Deputy Chair

Dr Margaret Otieno is the CEO/National Coordinator of Wildlife Clubs of Kenya, a national NGO targeting the youth and communities with Conservation Education. Margaret is also a board member of Worldlife Kenya, African Fund for Endangered Wildlife, Elsa Conservation Trust and is Deputy Chair for the Kenya Steering Committee (IUCN) and Deputy Chair for IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) for Eastern and Southern Africa. A holder of a PhD in Climate Change and Education for Sustainable Development and an MSc in Environment and Development, she is the 2020 winner of the 2020 International Brandwein Medal award. Margaret is a passionate hands-on environmental education professional and is driven by the belief that sustained education from grassroots to leadership levels is the single most important element in improved environmental protection and conservation. Through Africa wide workshops, WCK has stimulated a continental wildlife clubs movement. It has also helped spawn clubs in Asia, Latin America, and elsewhere in the developing world. In over 50 years, WCK has helped educate over 1,000,000 young Kenyans and placed many of them in positions of influence.

Strategic Advisor & Nature Education for Sustainability Co-Chair

Katalin Czippan is an educator with experience in the field of environmental and sustainability education and communication from running nature camps and campaigns to support governments in policy making. In IUCN CEC she is Co-Chair of the Nature Education for Sustainability Network and Strategic Advisor to the Chair. Previously she served as Deputy Chair of CEC and prior to that as a European Regional Vice Chair. She initiated and worked together with several European CEC members on the Experiential Learning and Education for Nature Awareness project (www.elena-project.eu) at the IUCN member Bavarian Academy for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management.

She is an active member of several NGOs and scientific organisations, like the Hungarian National Committee of UNESCO, and chair of the Board of Trustees of Tiszta Út (Clean Way) Foundation. At the foundation she initiated and supervises a donor program to support greening school yards with the participation of students to use new or extended green places for learning and school-community purposes.

She has authored several publications, given lectures, and ran several projects in the field of education and education for sustainability. She believes that all conservation efforts should apply education as a strategic tool. She also believes that all forms of education should facilitate learning about and from nature – to see nature as a system, to understand the human-nature interconnectedness and to love, appreciate and protect natural values.

#NatureForAll Co-Chair

Cheryl Charles is an innovator, entrepreneur, educator, author and organizational executive. Throughout her career, Cheryl has focused on the well-being of children, families, communities and the environment that supports us all. She is the Co-Founder, President and CEO Emerita of the Children & Nature Network (www.childrenandnature.org), an international NGO with its mission to connect all children, their families and communities to nature in their everyday lives.

Cheryl serves as a member of the Steering Committee for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Commission on Education and Communication (CEC). A member of the Commission since 2005, she previously served on the CEC’s Steering Committee from 2006—2012 and again beginning in 2018. Deeply committed to the importance of connecting people of all ages with nature for their own health and well-being and that of the Earth itself, she is one of those who helped develop the concept for IUCN’s #NatureForAll and serves as one of its three international co-chairs. She was lead author and coordinator of #NatureForAll’s report, Home to Us All: How Connecting with Nature Helps Us Care for Ourselves and the Earth.

Cheryl currently is Research Scholar and founding Executive Director of the Nature Based Leadership Institute at Antioch University New England (AUNE), and an elected school board member. She is a member of the board of trustees of both the Brandwein Institute and the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. She served as foundation National Director of the pioneering K-12, interdisciplinary environment education programs, Project Learning Tree and Project WILD.

Cheryl is author, editor and designer of a wide variety of publications including books, articles, and educational materials. Cheryl has given hundreds of public presentations and workshops including scores of keynote addresses; and has facilitated a wide variety of civic, business and educational meetings on a range of topics from developing community leadership to leading the worldwide effort to reconnect children with nature. Cheryl has a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Washington. She lives near her son, daughter-in-law and nature-based grandchildren on a forest family farm in southern Vermont, USA.

Thematic Vice Chair, People and Parks/Nature for All. 

An ecologist by training, Karen has over thirty years’ professional experience in the environmental field in Canada and internationally, both in the private sector and with the Canadian government. During 15 years with Parks Canada, Karen led the development of evidence-based strategic approaches to ecological restoration, climate change, and urban parks, among other topics. Most recently, she has been bridging natural and social-scientific disciplines to develop collaborative relationships and find solutions for building and diversifying the constituency of support for conservation.

Karen led the Inspiring a New Generation Stream of the IUCN World Parks Congress in 2014, which was the foundation for the subsequent launch of #NatureForAll in 2016. Since then, she has been instrumental in shaping the strategic direction of #NatureForAll and contributing to its growth and influence. Karen was the Vice Chair responsible for #NatureForAll for both the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication and the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas from 2016 and 2021. She continues to play a leadership role on both Commissions and is currently one of three global Co-Chairs who are collaboratively leading #NatureForAll.

Nature Education for Sustainability Co-Chair & South and Southeastern Asia Regional Vice Chair

Dr (Ms) Vasanti Rao is the Director General of CMS (Centre for Media Studies) - a research based think tank in India (www.cmsindia.org) and also directs CMS VATAVARAN, the Asia’s largest international film festival and forum on environment & wildlife (www.cmsvatavaran.org).

Vasanti has her PhD in Media Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University and has double Masters degrees in Psychology and Management. She specializes in strategy development, designing, researching and evaluating development programs communication initiatives. Vasanti also advises, studies and writes on: the communication media and regulatory issues; mass and new media trends and consumption patterns; strategies for development programs & social issues in popular media (entertainment & NEWS); Communication & Media Research; Behavior & Social Change Communication & Entertainment Education Strategies.

Conservation, Gender and Children are three key areas of her concern and passion. Vasanti has to her credit numerous policy inputs, program evaluations, designing and organizing multi stakeholder events and research based publications.

Nature Education for Sustainability Co-Chair & South America Regional Vice Chair

Luis Alberto Camargo is the founder and Director of the Organization for Environmental Education and Protection (OpEPA), a non-profit organization registered in Colombia and the USA, which has worked directly with over 120,000 children and youth and help thousands of educators incorporate nature into their work. OpEPA centres on the advancement of nature-based and regenerative education, heritage interpretation and weaving.

Luis is co-leader/convener of Colombia Regenerativa initiative, working to strengthen bioregional transitions to regenerative cultures. Co-founder and board member in Catalyst 2030. He is also a co-founder of The Weaving Lab, which aims to create thriving learning ecosystems by helping Change Leaders to become more aligned, collaborative and systemic. In addition, he is a climate reality leader for The Climate Reality Project and part of the core team for the Regenerative Communities Network. He has been a speaker on subjects such as social entrepreneurship, social innovation, conservation, climate change, environmental education, environmental peace, wilderness medicine and wilderness expeditions.

"I focus my work on reconnecting youth to nature and people to the Earth in order to build more sustainable, regenerative and peaceful communities." 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/luisalbertocamargo/

Nature Education for Sustainability Co-Chair & West Asia Regional Vice Chair

Firas T. Abd-Alhadi is a communication specialist with almost 30 years of experience in designing and implementing communication and promotion strategies and plans. He recently assumed the position of Head of Electronic Media Division at the Ministry of Industry & Trade of Jordan.

Before that he was the Head of Insurance Awareness Division at the Insurance Administration / Ministry of Industry & Trade of Jordan. In that position, he developed and implemented outreach strategies, plans and activities to create awareness among different groups of end-users about the various insurance products as to increase insurance contribution to GDP. He had also established working relationships with regional and international insurance institutions as part of a plan for qualifying Jordan to become a regional insurance center.

Prior to joining the Insurance Administration in 2007, Firas worked in several communication positions the latest of which being the Regional Communication and Documentation Specialist in EMPOWERS (Euro-Med Participatory Water Resources Scenarios), an EU-funded regional partnership. Although that was not his first encounter with environmental issues, this project that was implemented in Egypt, Jordan and Palestine during 2003-2007 introduced Firas to the practice of building knowledge communities based on multi-level stakeholder platforms as a means to build individual and institutional capacities for better management and conservation of natural resources.

Firas has been associated with the IUCN since 2009 as a communication consultant and environmental writer and a member in the IUCN CEC since 2012 which he represented in a number of events such as the IUCN West Asia Regional Conservation Forums in 2015 and 2019 and the IUCN World Conservation Congress in 2016.He became a member of the IUCN CEC Steering Committee as a Regional Vice-Chair for West Asia in April 2018.

He is also a board member and communication coordinator of the Arab World Association of Young Scientists (ArabWAYS) and a co/author, editor and translator of several books and articles on water, the environment, development and insurance. Firas holds M.A. in English Literature and a double major B.A. in Arabic and English, both from the University of Jordan in Amman, Jordan.

Youth Engagement and Intergenerational Partnerships Co-Chair & West Europe Regional Vice Chair

Diana Garlytska, Co-Chair of the Steering Committee at CoalitionWILD is a young expert who over 8 years of her career in academia has taught in more than a dozen of countries across Europe and Asia. In 2013 from business analytics at HQ of a multinational corporation in Leipzig, Germany, Diana Garlytska transitioned to teaching and research work in Lithuanian capital, Vilnius. Here she has used every opportunity to enhance her knowledge in the field of environmental economics and develop her skills in teaching, project mandated, proposal writing, research, creative writing, and storytelling. Diana has written several workbooks for BA level students and created her author course on ‘Sustainable Business Development’.

Diana Garlytska is IUCN CEC member since 2018, Steering Committee Co-Chair and has been on steering committee of CoalitionWILD since 2019, as well as Federation for European Storytelling consultant since 2022. Thus, her greatest passions are youth engagement in nature conservation, storytelling and academic work. In 2021 Diana Garlytska was a member of Youth workgroup for IUCN Global Youth Summit and co-authored IUCN GYS Outcome Statement. Currently Diana is Youth Task Force member for Stockholm+50 and actively contributes to youth work in environmental policy development. Diana is happiest when traveling and enjoying art in any form.

Regional Vice Chair for North and Co-Chair of Youth Engagement and Intergenerational Partnerships

Mrs. Kenza Khallafi, is currently the Partnerships Officer and responsible of the education for sustainable programs at the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental protection, a non-profit organization based in Morocco that takes action by raising public awareness and education on sustainable development, especially among the youth.

The past ten years, Kenza has been working closely with the Ministry of education of Morocco on developing ESD projects and programs, on accelerating local level actions to make progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and on Empowering and mobilizing youth from preschool to university. Kenza also work to reinforce cooperation with United nations agencies, international and national organizations and the Hassan II International Center for Environmental Training, the academic branch of the Foundation, launched in 2019, in the areas of environmental education, biodiversity, Action for Climate Empowerment and ocean literacy.

Kenza is member of the Climate Change Competence Center of Morocco (4C) a national platform for dialogue and capacity building for the various actors and a hub for climate change information open to its regional, African, and international environment. Before joining the Foundation, Kenza graduated in Finance from an American University Al Akhawayn based in Ifrane (Morocco) and Bocconi University in Milan (Italy). 

Reimagine Nature Communications Co-Chair

Ana has worked for the non-profit sector for over 20 years. She has successfully led efforts ranging from supporting Indigenous and rural communities with communication, marketing and commerce strategies, to creating financial mechanisms to ensure conservation programs.

Ana is cofounder and CEO of Zamia Media, a social initiative to support non for profits and social good projects, providing communication and marketing tools, courses and one on one coaching, building movements, inspiring change, and creating a better world. Before this role, she served as El Triunfo Conservation Fund Executive Director, where she created engagement programs and successful fundraising campaigns, securing a recurrent pipeline of donations from both domestic and international companies that are currently ensuring conservation and development programs in Chiapas, Mexico.

Ana also serves on the Steering Committee of the Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) of IUCN, as board member of several organizations supporting food and water security and education, and she is a fellow member of the social entrepreneurship program WeAmerica.

Mesoamerica Regional Vice Chair

I am a graduate of the University of Sciences and Arts of Chiapas with a degree in Earth Sciences, where I dedicated a large part of my studies to issues related to the conservation of natural resources, development, management and environmental education in protected areas.

I carried out my social service process in the Cañón del Sumidero National Park, working on land use planning processes using platforms in geographic information systems and in the area of ??tourism and recreation with attention to visitors.

I currently work at the El Triunfo A.C. Conservation Fund (FONCET), an organization with the main objective of contributing to the conservation of protected areas in the state of Chiapas.

I am a fundraising coordinator with the main objective of managing financial resources from different sources for the financing of necessary actions to support the conservation and development of protected areas in Chiapas. At the same time, I develop strategies that allow the transmission of the values, achievements and aspirations of the organization to publicize its work, attract and inspire the active participation of communities, donors and allies.

I am part of the Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), this commission promotes change for the co-creation of sustainable solutions through leading communication, learning and knowledge management in IUCN and the broader conservation community.

West and Central Africa Regional Vice Chair

Tommy Garnett is a dual citizen of Ireland and Sierra Leone, with background in Agricultural and Development Economics. Following completion of post graduate studies in the former USSR, he began his career in 1984, as a high school teacher in Kenya, where he taught Agriculture, Mathematics and Physical Education for 4 years. In 1992, Tommy founded the Environmental Foundation for Africa as a charity in the UK to create awareness about the environmental impacts of the conflict and to empower the local people to protect the integrity of nature in West Africa. Since then, Tommy traveled extensively in the West and Central Africa region, studying and reporting on the nature and extent of the threats to the Guinean Forest Ecosystem.

Tommy has been a member of the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) since 1996. From 2006-2012 and 2016-2021 he served on the CEC Steering Committee as Regional Vice Chair for West and Central Africa. Tommy also served as member of the UN Panel of Experts from 2003-2007, monitoring economic sanctions on Liberia, with the specific task of assessing the socio economic, ecological and humanitarian impacts of the sanctions, co-authoring several reports for the UN Security Council during this time. He is a contributing author of CEPA Toolkit for Africa, published by the CEC in 2007.

From 2010, Tommy oversaw the design and construction of the Biodiversity and Renewable Energy Learning Centre (Learning Centre), which was completed and formerly launched in June 2014. A first of its kind in West Africa and situated on the edge of Freetown’s Western Area Peninsula Forest National Park, the centre was current hosts visitors from various sectors and all age groups, especially school children, who can now experience nature and sustainability principles first hand.

In October 2016, Tommy joined BirdLife International, to lead its Regional Implementation Team, managing the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund’s investment portfolio in the Guinean Forests of West Africa Hotspot, spanning eleven countries from the Guinea to the Gulf of Guinea Islands of Sao Tome & Principe. In 2018, Tommy returned to Sierra Leone to lead EFA’s Sierra Leone country program, while maintaining links with various regional entities, including the African Civil Society Biodiversity Alliance (ACBA).

East Asia Regional Vice Chair

Hanying has over 25 years’ experience in sustainable development at the national, regional and international level. She has worked with State Environmental Protection Administration of China (the former Ministry of Environment and Ecology), China Environmental Protection Foundation, National People’s Congress, P. R. China, and two important international organizations on nature conservation - IUCN and World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Hanying’s work covers a variety of topics, especially nature conservation, environmental protection, climate change, gender balance, poverty alleviation, green finance and etc. She is interested in nature-based integrated solutions for global challenges.

In recent years, Hanying has been dedicated to promote nature education in East Asia in her capacity as Regional Vice Chair of IUCN CEC (2016-2020), through membership recruitment and collaborative activities with various partners.

Hanying holds an M.S. degree in Organizational Management from the School for International Training Institute, Vermont, U.S.A., and a B.L. degree in International Political Sciences from Peking University, China.

Marie-Philippe Ouellet is a young professional working in the conservation sector as the Parks Canada. Born and raised in Berthierville (Québec, Canada), she has always lived with one foot in the country and one foot in the city, though it was only when she moved to Quebec City for her studies that she began to truly appreciate and prioritize finding balance between urban life and access to nature. She completed her bachelor’s at the Université Laval, and now holds a degree in public communications with a minor in sustainable tourism.