IUCN CEM Climate Change and Biodiversity Policy and Practice Thematic Group

Deputy Chair - Commission on Ecosystem Management. Dr. Vasseur is a full professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Brock University. She is a member of the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre and a Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) fellow. Since 2014, she holds the UNESCO Chair on Community Sustainability: From Local to Global. Vasseur’s research program works at the nexus of several disciplines allowing her to develop transdisciplinary research that join issues such as conservation, sustainable agriculture, climate change adaptation and resilience, community-based ecosystem management, and ecosystem governance. Her research is in Canada, China, Ecuador, and Africa (including Benin and Morocco). In Canada, major projects focus on sustainable agriculture and climate change adaptation in rural and coastal communities, and conservation in the Niagara Biosphere. Aspects of gender, EDI, and cultural identities are important in her research in Canada and beyond (as a member of the UNESCO International Consultative Group of Experts for Closing the Gender Gap in Science). Stewardship also is part of the activities of her Chair where knowledge transfer and translation ensure accessibility of the research to all communities. Her community-research work with the City of greater Sudbury led her to receive in 2011 the Latornell Pioneers Award from Conservation Ontario. She has over 160 publications and more than 280 presentations as a researcher.

She is the deputy chair of the Commission for Ecosystem Management at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, co-lead of the Climate Change and Biodiversity Policy and Practice group, Chair of the North American region. She is also on the ICN Academy Advisory Committee and chaired the Knowledge Management Strategic Plan committee. She is currently co-Editor-in-Chief of Botany at the Canadian Science Publishing, member of the board of directors of Nature Canada, and former President of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. 

Commission Chair. Anthropologist specialized in Human Geography and Land Evaluation, with an MSc in Land Ecology from ITC – University of Twente, the Netherlands. She brings more than 30 years of professional experience in ecosystem management, land-use planning, climate change adaptation, and related public policies. In Colombia, she has served as Deputy Director of the Agustín Codazzi Geographic Institute (IGAC), held the Ecosystems Director at the Ministry of Environment, and was Senior Director of Climate Change and Biodiversity Policy for Conservation International Colombia. As a consultant, she has contributed to the application of the ecosystem approach in diverse areas, nature based solutions, including the development of conservation corridors, protected areas, land-use planning in the Amazon, and ecosystem-based adaptation.