myths reports. Both remain a point of reference in the field. Emma holds an MA in Economics from Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain; a Diploma in Language and French Civilization from Sorbonne, Paris; and certificates in Environmental Economics and Climate Change, IIED, at Harvard University.
Agenda
January 31, Friday
Kroon Hall Cafe Breakfast & Registration 3rd Floor
Burke Auditorium, 3rd Floor
Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, CEO and Chairperson of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF)
Forests for the Future & Holistic Pathways to Thriving Ecosystems
- Elsa Ordway: Assistant Professor, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)
- David Ganz: Executive Director, NGO Regional Community Forestry Training Center for Asia and the Pacific (RECOFTC)
- Mauricio Diazgranados: Chief Science Officer, New York Botanical Garden
- Manuel Pulgar-Vidal: Global Leader of Climate and Energy, World Wildlife Fund (WWF); Interim chair, IUCN Climate Crisis Commission
Moderator:
Sara Kuebbing: Research Director, Yale Applied Science Synthesis Program
Kroon Hall Cafe, 3rd Floor
Pre-registration required - 30 people each
- Capacity development: Yale Environmental Leadership Training Initiative (ELTI)
- Multi-stakeholder engagement: The Forests Dialogue, Yale University
- Private-sector engagement: Rainforest Alliance
- Multilateral development banks: Global Environmental Facility (GEF)
Kroon Hall, Rooms 321, 319, and G01
Perspectives from Indigenous and Local Communities
- Jose Domingo: Mam Mayan indigenous leader, Guatemalan municipal government
- Diego Pons: Research Associate Scientist, University of Denver
- Dominique Bikaba: Founder of Strong Roots Congo
- Bola Madzoke: Local Community Member of the Lac Télé Community Reserve and Ecologist for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Congo
Moderator:
Kalyanakrishnan (Shivi) Sivaramakrishnan: Professor of Anthropology & Environment; Co-Director, Program in Agrarian Studies, Yale University
Rhett Butler, Founder and CEO of Mongabay
Light Dinner & Refreshments
February 1, Saturday
Kroon Hall Cafe, 3rd Floor
Santiago Gowland, CEO of the Rainforest Alliance
Innovative Financing Mechanisms for Tropical Forest Conservation and Restoration
- Syahrina Anggraini: Country Lead, Indonesia, Governors Climate & Forests Task Force
- Francisco Souza: Senior Vice President Global Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Center, Conservation International.
- Garo Batmanian: Director General, Brazilian Forest Service, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.
Moderator:
J. Nicolas Hernandez-Aguilera: Associate Research Scientist, Yale School of the Environment
Innovation Prize Presentations - Burke Auditorium
Lunch & Breakout tables - Kroon Hall Cafe, 3rd Floor
A conversation with keynote speakers
Kroon Hall - Room 319
Integrating Governance Strategies & Policy Tools for Forest Management
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Ejaz ul Haq, Pakistan Agriculture Research Council
Climate adaptation through REDD+ implementation in Pakistan: The challenge of forest tenure and rights conflict.
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Ken Rosenbaum, World Bank
PROGREEN’s Governance Assessment Tool: Measurement in Support of Reform
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Riko Wahyudi, University of Indonesia’s Research Center for Climate Change (RCCC-UI)
Expanding Indonesia’s Forestry Carbon Projects to International Markets: Paving the Way through Mutual Recognition Agreements
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Melaina Dyck, Climate Focus
The Forest Declaration Dashboard: a new tool for accountable forest governance
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Elvis Ekwale Agbor, Otto von Guericke University, Magdeburg
Power Dynamics and Actor Interests in Community Forestry: A Case Study of Mount Cameroon National Park Buffer Zones.
Community and Human Dimensions in Forest Systems
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Ana Catarina Ávila Vitorino, McGill University
Introducing Anthropogenic Effects to Forest Regrowth Modelling
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Erich Eberhard, Columbia University
Participatory Arts: A Powerful Transdisciplinary Tool in Resilience Research and Practice
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María Fernanda Yáñez, Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos Bartolomé de Las Casas
Indigenous Territorial Governance in Manu: Reflections on the Process of Formation and Strengthening of the Matsigenka Nation’s Autonomous Territorial Government
Kroon Hall - Room 321
Innovative Approaches to Biodiversity and Carbon Management
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Su-Ting Cheng, School of Forestry & Resource Conservation, National Taiwan University
Assessing Ground Penetrating Radar for Mapping Moso Bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) Rhizomes
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Girmay Darcha, Tigray Agricultural Research Institute
Allometric Equations to Predict Aboveground Biomass and Carbon Stock of Faidherbia albida in Parkland Agroforestry.
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Tzeng Yih Lam, The University of British Columbia
Integrating knowledge, probability sampling, and machine learning to improve accuracy and consistency in mapping spatial distribution of plant diversity
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Laura Maria Arango Saavedra, North Carolina State University
Co-creating knowledge to analyze the impacts of forest management on biodiversity and regeneration in the context of climate mitigation in Oaxaca, Mexico
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Ignacio Moreira-Corral, HQCA, Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador
Botanic diversity and demographic dynamics of a lowland wet forest in Western Ecuador
Sustainable Practices in Reforestation and Restoration Initiatives
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Murad Ali, Ministry of Climate Change, Forestry, Environment and Wildlife Dept. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Forest Restoration through Regeneration (Enclosure) in subtropical forests in the Billion Tree Afforestation Project, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
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Carolina Guerra, University of Panama
Silvopastoral Systems in Panama: A Case Study on Innovation in Forest Conservation and Climate Action
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Olivia Brinks, Yale University
Embedding People in NGO-Led Restoration Projects: A Case Study of Successes and Challenges from Brazil
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Eric Kasina, Natural State
Custodian Credits – A Superior Nature-Based Solution for Tropical Forest Restoration
Emma Torres, Vice President of Americas, United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)
Announcement of winners and closing address - Burke Auditorium