IUCN CEC Nature Education for Sustainability Specialist Group

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/

Co Chair IUCN #NatureForAll  

Steering Committee Member IUCN Commission on Education & Communication

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.  

 IUCN CEC, Regional Vice Chair for West Asia & Co-Chair of Nature Education for Sustainability Group
 

Firas is a senior economy adviser in the government of Jordan and a communication expert with over three decades of experience in the fields of economy, development, environment and integrated water management. He has been associated with the IUCN since 2009 in different roles: as a communication consultant, translator and currently the Regional Vice Chair for West Asia in the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) and a member in the IUCN Editorial Board. He is also a board member and communication coordinator of the Arab World Association of Young Scientists (ArabWAYS). Firas is co/author, editor and translator of several books, articles and other publications on economy, water, environment and development.

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.