AMAZONIA RISING 2022 WELCOME PLENARY
November 28th, 2022 at 10:00Am ET
In September, 2020, the Amazon Investor Coalition was launched from the stage of the UN 75 Global Governance Forum. Now, two years and hundreds of connections later, investors, philanthropists, corporate buyers, indigenous leaders and allies are collaborating. We are working to help improve governance, the rule of law, forest protection systems, bioeconomies, and more. Join us to learn how you can help to ensure that the Amazon forest is valued more alive and standing, than cut and burned.
Helena Gualinga
Youth Collective of Amazon Defenders
Helena Gualinga is an Ecuadorian environmental and human rights activist from the Kichwa Sarayuku community in Pastaza, Ecuador. She has become a spokesperson for the Sarayuku indigenous community, and exposes the conflict between oil companies and her community in local schools as well as the international community to raise awareness. Gualinga is a co-founder of Polluters out, which was founded to demand refusal of funding coming from fossil fuel corporations by the UNFCCC. She also demonstrated in New York City outside of the UN in 2019. She participated in the COP25 in Madrid, Spain, to speak about her concern on the Ecuadorian government authorizing oil extraction in indigenous land, as well as to criticize the Ecuadorian government for claiming interest in protecting the Amazon during the conference while not having attended to indigenous Amazon women’s demands brought to the government in 2019. She has been featured in Vogue magazine, Revista Hogar magazine, and had the documentary “Helena Sarayaku Manta” made about her life and activism.
Mariana Paulino Lima
Amazon Investor Coalition
Mariana Paulino Lima is an agriculture engineer with a Masters degree in Sustainability from Fundação Getulio Vargas, a Brazilian higher education institution and think tank with a mission to stimulate Brazil’s socioeconomic development. She has 10 years of experience in financial markets, social impact entrepreneurship, and nature-based solutions for climate change. Most recently, she managed projects focused on the Brazilian Amazon working for Partnerships for Forests, a UK- government program implemented by Palladium. She was involved in several projects focused on biodiversity and non-timber forest products, working with potential investors and developing business plans and operations for the businesses. Previous experience includes work with local and indigenous communities in the Amazon. She speaks Portuguese, English and Spanish.
Nicole Schwab
1t.org / World Economic Forum
Nicole is Co-Head, Nature-Based Solutions; and Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum. She has a Master’s degree in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School; and MA in Natural Sciences, Cambridge University. Formerly, she worked on health sector reform projects in Latin America, World Bank and the Ministry of Health of Bolivia. From 2004-06, she served as Founding Director, Forum of Young Global Leaders. Prior to that, she was Co-Founder and President, EDGE Certified Foundation, a global scheme certifying organizations for closing the gender gap in the workplace. She is a facilitator and strategic advisor to non-profit organizations active in reforestation, wellbeing and women’s empowerment; and Author of The Heart of the Labyrinth, a spiritual parable offering a message of Earth-centered wisdom
Yves Lesenfants
Inter-American Development Bank
Yves is Sustainability & Inclusion Senior Specialist – Forest Conservation and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB Group). With a background in ecotoxicology and experience as founder/manager of an ecotourism program in the Andean region, he has designed and coordinated development projects in more than 30 countries, combing field experience with a curiosity for technology. After 20 years in the field working on projects funded by the European Union and major European cooperation agencies, he joined the IDB Group’s Innovation Lab, pushing innovation boundaries at the intersection between digital transformation and conservation finance in the Region. He has been an Ashoka fellow since 2004.
Marcio Sztutman
Partnerships for Forests
Marcio Sztutman is Palladium´s Partnerships for Forests Director in Latin America (2019-Present). MSc in Forestry Sciences, has extensive experience working with sustainable land use initiatives in Latin America including Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela. Specific expertise covers project and programme strategy design and implementation, sustainable supply chain management, indigenous communities, forest restoration, climate change mitigation in the rural sector, multi-stakeholder engagement and alignment. Have hold senior positions (manager and director) in large, international NGO (The Nature Conservancy) where successfully provided oversight of programmes on behalf of USAID, Ffem, BNDES, Moore Foundation, UNESCO, and numerous private engagements (Cargill, Bunge, ADM, Syngenta among others). Conducted consultancies with private clients and served as public officer in Amazonian department of Amapá, in Brazil. Participate as board member of the Finance Lab of Climate Policy Initiative and at the technical committee of JBS Fundo da Amazônia.
Tony Lent
Capital for Climate
Tony is the co-founder of Capital for Climate. He is an executive, entrepreneur, and serial platform builder with 25+ years experience focused on sustainability and climate-focused enterprise. He has mobilized more than $2 billion into the low-carbon market transition. Capital for Climate (C4C) is accelerating capital deployment to climate solutions required to achieve a 1.5°C degree outcome. It provides an integrated offering, including a climate solution intelligence platform, hosted investor communities, education and strategic advisory services. C4C has produced the Nature-based Solutions (NbS) Investment Platform, including coverage of relevant data for the Brazilian Amazon, Cerrado and Chaco biomes; and a Brazil-focused NbS investment acceleration collaborative.
James Mulligan
Amazon.com
James is Head of Carbon Neutralization Science & Strategy at Amazon. He leads the technical and strategic dimensions of Amazon’s investments in carbon reduction and removal measures outside of Amazon’s value chain. Amazon has committed to net zero carbon across all three scopes of its footprint by 2040. They are collaborating with a growing number of companies toward this goal under The Climate Pledge.
Jonah Wittkamper
Amazon Investor Coalition
Jonah Wittkamper is Co-Founder and President of NEXUS, the Amazon Investor Coalition (AIC), the Global Governance Philanthropy Network (GGPN) and the Healthy Democracy Coalition (HDC). NEXUS is a global movement of over 6000 young people from 70 countries dedicated to bridging communities of wealth and impact. The AIC advances forest friendly economic development of the Amazon region of South America. The GGPN unites funders to collaborate on trans-national issues while the HDC connects funders to collaborate on US policy. The various networks involve people from many of the world’s most philanthropic families. Previously, Jonah served as the US Director of Search for Common Ground and was part of Distributive Networks Inc., where he helped to build the text messaging technology used by the 2008 Obama campaign. In 2000, Jonah co-founded the Global Youth Action Network (GYAN) to strengthen youth participation in global decision-making. As the organization grew it merged with TakingITGlobal to form the largest site on the internet dedicated to empowering young leaders, receiving two million hits per day. Earlier in his career, Jonah led an award winning student computing organization, founded two internet startups, and created a corporate social responsibility initiative in one of the world’s largest corporations. He has served as a Co-Founder, board member, or advisor to a number of organizations including Pioneers of Change, the ManyOne Foundation, the L. A. Jonas Foundation, the Millennial Action Project, the Shift Foundation, WISE (Wealthy Individuals – Social Entrepreneurs), and many others. He is an alumnus of Williams College and Camp Rising Sun.
