PSYCHEDELICS AND BENEFIT SHARING
December 2nd, 2022 at 11:00am ET
Sacred plant medicines, such as Ayahuasca, are shining a spotlight on the Amazon as well as forming the bedrock of the psychedelic therapeutic revolution. The increased interest in these medicines has brought an inevitable influx of capital. How do we use these resources intelligently and respectfully, to benefit the stewards of these plant medicines, preserve their culture and wisdom, and restore their ecosystems which nurture 80% of the world’s biodiversity?
Miriam Volet
IMC Fund
Miriam Volat, MS, serves as Co-Director with Cody Swift of the Riverstyx Foundation, Interim Executive Director of the Indigenous Peyote Conservation Initiative, Director of the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund, and she is on the Board of Directors of MAPS Public Benefit Corporation. Miriam Volat is the Co-Director of the Riverstyx Foundation and Director of Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund. She works personally and professionally to promote health in all systems. Miriam works as a facilitator, educator, and community organizer to increase broad-based community and ecological resilience and decolonize philanthropy. Her work focuses on the intersection of biological and socio-cultural diversity. She has never stopped exploring nutrient cycles and soil ecology, the emphasis of her M.S. work in the U.C. Davis Vegetable Crops Dept. She also has degrees in political science and environmental studies. Her life’s work at Riverstyx includes supporting efforts that allow issues stigmatized by society to be worked with in a way that brings healing. This includes supporting composting toilets and human bodies and Indigenous medicine, land, and cultural conservation.
Giles Hayward
Woven Science
Giles is the co-founder and President of Woven Science, an ecosystem of companies using psychedelic models of care to bring mental wellness to all. Giles is also the chairman of Wovens corporate foundation El Puente, which is set up to support indigenous biocultural preservation. Giles operates at the intersection of finance, entrepreneurism and holistic wellness. He has a degree is psychology as well as an MBA in sustainable business management. Giles spent the last 9 years building companies that develop non-psychoactive plant and fungal medicine products that balance, build and brighten the body and mind. Prior to this Giles, spent 10 years in corporate finance and impact investing before his first encounter with ayahuasca transformed his trajectory and set him on a path to help others reconnect to themselves and the natural world. Giles is also the Co-Founder of the Tyringham Initiative, a center for consciousness research and transformation and a founding leadership board member of Vista Del Mar, a children’s charity that provides trauma-responsive services that empower children to lead fulfilling lives.
David Langer
Lionheart Ventures
David Langer is a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist and student of indigenous wisdom. He is the founding partner at Lionheart Ventures, a seed-stage venture capital fund investing in startups tackling existential risk to humanity, where he is particularly interested in wisdom as an existential risk factor. His focus lies on wisdom or “consciousness” startups. Prior to Lionheart, David founded Zesty, a healthy corporate catering company acquired by Square in 2018. He is also a certified hatha and yin yoga teacher, experienced Vipassana meditator and lives at Dharma San Juan, a regenerative land community he co-founded in Nosara, Costa Rica. David studied Mathematics at St Anne’s College, Oxford and is a former national table tennis champion in England.
Pablo Friedlander
El Puente
Pablo Friedlander, born in Argentina in 1975, half indigenous half european. Expert in convergences of traditional wisdom with new ecological paradigms of science. Trained in Ethnobotany and Humanities, PhD in Natural Philosophy and Master’s degree in Anthropology, History and Aesthetics, with a degree in Classics and extensive field work in the Amazon & the Andes. Consultant of El Puente Foundation. President of the Fundación de Actividades Biosféricas (Argentina); Director of the Treeangle Foundation (UK-Spain-Brazil-Argentina); Fellow of the Institute of Ecotechnics (USA-UK); Consultant of Beckley Foundation (Oxford) and Supervisor of Fundación Beckley Med (Barcelona). He is leading Ecological Restoration and Intercultural Education initiatives (Academia Biospherica & Accion Serrana / Andes Action) as well as supervising R+D+i scientific projects upon collaborations (Sustainable Ethnobotanicals Research Programme).
Miguel Evanjouanoy
Inga People
Miguel Evanjuanoy is a member of the Inga people from Putumayo, Colombia. He is a community leader and environmental engineer and has been a devote follower of yagé (ayahuasca) medicine since his childhood years. However, he likes to clarify that he is not a healer. Miguel is part of the ´Advocacy and Technical Committee´ of the Union of Indigenous Yage Medics of the Colombian Amazon’s (UMIYAC), as well as a board member in the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund (IMCF). His work focuses on the role that indigenous spirituality plays in territorial defence, peacebuilding and environmental conservation. On behalf of the communities he represents Miguel, takes a stand against cultural appropriation and the indiscriminate commercialization of indigenous practices and sacred plants, with the claim that this “marketed spiritualty” is negatively impacting both indigenous peoples and urban users alike.
