Keynotes and Agenda

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 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.

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 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.