Commission Chair.
Kristen Walker Painemilla has been with Conserva- tion International (CI) for over 20 years; she is Senior Vice President and Managing Director the Center for Communities and Conservation. In her role, Kristen leads efforts to ensure that the organization and the broader conservation community implement a people-centered approach to conservation. The center’s support of women as conservation stewards and decision-makers is central to this work. To further Conservation International’s mission, Kristen provides institutional leadership and comprehensive technical assistance on a range of social and international policies related to Indigenous peoples and local communities, gender, human rights-based approaches and social safeguards, as well as engagements with the peace and development community. Prior to the creation of the Center for Communities and Conservation, Kristen led CI's USD $50 million Policy Center for Environment and Peace, leading a staff of 40. The Policy Center provides a path for CI to influence global conservation priorities, policies and public funding that target major international, regional and national policy development processes, in order to amplify CI’s work and create greater well- being for people around the world. Prior to leading the Policy Center efforts, Kristen was Vice President for Social and Environmental Governance at CI’s Center for Environment and Peace. This work included a focus on Social and International Policy, as well as Peace and Development Par-tnerships. Kristen continues to provide institutional leadership and comprehensive technical assistance on a range of international policy issues (biodiversity, climate change and sustainable development), social policy (indigenous peoples, rights based approaches, and social safeguards) and engages with the peace and development community to further CI’s mission. In 2003, Kristen created the Indigenous and Tradi-tional Peoples Program (ITPP) at CI to consolidate CI’s work with key community partners, as well as to strengthen the collective capacity of indigenous and traditional peoples and CI to achieve mutual goals. This program grew through extensive local and international networks in addition to collabo- rations with conservation organizations, indigenous peoples and their organizations, development and government agencies, donors and academic partners. In more recent years, Kristen led efforts on behalf of CI to form the Conservation Initiative on Human Rights (CIHR), a consortium of international conservation NGOs that seek to improve the practice of conservation by promoting integration of human rights in conservation policy and prac tice. She published the book Indigenous Peoples and Conservation: From Rights to Resource Management in October 2010, drawing on years of experience working with indigenous peoples. In 2012, she was named Co-chair of the Specialist Group on Indigenous Peoples Customary and Environmental Law and Human Rights with the Commission on Environment, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP) of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In September, 2016, she was elected Chair of CEESP, which contributes to the IUCN Mission by providing insights and expertise and promoting policies and action to harmonize the conservation of nature with the crucial socioeconomic and cultural concerns of human communities—such as livelihoods, human rights and responsibilities, human development, security, equity, and the fair and effective governance and equitable sharing of natural resources. In September 2021, Kristen was re-elected Chair of CEESP for an additional 4 years. During her time at CI, Kristen also served as Vice President for Social Policy and Practice (2010-2012), Executive Director for the Indigenous and Traditional Peoples Program (2003-2009) and the Senior Director of Program Strategy in the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science (CABS) at CI from 1999 through 2003. Kristen was integral in the development and strategic direction of the CABS. She led several initiatives within CABS such as ‘Defying Nature’s End’, CABS Bushmeat Initiative and scientific communications. Kristen holds her degree in Latin American Studies and Anthropology from George Washington University. She was a Cotlow Scholar in 1996, a U.S. Fulbright Scholar 1997-1998 and is a Senior Fellow with the Environmental Leadership Program. She serves on several boards including the Equator Initiative, the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force and the Chol-Chol Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose principal aim is to provide integral education for the women of indigenous rural communities with limited resources. She resides in Silver Spring, Maryland with her husband Fabian, a Mapuche Indian from Chile and her 2 children.

Commission Deputy Chair

Ameyali Ramos is currently the Deputy Chair of the IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP). Ameyali has more than 20 years of experience working on social and environmental governance, international policy, conservation, and human rights. Ameyali supports and advocates for the self-determination, rights and responsibilities of Indigenous peoples and local communities in international and national spaces, including the Convention on Biological Diversity, IUCN and the UNFCCC. Her work has also focused on advocating for the outsized role Indigenous Peoples and local communities play in the stewardship of nature, on strengthening the collective capacity of Indigenous Peoples and on supporting them so they can meaningfully engage and leverage policy spaces. Ameyali's has a background in environmental policy (PhD and MSc University of Oxford) and environmental and social geography (University of British Columbia). Ameyali is Senior Advisor to the International Savanna Fire Management Initiative (ISFMI) and Technical Advisor to the ICCA Consortium.

Regional Vice Chair, West Europe & Mediterranean

Until recently Luc was Head of Coordination, Networks and Strategy for the European Environment Agency Before that Luc was the Director of the IUCN European Regional Office, which is also the EU Representative Office of IUCN, in Brussels since 2013. He provided leadership and guidance for all activities undertaken within the European Region (involving over 360 IUCN Government and NGO members) and represented the IUCN Secretariat towards the EU institutions. Among other specific activities this included; informing decision-making through IUCN’s knowledge on topics such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Red Lists, Protected Area management, Natural Capital and promoting the use of nature-based solutions across different sectors. Prior to this, Luc was European Director of The Climate Group in Brussels, working with business and government to reach more ambitious EU climate policies and prepare for a true energy transition. As International Director of The Climate Group’s States and Regions Alliance, he established one of the most significant networks of sub-national governments leading on climate change. Through Luc's leadership the Alliance, recently renamed the Under 2°C Coalition, has now a functioning governance structure, involves leaders of governments from all over the world, and uses its technical working groups to feed into the decision making at all levels. Luc also worked as adviser on international sustainable development policies for both the Belgian Federal and Flemish Governments, representing them at the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, the OECD national Sustainable Development expert panel, the EU Council, the Belgium Federal Council, as well as various interregional networks.

Theme on Human Wellbeing & Sustainable Livelihoods

My research focuses on the forms of governance which may align with local communities’ values, perceptions of fairness and minimise tradeoffs between ecosystem management and local wellbeing/resilience, while also understanding the relationships between governance, social equity and conservation effectiveness.

Dr. Ritu Dhingra, a notable environmental law expert, serves as the Regional Vice Chair for East and Southern Asia at IUCN CEESP. With a Ph.D. in Environmental Laws, she has dedicated over three decades to research in environmental law, botany, biodiversity, and sustainable development. As a practicing lawyer in the High Court of Delhi and the Supreme Court of India, she currently consults on environmental law and policy in Delhi.

Dr. Dhingra has authored four impactful books on environmental jurisprudence, floral biodiversity, Indian traditions and environmental conservation, and Sustainable Development with Forest and Biodiversity Conservation. A member of multiple commissions and forums, she actively contributes to the global dialogue on environmental issues.

Since 2021, Dr. Dhingra has organized numerous webinars and represented CEESP in over 30 international events, showcasing her commitment to fostering sustainable practices globally. Her expertise, coupled with a robust academic background, positions her as a dynamic leader and advocate for environmental conservation.

Regional Vice Chair, Oceania

Elise’s interests and work are in the areas of culture, conservation and development and the relationships between them in Oceania. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Oceania Centre for Arts and Culture at the University of the South Pacific as well as a consultant working throughout the region. She is chair of the newly formed Nature Culture Working Group, one of the five working groups of the Pacific Islands Roundtable on Nature Conservation (PIRT), which implements the Framework on Nature Conservation and Protected Areas in the Pacific Islands Region 2021-2025. She is also a member of the Ocean Rights and Kinship Network and is coordinating a project on ocean culture in partnership with the University of Bergen’s ‘Island Voices, Ocean States’ program. She has been Vice-Chair CEESP Oceania since 2017. Elise’s home is Fiji where she competes in outrigger paddling, following a sporting career in rugby. She has two daughters and many four-legged family members.

Regional Vice Chair, West Asia

Mahnaz Kadhemi is a member of the Environmental Citizenship Program, one of Bahrain Women Association for Human Development’s programs. She joined IUCN in 2002. Professionally, she has held positions as the Personal Assistant for Top Executives in an Arbitration Centre and in different Offshore Banks, for the past 38 years. She studied at Concordia University, in Montreal, Canada and she is fluent in Arabic, English and Persian. She strongly believes that every human should live a life of purpose and serve to make this world a better place. She has come to realise her immense passion for ecology throughout her 38 years of being immersed in jobs that feel distant from connection with our Mother Earth. She realizes that influencing change in the way that people perceive nature and the ecosystem as a whole is a tedious process that requires addressing obstacles and challenges. With this in mind, she began her self-learning journey in everything relating to the ecosystem, engaging in intensive volunteer work--despite her job as a full-time employee and a mother--working within environmental project teams that won international awards and drawing strategies that address environmental issues on the local level, hand in hand with stakeholders and activists. She made it her life mission to change the way that people perceive and interact with the natural world--inspiring the circle of people around her and conveying the need to change behaviors and practices toward the planet until we fulfil everyone’s dream: a world where all creatures live in peace and harmony.

Regional Vice Chair, Meso & South America Pablo Crimer has more than 15 years’ experience providing legal advice on environmental, social, governance and sustainability matters to corporations. He focuses on project development, stakeholder engagement, environmental impact assessment, risk management, compliance, permitting, and public policy, among others.

He is a Senior Associate at the Environmental Law practice area of Bruchou & Funes de Rioja Law Firm (Argentina), and a part-time professor at Universidad de San Andrés Law School (Argentina).

His recent work features advice on carbon credits and markets, green financing, natural-based solutions, community engagement, indigenous people consultation, regulatory advocacy, supply chain ESG due diligence, among others.

Natural Resource Governance Framework

Dr. Emmanuel Nuesiri, has a PhD. in environmental governance from St. Antony's College, University of Oxford. He has extensive teaching and research experience from Africa, Europe, and the United States. He has also published extensively on natural resource governance. Emmanuel has been a resource person and consultant for Fauna and Flora International (FFI), Luc Hoffmann Institute, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), and the UN Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). He has been a member of IUCN CEESP since 2013, and a member of the NRGF working group since 2015 contributing the production of the NRGF conceptual papers, the NRGF strategic plans 2016-2020 and 2021-2024, the NRGF-ROAM correspondence analysis, and taking the lead in the design and establishment of the NRGF community of practice, while contributing to the design of the TGER Governance Learning Network and Platform.

Regional Vice Chair, North America

Michael Painter is an ecological anthropologist, with a Ph.D. from the University of Florida. His long-term research interests have focused on the social and economic factors that shape how people use land and natural resources. After completing his Ph.D., Michael worked at the Institute for Development Anthropology, a private, non-profit research and education institute dedicated to integrating social science perspectives into conservation and development initiatives. He was also a technical advisor to the Botswana Department of Wildlife and National Parks, where he led a team that monitored the impacts of Community-based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM). Michael has worked with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) since 1997, except for a two-year period at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, from 2015-2017. At WCS, Michael played diverse roles, including country director, first in Bolivia, then in Peru, and director of the Amazon program. Upon moving to the US, Michael worked as an associate director of the Latin America and Caribbean program, and director of what was then called the Conservation and Quality of Human Life initiative. In these roles, he focused helping WCS build effective conservation partnerships with Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and undertook several innovative initiatives with Indigenous organizations, supporting their efforts to strengthen their ability to engage more effectively with government agencies, donors, and private companies. He helped establish the Conservation Initiative on Human Rights (CIHR) and has represented WCS in CIHR. He was also part of the group that helped set up the WCS Institutional Review Board, a federally registered body responsible for reviewing human subjects research conducted by WCS, to ensure that the organization complies with all U.S. federal and international standards. In 2015, Michael joined the staff of Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, where he was a Program Officer in the Andes Amazon Initiative (AAI), of the Environmental Conservation Program. In 2017, Michael returned to WCS as a senior technical advisor. He serves as a member of WCS's Social Safeguards Management Team and chairs the WCS Institutional Review Board, Michael also provides support to field programs on issues related to human livelihoods and governance. Michael retired from full-time work at WCS in 2021, but continues to provide support on a part-time basis to the Rights and Communities Program and the Andes, Amazon and Orinoco Regional Program.

Theme on Economics and Regenerative Finance

Jacob Park is Associate Professor in Vermont State University (Castleton) https://www.castleton.edu/directory/faculty-staff-directory/details/jacob-park and Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg (https://www.uj.ac.za/members/prof-jacob-park) who specializes in the social and environmental dimensions of innovation, entrepreneurship, and international business, with special focus/expertise in emerging and developing economies in Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Caribbean islands regions.

Co-Chair, Task Force on Migration, Environmental Change and Conflict

Galeo Saintz is an independent conservation, trails and environmental peace practitioner and consultant. He is founder and co-founder of multiple conservation and trails related initiatives in his home country of South Africa, and is the Founding Chair of the World Trails Network based in Geneva, Switzerland. His MSc focused on conservation corridors and the assessment of ecological integrity. His on-going research interests include the confluence between nature and peace, co-existence and conservation, and funding strategies for conservation, biodiversity finance and finally, how trails and conservation intersect. Highlight achievements include mobilising and leading the formation of a global association for trails supporting 8 International Task Teams working for the betterment of trails in all regions of the world. Co-Chair of the IUCN CEESP Theme on Environment and Peace from 2016 - 2022, and Co-Chair of the CEESP Task Force on Migration, Environmental Change and Conflict. Co-founder and expedition co-leader for the Wolf OR-7 Expedition to raise awareness for wolf conservation in the USA, and the Rhino Reality Campaign in South Africa. Current projects include the development of an Ecological Peace Index in collaboration with various institutional partners.

Chair, Indigenous People & Environment

I am Indigenous woman from the Kankanaey Igorot People of Besao, Mountain Province in the Philippines. I am a lawyer by profession, having obtained my Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of the Philippines, and my Master of Laws degree from the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, USA. As Senior Global Policy and Advocacy Lead of Nia Tero, a US Foundation that supports Indigenous Peoples' self-determination, governance and tenure, I lead the organization's engagement in the CBD, UNFCCC, and other global processes that impact Indigenous Peoples. We work closely with Indigenous partners and let them take the lead in all policy positions we take. I am part of the steering committee of IUCN CEESP, a Senior Lecturer on Indigenous Management of Resources at the University of the Philippines Baguio, and an adviser on policy issues for Tebtebba.

Chair, Theme on Governance, Equity and Rights

Professor Zurba’s work focuses on projects that are developed and implemented in collaboration with communities. Professor Zurba has worked collaboratively with Indigenous communities in Canada and abroad on projects focusing on co-management of species and protected areas, shared forest tenure agreements, Clean Environment Commission hearings for water regulation, land use and occupancy mapping studies, food sovereignty, health promotion and wellbeing, and land-based learning and curriculum development. Her work has also contributed to public discussion on what “reconciliation” means in Canada through her work on learning and relationship building through the shared-governance of land. Professor Zurba is also interested in how global policy frameworks affect community participation in the day-to-day management of the environment.

Regional Vice Chair, CEESP Africa

Growing up in a community that lived outside a protected area, Monipher has from a young age, learnt to appreciate the rich biodiversity of her country, Malawi, which led me her to pursue a career in conservation. Monipher has considerable experience in conservation policy having worked for the Government of Malawi, in its implementation of programmes and initiatives that fulfil its obligations under the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD). She is an experienced coordinator and negotiator, having negotiated for several years on the Convention on Biological Diversity and its protocols for Malawi and has vast knowledge on linking best practices learnt from national level implementation into international policy negotiations. In addition to leading IFAW’s engagement in the CBD, Monipher's role involves advocating IFAW's positions to African governments across the range of international conventions and agreements that fall within the remit of IFAW’s international policy program, and supporting IFAW’s engagement with African regional forums. She holds a Master of Philosophy in Conservation Leadership from University of Cambridge in UK with special interests on integration of conservation and development, local community property rights to land and natural resources (ownership, control, access, and use), ecosystem valuations, economic and social incentives for conservation for the poor and vulnerable sections of society.