Rio Doce Panel

The Rio Doce Panel was constituted in 2017 as an Independent Scientific Technical Advisory Panel (ISTAP), a valuable tool to address controversial conservation and development issues with the aim of producing scientifically-robust and equitable solutions. 

In the context of the Rio Doce Basin, the objective of the Panel is to produce technical and scientific recommendations to the Renova Foundation and other actors involved in the restoration process and to assess the work being undertaken in the region with a focus on long-term ecosystem health and resilience and the promotion of sustainable social and economic development.  

The recommendations are a core part of the advisory work of the Panel. All RDP reports contain objective recommendations aiming to enhance the design and implementation of social and environmental recovery programs. Studies and recommendations are shaped in in two types of content: Thematic Reports and Issue Papers. See the full list below. 

In June 2017, IUCN announced Yolanda Kakabase, a globally recognised environmentalist and former President of IUCN, as the Rio Doce Panel Chair. The other members were appointed through an open and competitive process. The Panel is currently composed by: 

• Yolanda Kakabadse,  chair of the Rio Doce Panel. Former President of IUCN, former Ecuadorian Minister of Environment; lives in Quito, Ecuador. GOVERNANCE 

• Francisco Barbosa, PhD, Deputy Chair of the Panel, Professor of Freshwater Ecology and Limnology in the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), lives in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.  FRESHWATER BIOLOGY 

• Christianne Maroun, DSc, Professor of Environmental Engineering at PUC-Rio, lives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. WATER MANAGEMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY 

• Jonathan Renshaw, PhD, independent social development specialist, researcher in Social Anthropology, lives in Folkstone, UK. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 

• Luis E. Sánchez, PhD, Professor of Mining Engineering at Escola Politécnica, University of São Paulo; lives in São Paulo, Brazil. ENGINEERING AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT 

• Maria Cecilia Wey de Brito, MSc, Member of EKOS Brasil Institute; Former Secretary of Biodiversity and Forests of the Ministry of the Environment of Brazil, lives in São Paulo, Brazil. LANDSCAPE MANAGEMENT AND BIODIVERSITY 

• Peter H. May, PhD, Professor at the Department of Development, Agriculture and Society of the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), lives in New York, USA. NATURAL RESOURCES AND ECOLOGICAL ECONOMY

FORMER MEMBERS 

• Fernando V. Laureano, PhD Professor in the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, from Minas Gerais, Brazil. Fernando attended the Panel from June 2018 to August 2019. GEOLOGY.  

• Hubert Roeser, PhD. Professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering, in the Federal University of Ouro Preto, from Germany, lives in Ouro Preto, Brazil. Hubert attended the Panel from September 2017 to June 2018. ENVIRONMENTAL DIAGNOSTICS AND HYDROLOGY. 

• Keith Alger, PhD in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin, from Maryland, US. Keith attended the Panel from September 2017 to June 2018. ECOSYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND MANAGEMENT RESTORATION. 

• Luiza Alonso, EdD, former Professor of Sociology, at Brasilia Catholic University; member of FUNDHAM (Fundação Museu do Homem Americano); from São Paulo, Brazil. Luiza attended the panel from September 2017 to March 2020. HEALTH, ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIAL JUSTICE