CHINA AND THE AMAZON: FOOD SECURITY AND DRIVERS OF DEFORESTATION (PLENARY)
November 30th, 2022 at 2:00pm ET
As the largest single buyer of some Amazonian commodities, China is a big stakeholder in the Amazon. What is the impact? Even though a new Chinese law prohibits handling of illegally deforested wood, how can demand for deforestation-implicated commodities be influenced through organizing consumers and decision-makers in Asia? What is the relationship between the Amazon and Chinese food security? What opportunities could come out of an Amazonian-Chinese entrepreneurial exchange focused on sustainability and forest protection?
Margaret Myers
The Dialogue
Margaret Myers is the director of the Asia & Latin America Program at the Inter-American Dialogue. She established the Dialogue’s China and Latin America Working Group in 2011 to examine China’s growing presence in Latin America and the Caribbean. Myers also developed the China-Latin America Finance Database, the only publicly available source of empirical data on Chinese state lending in Latin America, in cooperation with Global China Initiative at Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center. In addition to maintaining the Dialogue’s China and Latin America and 美洲对话 blogs, Myers has published numerous articles on Chinese leadership dynamics, international capital flows, Chinese agricultural policy, and Asia-Latin America relations, among other topics. The Political Economy of China-Latin America Relations and The Changing Currents of Trans-Pacific Integration: China, the TPP, and Beyond, her co-edited volumes with Dr. Carol Wise and Dr. Adrian Hearn, respectively, were published in 2016. Myers has testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the US-China Security and Economic Commission on the China-Latin America relationship. She is also regularly featured in major domestic and international media, including the Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, El Comercio, Folha de São Paulo, CNN en Español, CCTV, and Voice of America. In 2018, she was identified by Global Americans as part of the “new generation of public intellectuals.
Rose Niu
Paulson Institute
Rose Niu is Chief Conservation Officer at the Paulson Institute, where she manages the planning and execution of initiatives to protect globally significant biodiversity and ecosystems and to promote sustainable management of natural resources, particularly in China. Before joining the Institute, Niu was Managing Director of China Programs at World Wildlife Fund-US, where she coordinated all China-related work for the organization. Prior to this position, she founded the China program at The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and oversaw its strategies and operations. She also served as Chief Representative and Country Program Director in China and represented TNC in its partnership with the Government of China. Niu later served as TNC’s Deputy Managing Director of the North Asia Region in the U.S. In 2003, Businessweek named Niu one of the Stars of Asia (25 Leaders at the forefront of change.) After earning a B.Sc in Veterinary Science, Niu worked as a Quarantine Officer in Kunming Quarantine Service of the Chinese Government for ten years. She earned a M.Sc. in Natural Resources Planning and Management from the Asian Institute of Technology. After graduating, she worked as Project Manager for a Thai company in Bangkok for four years. Niu is a native Naxi, an ethnic minority group in Lijiang, Yunnan Province of China and is fluent in English, Mandarin Chinese and Naxi.
Daniela Teston
World Wildlife Fund Brazil
Daniela is Corporate Engagement Manager at World Wildlife Fund Brazil. WWF has worked in Brazil since 1971, but officially opened its office there in 1996. WWF Brazil runs dozens of projects in partnership with regional NGOs, universities and government agencies. It develops activities to support research, legislation, public policy, environmental education and communication with many conservation projects aimed at stimulating sustainable economic alternatives that both involve and benefit local communities.
Xin Yu
World Wildlife Fund China
Xin is a Priority Project Coordinator for Sustainable Food Consumption and Supply Chain at WWF China.
Mauricio Santoro Rocha
State University of Rio de Janeiro
Mauricio Santoro Rocha is a journalist and holds a Ph.D. in Political Science. He currently acts as Professor of the Getulio Vargas Foundation. Previously, he worked as a reporter for the O Globo newspaper, and as a consultant for various NGOs and the Brazilian government. He was an international aid worker for the Instituto Brasileño de Análisis Social (IBASE), and worked in the Ministry of Public Works, Industry and External Commerce and in the National Youth Council of the Presidential Secretary General. Mauricio is the author of the book, Contemporary Dictatorships (published in Portuguese), and of 20 academic articles and book chapters.
