Peter Akkerman
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Founder ‘Bos dat van zichzelf is’ – Wood that owns itself
Defender Rights of Nature
The Netherlands
Alejandro Álvarez-Vanegas
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Alejandro Álvarez-Vanegas is a Process Engineer from Universidad EAFIT in Colombia. He holds a MSc in Sustainability Sciences from the Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany and a PhD in Higher Education for Sustainability from the University of Maastricht, Holland and the UNU-MERIT. He has been a professor at Universidad EAFIT since 2015, currently in the Department of Natural Systems and Sustainability. He serves on the boards of the Low Carbon City Foundation and the Otraparte Cultural Corporation.
Joan Anderson
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Joan Anderson was born in Scotland and graduated from St. Andrews University. She worked as a magazine editor in London, then worked for NGOs for ten years – first with VSO (the UK equivalent of Peace Corps), then with Save the Children UK. She spent nearly 5 years living and working in Cambodia. Already a practicing Buddhist, she then moved to Japan to work for the Soka Gakkai Buddhist organization where she has been for 25 years. She first encountered the Earth Charter in 1999, and became passionate about its inspiring vision of a caring planetary community. For SGI, she has helped create a series of exhibitions that introduce the Earth Charter.
Nobuyuki Asai
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Nobuyuki Asai serves as executive director of the Soka Gakkai Peace Committee and director for sustainable development and humanitarian affairs for Soka Gakkai International (SGI).
He has worked in the Tokyo headquarters of the Soka Gakkai Buddhist association since 1999 and joined the peace committee in 2011. He served as chair of Soka Gakkai’s Youth Peace Conference until 2019, covering global issues including nuclear disarmament, humanitarian affairs and the SDGs.
Nobuyuki is a member of several civil society networks for SDGs and relevant issues and is a leadership council member of the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities (JLILFC) and chair of the disaster unit of the Japan Civil Society Network on the SDGs.
He was born in Miyagi Prefecture in 1976. He graduated from Tokyo University with a Bachelor of Law degree.
Alicia Barcena
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Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources of Mexico. She served as Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Mexico from June 2023 to September 2024. Previously, she served as Mexico’s ambassador to Chile. From 2008 to 2022, she served as Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). At this United Nations (UN) agency based in Santiago, Chile, she also served as Deputy Executive Secretary and Director of the Environment and Human Settlements Division. At the UN, she was Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management to then-Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff to then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Dr. Bárcena is a Mexican diplomat, biologist, and academic who also worked at the Secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), where she was responsible for the oceans chapter of Agenda 21, among others. As executive director of the Earth Council, Dr. Bárcena led the launch of the Earth Charter Initiative in 1994.
Amanda Bennett
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Amanda Bennett Rivera is a fourth-grade teacher in New Jersey (USA) with a background in international education, youth engagement, and sustainable development. Born in Costa Rica and raised in the U.S., she brings a global lens to her work in the classroom and activism.
Amanda holds a B.A. in Experimental Psychology from the University of South Carolina, an M.P.P. from the University of Maryland, and a Master’s in Environment, Development, and Peace from the University for Peace in Costa Rica. Her previous roles include Programme Manager for the Youth Programme at the ECI Secretariat and the Center for Education for Sustainable Development at UPEACE. She has also taught English in Costa Rica and Peru and interned with organizations focused on public health and creative civic engagement.
Chloé Bernardino
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After she graduated from the University for Peace in Costa Rica with a Master of Arts in Development Studies and Diplomacy (in partnership with UNITAR), Chloé joined the Earth Charter while writing her thesis. She completed the Leadership, Sustainability and Ethics course, and became a co-facilitator for next sessions. She is now working in a citizen movement in France, developing the youth program. Besides, she volunteers in other international and European organisations, working overall on empowering youth to invest decision-making spaces and governance to influence and/or take decisions towards a more ecological, regenerative, fair, solidary world.
Michael Bracken
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Michael J. Bracken (United States) is the Chair of the ECI Board. He has served as the President of Medcom Benefit Solutions (Medcom), a leading provider of employee benefit administration and consulting services for prominent employers throughout the U.S since 1996.
Klaus Bosselmann
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Dr. Klaus Bosselmann (German/New Zealand) is Professor of Environmental Law and Founding Director of the New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law at the University of Auckland. During his long-standing academic career in Germany and New Zealand, he has served as a consultant to the United Nations, the OECD, the European Union and several governments. He has been involved in the drafting of key international agreements including the UN Climate Change Convention, the Earth Charter and the Global Pact for the Environment. Professor Bosselmann has published thirty books and over a hundred articles in the areas of environmental ethics and law, political ecology, global governance and international environmental law including the one together with Prue Taylor, Ecological Approaches to Environmental Law (2017).
Ayla’s Castle
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For Ayla, music is her castle! For this special celebration, she has written a song that she will perform solo with multiple voices. She hopes to bring a soothing moment for the worried mind. You can check her out at hyperfollow.com/aylascastle
Peter Blaze Corcoran
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Dr. Peter Blaze Corcoran is Professor Emeritus of Environmental Studies and Environmental Education at Florida Gulf Coast University. He has been a faculty member at College of the Atlantic, Swarthmore College, and Bates College in the United States. He has held appointments as a visiting professor at universities in Australia, The Netherlands, Fiji, Malaysia, and Kenya. Currently, he serves as Adjunct Professor of Environmental and Sustainability Education at University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia and as Senior Advisor for Faith and Ecology to Unity Earth in Melbourne, Australia. In 2024, he received the Thomas Berry Award for his research on Earth Charter ethics. He has long served as Research Fellow at the Earth Charter Center for Education for Sustainable Development at University for Peace in San José, Costa Rica. He is a Past-president of the North American Association for Environmental. Earth Ethics Institute at Miami Dade College has designated him as an Elder. Corcoran is a member of the Board of Directors at the Frances Perkins Center. He serves on the Grant Selection Council of Purpose Earth, a new organization which supports community and environmental activism worldwide. He continues to be active as a scholar on a range of topics in educational and environmental studies, including youth climate anxiety, Indigenous ways of knowing, and wonder.
Sam Crowell
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Dr. Crowell is professor emeritus of education at California State University–San Bernardino and a founder and co-director of the MA in Holistic and Integrative Education and the Center for Holistic and Integrative Learning. He has worked as an elementary school teacher, a principal, an administrator, and a university professor. He considers himself a holistic educator and an advocate of the artistry of teaching. He has been actively engaged with Education for Sustainable Development and the Earth Charter and co-authored the book, “The Re-Enchantment of Learning: A Manual for Teacher Renewal and Classroom Transformation” published by Corwin Press, and just released his new book, “Emergent Teaching: A Path of Creativity, Significance, and Transformation.”
Severn Cullis-Suzuki
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Severn has been an activist for intergenerational justice her whole life – justice for future generations. As a child, being deeply concerned about the environment, she started the Environmental Children’s Organization with friends in grade five, which culminated a few years later in a speech to the UN Earth Summit in 1992 at age 12. She was a youth when she was on the Earth Charter Commission, and contributed to the drafting of the Earth Charter and has remained actively engaged in the initiative. She has worked with many environmental organizations, including as executive director of the David Suzuki Foundation. Today Severn’s focus is the nexus of decline in diversity of biodiversity, worldviews, economies, language, traditional knowledge and identity. She holds an M.Sc. in Ethnoecology and is pursuing a PhD on endangered language revitalization.
Grian Cutanda
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Grian Cutanda (Spain) has a PhD in Education Sciences and a BA and MA in Psychology. Cutanda is the founder of The Earth Stories Collection and The Avalon Project, an Earth Charter International Affiliated organization from Spain. In addition, he is translator, communicator and author of 15 books (fiction and essay), translated into 12 languages, with an international bestseller, The Gardener. Social and environmental activist in Spain and Scotland, he actively participated in the Indignados Movement (forerunner of the Occupy Movement) and the People’s Climate March, and has been one of the initial drivers of Extinction Rebellion in Spain and Mexico. Founder of the educational and activist NGO The Avalon Project – Initiative for a Culture of Peace, his research has given rise to The Earth Stories Collection.
Jessica den Outer
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Founder ‘Stichting Rechten van de Natuur’
Rights of Nature: UN expert | author | speaker | director @rechtenvandenatuur
The Netherlands
Heather Eaton
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Heather Eaton, Full Professor, Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada: interdisciplinary Ph.D. in ecology, feminism and theology. Committed to integral ecology, ethics, and religious responses to ecological crises. Involved in conferences, workshops, teaching and publishing in these areas. Her authored and edited books include Earthly Things: Immanence, New Materialisms, and Planetary Thinking, with Karen Bray and Whitney Bauman, (2023); Advancing Nonviolence and Social Transformation: New Perspectives on Nonviolent Theories with Lauren Levesque (2016): The Intellectual Journey of Thomas Berry: Imagining the Earth Community (2014):Ecological Awareness: Exploring Religion, Ethics and Aesthetics, with Sigurd Bergmann (2011) : Introducing Ecofeminist Theologies ( 2005), and Ecofeminism and Globalization: Exploring Religion, Culture, Context (2003) with Lois Ann Lorentzen, plus dozens of academic articles. She is on the board of the journal Worldviews: Global Religions, Environment and Culture, previously on the steering committee of Religion and Ecology at the American Academy of Religion, and past president of the Canadian Theological Society. Recent work includes a) Integral ecology: b) Earth dynamics and religious imagination: c) peace and conflict studies on gender, ecology, leadership: d) animal rights: e) Nonviolence.
Edward M. Feasel
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Edward M. Feasel became Soka University of America’s second president in July 2020, after serving as one of its founding faculty members.
Founded by Buddhist philosopher Daisaku Ikeda, SUA is a liberal arts institution dedicated to fostering global citizens. Since opening in 2001 in Aliso Viejo, California, SUA has promoted peace, human rights, and respect for the dignity of life, emphasizing the development of courage, compassion, and wisdom in its students.
Since SUA’s founding, Feasel has shaped the university at every level. As the first dean of students, he built the student affairs infrastructure. Later, as dean of faculty (2005-2017), he developed the Environmental Studies concentration, strengthened language instruction, and launched the Distinguished Visiting Scholars Program.
His leadership as executive vice president and chief academic officer brought tangible growth: a new science building, additional residence halls, and a 30% expansion of students and faculty. He also oversaw the creation of the Life Sciences concentration.
An economist by training, Feasel studies how societal values influence economic outcomes. His research focuses on regional economics, growth dynamics, development assistance, trade policy, and fiscal impacts. He’s authored two books: Japan’s Aid: Lessons for Economic Growth, Development and Political Economy and Exports, Trade Policy and Economic Growth in Eras of Globalization.
Feasel holds a bachelor’s in economics from Yale and a doctorate from UC Berkeley.
Willem Ferwerda
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Founder of Commonland, which aims to restore 100 million hectares of the world’s degraded landscapes by 2040. Ferwerda developed a model to engage industry and investors: four returns from landscape. In the documentary Green Gold 2 (2014) the four returns model is explained. He studied tropical ecology and environmental science in Amsterdam and Bogotá and has a background in non-profit as well as profit organisations. He has worked in several (tropical) countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia on tourism, conservation and restoration of ecosystems. From 2000 to March 2012 he was director of IUCN Netherlands, the Dutch office of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the largest international union of nature organizations, states and scientists. He holds board or advisor positions at several institutions such as the World Land Trust (UK), the Charles Darwin Foundation (Galapagos, Ecuador), the Lippe-Biesterfeld NatureCollege Foundation (NL) and is ambassador of the Dutch Platform on Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Economy. Ferwerda is also member of the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration.
Cathy Fitzgerald
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Dr Cathy Fitzgerald is an ecological artist, educator, and founder of Haumea Ecoversity—an online ecoliteracy learning community for creative professionals and educators. Originally trained as a scientist in New Zealand and later involved with Close-to-Nature forestry NGOs in Ireland, she is a 2021 alumnus of the Accredited Earth Charter ESD Educator Programme. Cathy believes that eco-ethical-informed creativity is essential to inspire a more compassionate and just world in ways that science alone cannot achieve.
Originally from Aotearoa New Zealand, Cathy has lived in rural Ireland—her ancestral homeland—for over 30 years. In 2023, she contributed to the Earth Charter International Magazine with her article, “Understanding how Creativity Works for a Better World: Unifying Insights From Ecological Art Practice and Values-Based Transformative ESD Learning.” In this reflection, she explored parallel insights that have emerged in recent decades within Education for Sustainable Development and the growing field of ecological art practice.
Since 2019, Cathy and philosopher Dr Nikos Patedakis (USA) have guided more than 400 creative professionals worldwide through transformative training grounded in the Earth Charter’s ecological worldview and its environmental, social, democratic, and peace principles—work Cathy also presented at the 2024 Earth Charter Conference in Florida.
At Earth Charter 25+, Cathy will introduce the new Irish translation of the Earth Charter and the Little Children’s Earth Charter, and share how Irish creative professionals are using the Earth Charter in imaginative ways to activate diverse and inclusive citizen engagement—fostering a better, more just, and thriving world.
Maria Garcia-Alvarez
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Maria Garcia-Alvarez (Spain/Netherlands) is a Senior lecturer by the Global Project and Change Management BBA program at the Windesheim University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. She is a lecturer in Geopolitics & Globalization and Global Challenges, using the Earth Charter to teach on values approach to sustainable development. She is co-developer and coordinator of the educational concept Value Creators, awarded by the Dutch Ministry of Education with the higher award on education innovation. She is an Earth Charter certified ESD Educator and she is involved in other international networks working on Sustainable Development, such is UN SDSN, UN Habitat, Wellbeing Economy Alliance and the IDGs initiative. She is a PhD Candidate at the Faculty of Philosophy, Anthropology and Education at the University of the Basque country, where she carries research on innovative learning environments to foster Education for Sustainable Development. She is also a guest lecturer for the Master of Leadership and Sustainability Aldatuz, faculty of Economics at the university of the Basque Country, where she lecturers on alternative futures for sustainable development. She has authored and co-authored different articles published internationally in the field of ESD. At the moment, she is also Special Editor for Springer Nature series on Discover Sustainability, where she guides an edition highlighting tools and concepts to overcome barriers for a full implementation of ESD in higher education. In the Netherlands, she is member of the Board of Directors of the National Comenius Network, fostering innovation in higher education.
Mahlet Girma
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Mahlet is a Program Director and advocate for youth and women, with expertise in program and project coordination, training, advocacy, as well as conference, workshop, and event management. Currently, she leads programs at Inspired Development, a local NGO in Addis Ababa, focusing on climate action, peacebuilding, and women’s empowerment.
Previously, she was General Manager of Limitless Youth Training and Consultancy, where she implemented training programs for over 2,400 students. She also volunteers as a Life Skills Trainer at American Space and as a Youth Leader with Earth Charter International, promoting sustainability and ethical leadership. As a YALI EA (Young African Leaders Initiative East Africa) fellow (2023) and winner of the Civic Track Project Competition, Mahlet gained valuable leadership skills, and developed a winning project focused on social impact.
Neshan Gunasekera
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Neshan Gunasekera, WIJA is an international lawyer, educationist, leadership coach, facilitator and environmentalist from Sri Lanka. He is committed to bring communities together for environmental protection, healing and conservation through the use of intergenerational, holistic and experiential learning. Between 2008 – 2012, he Directed the Training for Trusteeship Programme, which brought together international students from various parts of the world to Sri Lanka. This programme utilized the Earth Charter both in principle application and as a guide for its training and follow up projects and the Earth Charter Secretariat was a key partner providing insight and inspiration to this effort. In 2024, he was involved in drafting the People’s Pact for the Future which was a participatory lobbying document produced by a large coalition of CSOs led by the Coalition for the UN We Need and was launched ahead of the UN CSO Conference in Nairobi. This document draws from the Earth Charter as a key document informing decision making at the multilateral level and for the future. Neshan holds membership in several organizations and networks, including IUCN, World Ethics Forum, Climate Rights International and is currently, Co-Chair, Earth Trusteeship Initiative – Working Group, CEO and Councilor, World Future Council and Lead Counsel, on Peace, Governance and Future Generations, Centre for International Sustainable Development Law.
Miguel Heilbron
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Miguel Heilbron is an expert in the field of Global Citizenship and how to make this concrete and applicable in education and at organizations in various sectors. Miguel started a number of national organisations and initiatives in The Netherlands, and developed the ‘Global Citizenship Circle Framework’. Miguel started the organization GlobalCitizenship.Community and acts as chairman of a national Dutch initiative “Collective Global Citizenship Education” in which various national organizations in The Netherlands participate that are active in the field of Global Citizenship Education. Previously, Miguel together with others started the organization The Black Archives and the initiative ’10 times more history’. Miguel also taught about socially responsible entrepreneurship at Nyenrode New Business School. Originally trained as a development economist and engineer, Miguel previously worked for various organizations, projects and initiatives in Europe, Africa, South America and Asia.
Natascha Kooiman
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Natascha Kooiman is what you’d call a Sustainability Rebel—with heart, vision, and an unstoppable drive to shake things up for the better. She’s the founder of Smaackmakers, co-founder of both the Transition Coalition Food and The Conscious Office. At her core, Natascha believes we’re gradually waking up to a deeper sense of interconnectedness—shifting from the Anthropocene to what she calls the Symbiocene. It’s about more than just connecting with ourselves and each other; it’s about feeling part of the planet again, and taking real responsibility for the life we share it with.
With her latest initiative (co-founder), The Conscious Office, Natascha playfully nudges the corporate world to rediscover this sense of connection. The goal? To inspire both people and businesses to reflect on—and act on—the kind of impact they want to have in the world.
Her mission ties in seamlessly with the work she’s been doing for over 12 years in the protein transition space. Through Smaackmakers, a social enterprise, and her role at Transition Coalition Food, she’s pushing for the radical shift toward a sustainable, healthy, and more plant-based food system.
Natascha’s fighting spirit brought her to be the Dutch coordinator for Sustainable Development Goal 2, a board member of The Week Without Meat, listed among the Sustainable Young 100 and Food100, a TED speaker, and has twice been named one of VIVA400’s “young women of influence.” For six years, Smaackmakers served on the advisory board of the UN’s Sustainable Food Systems Program. Oh, and she also launched the campaign “A Little Less Meat Advertising”—because every bite counts.
Alicia Jimenez
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Alicia Jiménez is Director of Programmes at the Earth Charter International (ECI) Secretariat in Costa Rica. She is a biologist from the University of Costa Rica, with a MSc in Resource Development from Michigan State University in the United States and a PhD on Education from La Salle University, Costa Rica. Since 1998, she has been working in the field of conservation and sustainable development. She worked in the IUCN Mesoamerica’s Regional Office and the National University of Costa Rica, and has been involved as a visiting professor at the University for Peace. In 2006, she joined the ECI, where she oversees the Earth Charter work especially in Latin America, Africa & the Middle East and Asia Pacific. In addition, she is involved with the Secretariat’s projects on education for sustainable development, facilitating courses, workshops and research processes. As part of her doctoral research, Alicia generated the instruments and methodology of the Earth Charter School Seal. She received a fellowship at Leuphana University (Germany) to work in the area of transdisciplinarity and education for sustainable development.
Claudy Jongstra
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A graduate of the HKU College of Art in Utrecht, Claudy Jongstra began her career in fashion. Concerned about the impacts of an industry she had come to see as harmful to the planet, Jongstra began to channel her creative energies into developing her artistic practice to integrate and honour the whole life cycle of the wool and plant-based colours in her artworks.
Particularly inspired by a nomadic yurt she encountered in an exhibition at the TextielMuseum in Tilburg, Jongstra has worked with wool since 1994. Jongstra’s early wool works inspired successful collaborations with John Galliano, Hermès, and Christian Lacroix, and appeared in the Star Wars franchise as the iconic long-coats of the Jedi warriors.
Jongstra began creating wall-sized artworks for international architectural commissions and raising a flock of Drenthe Heath sheep in 2001, when she moved her Amsterdam atelier to the countryside of Friesland, The Netherlands, to establish Studio Claudy Jongstra. In 2008, Jongstra received the Cultuurfonds Award for Applied Arts and Architecture, which she used to plant a biodynamic dyer’s collection garden beside her natural dye lab. The garden is now home to some of the most mature existing historical dye plants in Europe – including Rubia tinctoria (madder), which is included in the collection of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands.
With ecological justice at the centre of her artistic practice, Claudy Jongstra has created several self-initiated, large-scale artworks that have been exhibited internationally as visual manifestoes calling for action, including Woven Skin (2018), Guernica de la Ecología (2022), and the Tangible Transformation series (2023-2024).
Jaap Jongejan
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Jaap Jongejan, The Netherlands, is director-board member of SBI Estate Zonheuvel. He is a true networker, inspirator and innovator. SBI engages in dialogue at all levels with people in enterprises and in society. SBI supports innovative thinking in labour relations, in which cooperation, reflection and inspiration are important values. Thinking differently as the starting point for different actions.
Jane Kilonzo
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Jane Kionzo (Kenya) is a Professional Accountant and Banker by training and former Deputy Managing Director at Bank of Africa, Kenya. Jane Kilonzo has 26 years of banking experience, cutting across all operations and risk management practices of the bank encompassing Environmental and Social Risks oversight as well as risk management training in several countries in Africa. Over the years, she has strived to high standards of moral and ethical principles in whatever she engaged in.
Ms. Kilonzo’s work and interest on sustainability issues has been twofold; in her professional banking work and on a personal level. Along these lines, she was responsible for the implementation and monitoring of Environmental and Social Risk procedures in the Bank’s Lending Process, involving the Bank’s Group Sustainability Charter centered around 6 commitments to guide its practices. For several years she was involved in the Kenya Bankers’ Association (KBA) CEO Roundtable Forums on Sustainable Finance.
She is passionate about social justice and gender equality and has over the years been actively engaged as a Director in the work of several not-for profit organizations working in the area of social justice and ethical leadership, namely: Carolina for Kibera, an organization working to catalyze positive change in the largest slum in Kenya and largest urban slum in Africa, and alleviate poverty through the pillars of Primary Healthcare, Education & Livelihood, and Empowerment of the girl child living in the informal settlement; Teule Kenya an organization focused on rehabilitating street children and orphans as well as vulnerable children; CBT Africa an Organization committed to mentoring, empowering and mobilizing ethical leaders in Africa. Ms. Kilonzo was also Patron and Founder of the Nawiri Women Network at the bank aimed at gender equality and creating an enabling culture for growth by addressing challenges specific to women.
Tineke Lambooy
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Dr. Tineke Lambooy is a professor of Corporate Law at Nyenrode University and a Research Fellow at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. Dr. Lambooy conducts multidisciplinary research projects aimed at the implementation of sustainability goals by private companies (Corporate Social Responsibility). She is active as a member in the Worldconnectors and the Earth Charter Friends Working Group Future Generations. Together with Ruud Lubbers and Willem van Genugten, she published a book on the Earth Charter, Inspiration for Global Governance (2008) sixty years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Dr. Lambooy worked with Ruud Lubbers on the mediation of a trade dispute between India and the Netherlands, using the Earth Charter as an ethical framework, which had led to a successful resolution.
In 2020, she initiated the first worldwide study on Rights of Nature initiatives. 409 initiatives were collected and analyzed by a very skilled team and made available in an open access data base and academic paper in the Journal of Maps (2020); https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17445647.2022.2079432.
In 2023, together with B Lab Benelux and Earth Law Center, she initiated a study on including Nature as a stakeholder in the governance structures of private companies. An open access toolkit was produced: https://www.onboardingnature.com/.
Song Li
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Song Li (China/United States) is retired as the Senior Environmental Specialist at the World Bank, Middle East and North Africa Region. She was the Regional Coordinator for the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. She worked with the United Nations Environment Programme, responsible for the financial mechanism of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Song Li was Director, Division of Environmental Law, Legal Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China. She has an Environmental Law Master’s degree from George Washington University Law School; studied at the University Paris III and IIV, France and at the Institute of foreign languages of Beijing, French language, World Economics and History.
Paul Lubbers
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Paul Lubbers (Netherlands/Spain) is Director of Breesaap Green Link, a clean-tech business investment company in Madrid, Spain. Paul has set up various businesses focused on sustainability and serves on the Supervisory Board of various companies in the areas of renewable energy and sustainable transport.
Michelle Maloney
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Michelle Maloney is an Earth lawyer, educator and writer. She is the Co-Founder and National Convenor of the Australian Earth Laws Alliance (AELA), a not-for-profit organisation advocating for Earth laws and ecocentrism. She is also the Director of Future Dreaming, an Indigenous and non-Indigenous partnership organisation working to build cross cultural ecological knowledge in Australia. Michelle has degrees in Political Science and Law (Hons) from the Australian National University and a PhD in Law from Griffith University. She has published books and articles, as well as hosted dozens of webinar series, courses and events, exploring Rights of Nature, Earth jurisprudence, bioregional approaches to ecocentrism and decolonising Western knowledge. For more information, visit: www.michellemaloney.au or www.earthlaws.org.au
Christa Meindersma
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Christa Meindersma is chair of the Worldconnectors. Christa is mediator and international lawyer with extensive experience in international diplomacy and conflict resolution. She worked as senior political advisor and negotiator for the UN and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She led complex negotiations between warring parties and governments in conflict areas such as East Timor/Indonesia, Kosovo, Sudan, Nigeria/Cameroon, Nepal and served also in New York. Subsequently Christa held management and board positions at NGOs, charities and non-profit organizations in the Netherlands and commented on foreign policy issues in the media. Christa was co-founder of The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, director of the Prince Claus Fund and co-director of the International Campaign for Tibet-Europe, a global organization dedicated to seeking a peaceful resolution to the 60-year conflict in Tibet. In these roles, she designed and led dialogues and round table discussions with various stakeholders to make complex problems discussable. Christa’s international interest and involvement started in 1986 when she travelled to Tibet. In 2022 Christa published her first book entitled ‘Bullet from Beijing: stories from occupied Tibet.’
Herman Mulder
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Currently: Chair Impact Economy Foundation (www.impacteconomyfoundation.org), True Price Foundation; Chair SDG Netherlands Foundation; Advisory Board member Social Finance NL and Sociaal Innovatiefonds; board member “Het Groene Brein”; member (and former interim- chair) Nyenrode Corporate Governance Institute; member Bretton Woods Committee; Advisor to i.a. Global Compact NL; faculty member Competent Boards; initiator of “Symfonie-project”; Steward BforGoodLeaders platform; co-initiator Resource Wende; ambassador Earth Charter
Formerly: (i.a.) Co-initiator SDG-Investing initiative (2016); Independent Member NCP-NL for OECD MNE Guidelines(2007-2016); board member and Chair Global Reporting Initiative (GRI: 2007-2014); board member Utz Kapeh (now: Rain Forest Alliance); Director-General ABN AMRO Bank (co-head Group Risk Management; Global Head Structured Finance; until 2006); co-initiator Equator Principles (2002/3).
Other: Knight in the Royal Order of Oranje-Nassau (2005), promoted to Officer (2017); frequent speaker and guest lecturer (RSM, Nyenrode) on sustainability, blended finance, impact investing, governance, SDGs, ESG; interview Nieuwe Ankers: http://youtu.be/xzkEBBo2_LU;
Education: LL.M(Leiden University, 1969), B.Ec (Erasmus University, 1971); INSEAD Executive Program (2003); MIT-course “AI for Business Strategy” (2024);
André Nijhof
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Prof. dr. André Nijhof is professor Sustainable Business and Stewardship at Nyenrode Business University. His research delves into the intersection of business and societal impact with a focus on how responsible leaders and committed organization can initiate systemic change towards higher levels of sustainability. Based on his book Changing the Game, he is involved in developing transition strategies for amongst others the infra sector and financial sector. Besides his work at Nyenrode, he is a visiting professor at the UN-mandated University for Peace (Costa Rica).
Hiria Ottino
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Dr. Hiria Ottino, an anthropologist specializing in Chinese medicine, has a career spanning diplomacy, tourism, and international relations. He worked with the UN World Food Program, advised the President of French Polynesia, and led Tahiti Tourism. In 2010, as experimental archaeology, he sailed a Polynesian outrigger canoe from Tahiti to China in 123 days, retracing ancient migration routes. Elected President of the Pacific China Friendship Association in 2016 representing 21 Pacific nations and received the Chinese Government Friendship Award in 2021. An honorary member of the Tahitian Historical Society, celebrating its 100th anniversary, he has authored several books on China.
Akpezi Ogbuigwe
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Akpezi Ogbuigwe (Nigeria, Lagos) is the Chair of the Earth Charter International Council. Dr. Akpezi Ogbuigwe is the Founder of Anpez Centre for Environment and Development (ACFED), a centre she founded in 1991 to respond to the huge environmental neglect and pollution of the Niger Delta Region. She is the promoter of The Star Advantage Network founded to mobilise and proliferate change actions to keep HOPE (Help One Person Everyday) alive and lighten up our world in every dimension. She currently serves as UNU-RCE’s Regional Adviser for the region of Africa, where she facilitates cooperation and partnerships for sustainable development from local to global and vice versa.
Dr. Ogbuigwe served as the Head of Environmental Education and Training at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP 2002 – 2014), the main focal point for UNEP for the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, and the Coordinator of UNEP’s Ecosystem Management Programme. While at UNEP, among other responsibilities, she coordinated UNEP’s multi-stakeholder programme on Mainstreaming Environment and Sustainability in African Universities (MESA) and the student’s movement on Sustainability Generation. Dr. Ogbuigwe was also UNEP’s focal point, trainer, and facilitator for the UNEP/University of Joensuu Course on International Environmental Law Making and Diplomacy, as well as the lead writer of the UNEP Environmental Education and Training Implementation Strategy for 2008 – 2011. Prior to joining UNEP in 2002, she was a Reader and Dean, for five years, at the Faculty of Law, Rivers State University (RSU) where she was appointed Reader in 1999. Between 2010 and 2012, she was appointed a guest professor at the Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
With over thirty years of professional experience as a law professor and avid researcher in transformative change in higher education in Africa, environmental law and policy, and sustainable development and education or sustainable development, she facilitates university partnerships and actively engages in civil society participation and has contributed to various articles published in international journals and book chapters. Her publications include: The Imperative for Legal Education Responsiveness to the Climate Change Exigency, in Faculty of Law RSU 40th Anniversary Publication (2022); SDG 17 Partnerships for the Goals: A view from inside Africa’s Higher Education Institutions, in Approaches to SDG 17 Partnerships for the SDGs (SDGs), GUNI, 28-36 (2018); Climate Change Education in Africa, SAJEE, 2009. Access her TEDXFGCU talk on Africa: An Alternate Narrative (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyLgMFMS6QI); and plenary keynote lecture at the 2018 AASHEC Conference at https://youtu.be/1NU-JKLcw0w.
Dr. Ogbuigwe has received awards and distinctions such as the Environmental Creation Awareness Award from Environment Outreach magazine (2010) and the Outstanding Young Persons of Nigeria Award in recognition of contributions to Moral and Environmental Leadership by the Junior Chamber International Nigeria during its 40th Anniversary Convention (1997). She was also honored as the Rachel Carson Distinguished Professor by the Center for Environmental and Sustainability Education at Florida Gulf Coast University, United States, in 2011.
Anthony Ogbuigwe
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Engr. Tony Ogbuigwe has over 40 years’ experience in the Oil and Gas Industry including senior positions in the NNPC Group and in Nigeria LNG Company. He was the Executive Project Manager Nigeria LNG Ltd from 2002 to 2010, responsible for managing the construction of Trains 4, 5, and 6 which together produce about 12.6million tons per annum of liquefied natural gas (LNG). He was Managing Director, Port Harcourt Refining Company (PHRC) from February 2010 till June 2012. He was thereafter the Group Executive Director, Refining and Petrochemicals of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) until December 2013 before retiring statutorily and meritoriously.
In recognition of his wide-ranging experience and expertise, Tony was elected President of the African Refiners Association in March 2013, a position he held until 2014. Since then, he has continued to function as an Advisor to the Association for the ECOWAS Region. This Association is the voice for the entire Petroleum Refineries and Downstream petroleum marketing and distribution sector in Africa. They have championed investment in infrastructure, improvement of the efficiency of the sector and the quality of petroleum products produced and sold in the continent.
Tony is a Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering, the Nigerian Society of Engineers, the Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers and the British Institution of Chemical Engineers. In a special role as Senior Ambassador, he has served to foster cooperation between the NSChE and the IChemE. He is also the Chairman of the Board of the Centre for Gas, Refining and Petrochemicals Studies of the University of Port Harcourt, through which he continues to foster cooperation between Academia and Industry to produce graduates that meet the needs of Industry.
Odette Oosterkamp
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Earth Charter Young Leader, committed to helping people realize their full potential while building a sustainable, equitable, and peaceful world. With expertise in psychology and technology, Odette creates innovative solutions. Her mission is to turn ideas into impactful action by uniting people, organizations, and projects to inspire lasting change. She is part of the EC2025 project team in the Netherlands.
Laura María Rodríguez Uribe
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Laura Maria is a sustainability and impact-driven young professional with an MSc in Sustainability and Business from the University of Leeds (UK), and a GRI Certified Sustainability Professional. She has extensive experience at the intersection of sustainability, business, and finance, with a strong focus on stakeholder engagement and cross-sector collaboration. At the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), she led international cooperation projects across Latin America, launched the GRI Certification Program in Spanish, and promoted sustainability standards in key sectors like agriculture in Peru. She has also contributed to academic research through the University of Leeds, Oikos International, and PRME, with a focus on integrating biodiversity into corporate strategy.
Passionate about ethical leadership, nature conservation, and sustainable development, she has been an active member of the Earth Charter movement since 2021, where she has facilitated the Leadership, Sustainability & Ethics (LSE) Course to empower youth in implementing Earth Charter-inspired projects, contributing towards a more sustainable future. In academia, she has served as an assistant professor in corporate social responsibility and sustainability at Colombian business schools. Laura also holds a diploma in Conservation, Biodiversity Assessment, and Sustainable Bioeconomy from Pontifical Xavierian University and a BA in Business, Tourism, and Hotel Administration from Externado University of Colombia.
Mary (Joy) Philip
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I am an Indian (from India) and was a professor of Zoology in Bangalore, India, before I took my doctorate in Systematic Theology from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
I am trained to be a zoology teacher and theologian but my journey has taken me to places that I had not planned to go, and to vocations that I had not envisioned engaging in. But to the places I go, I try to represent the place that is in me. And to the vocations I find myself called to, I try to invocate the passion that is in me, and convoke the resources that are available to me.
MSc (Zoology), Gandhiji University, India, 1985.
MA, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2003.
PhD, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, 2009.
Alide Roerink
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Alide Roerink (The Netherlands) is an anthropologist and has been involved over the years in networking, advocacy, and policy development for gender justice, international solidarity, and global governance. Alide was coordinator of Vrouwenberaad Ontwikkelingssamenwerking, a network of gender experts in development agencies in The Netherlands. Between the year 2000 and 2013 she worked at the National Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development (NCDO).
Alide coordinated the NCDO Earth Charter programme and the Round Table of Worldconnectors for People and the Planet. NCDO served for many years as EC Affiliate to Earth Charter International and cooperated with the Earth Charter Initiative in the launch of the Earth Charter in 2000 in the Peace Palace in The Hague, in the Earth Charter+5, +10 and +15 Events in The Netherlands. Alide Roerink initiated and co-edited the book Earth Charter in Action: Towards a Sustainable World. Alide Roerink was advisor to the Earth Charter Initiative before she joined the Council.
Currently she is active as family farmer of a food forest, next to taking part in the Earth Charter ‘ShareHood’ community in The Netherlands (https://www.earthcharterdeelgenootschap.nl/).
Valeria Santos
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Valeria has been part of the Earth Charter network since 2021, when she participated in the LSE course and became a Young Leader. Since then, she has actively engaged in various Earth Charter events, particularly those focused on youth. Originally from Venezuela, Valeria has lived across different parts of Europe, pursuing opportunities for work, study, and cultural exploration. She currently works in the renewable energy industry from Madrid, where she has found a middle ground between her passion for sustainability and her engineering background.
Rabbi Soetendorp
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Rabbi, writer and publicist Awraham Soetendorp was rabbi of the Liberal Jewish Community in The Hague from 1968 to 2008. Soetendorp is president of the European Region of the World Union of Progressive Judaism and vice-chairman of the Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders. He is the founder of the Fund Hope for Children. He is also a member of the ‘International Green Cross’, the ‘Earth Charter‘ International Commission, ‘Water for Life’, and the committee for Millennium Development Goals. In the One Voice movement he is active in bringing together peace groups in Palestine and Israel.
Veronique Swinkels
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Veronique Swinkels is a strategist, activist, entrepreneur and changemaker, currently living in The Netherlands, dedicated to integrating nature and future generations into business and governance. She is the founder of Innerpact, a foundation that places nature at the core of decision-making, helping individuals and organizations align with the SDGs and the Earth Charter.
She holds a Masters degree in communication policy, is trained in conflict resolution, Yoga, Theory U, Deep Democracy, and creative leadership. She completed her Sustainability Management training at the University of Cambridge. She recently completed a facilitator-program in Systemic Dynamics (Hellinger Institute).
Veronique holds leadership and advisory roles with Lab for Future Generations, was on the board of Earth Charter affiliate Worldconnectors, co-author of SDG Spotlight Report NL, and a long standing Earth Charter friend. She is currently co-organizing the Earth Charter+25 event in 2025.
Kazuo Takahashi
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Former Official of OECD and Advisor of the Library of Alexandria
Former Professor of the International Christian University
Prue Taylor
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Prue Taylor received her legal qualifications from Victoria University, New Zealand, and Tulane University, USA. She teaches environmental and planning law at the School of Architecture and Planning. She is the Deputy Director of the New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law and an elected member of the IUCN Commission of Environmental Law and its Ethics Specialist Group. She has been involved in the Earth Charter movement since 1992. Her book, An Ecological Approach to International Law: Responding to the Challenges of Climate Change (Routledge), won a NZ Legal Research Foundation Prize. In 2007, Prue received an outstanding achievement award from the IUCN in recognition of her contribution to law, ethics, and climate change.
Victoria Thoresen
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As an educator and researcher, Victoria W. Thoresen has specialized in curriculum development, global education, value-based education and education for sustainable development. She has written articles and textbooks for teacher training and has functioned as an international educational consultant. Thoresen has been the leader of PERL, The Partnership for Education and Research about Responsible Living, (a network of 140 universities in 50 countries) and founder and director of The Collaborative Learning Centre for Sustainable Development at the Inland Norway University. She has worked closely with UNEP, UNESCO, the E.U. and other international agencies concerned with sustainable development. Thoresen was appointed UNESCO Chair for Education for Sustainable Lifestyles in 2014 and became professor emerita in 2020. She is also presently adjunct professor at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa.
Monique van Dam
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Founder & Co-producer inclusive & climate proof world 2064
Jan van de Venis
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Ombudsperson for Future Generations. co-founder Lab Future Generations
Human Rights expert
The Netherlands
Sanne van Oort
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Sanne van Oort is a passionate educator, permaculturist, and creative advocate for Regenerative Futures with extensive international experience in sustainability and nature-based education. She is a co-facilitator for the Earth Charter’s ‘Education for Sustainable Development’ (ESD) program. As a co-creator of the Education Changemaker Academy in The Netherlands she is committed to nurturing educators as catalysts for systemic change. Her facilitation style is shaped by her background as a performing artist and is deeply experiential and nature-connected. Sanne was a manager at Green School Bali, where she co-developed and led the Green Educator Course, training teachers from around the world in regenerative education. In Vietnam, she worked as Director of the International Program and Green Education. She is also the founder of the organisation ‘Mother Jungle’, an educational platform that shares Indigenous knowledge through film, storytelling, and cultural exchange. Her documentaries have been showcased at international film festivals, amplifying essential narratives about ecology, culture, and sustainability. She previously taught International Business at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, where she also conducted research within the Research Center for Sustainable International Business. She now lectures on Sustainability at Avans University of Applied Sciences, with a special focus on Regenerative Business and ‘Two-Eyed Seeing’, bridging Western perspectives with Indigenous ways of knowing and rituals that connect students in higher education to nature and collective wisdom.
Mirian Vilela
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Mirian Vilela is Executive Director of the Earth Charter International and the Center for Education for Sustainable Development at UPEACE and coordinator of the UNESCO Chair on Education for Sustainable Development with the Earth Charter. Mirian has been working with the Earth Charter Initiative since early 1996. She served as a member of the UNESCO Expert Reference Group for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) and has been a professor on Sustainable Development at the University for Peace since 2005. She has a Master´s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University and a PhD in Education from La Salle University of Costa Rica.
Arjen Wals
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Professor of Transformative Learning for Socio-Ecological Sustainability at Wageningen University. He also holds the UNESCO Chair of Social Learning and Sustainable Development. Wals is also a Visiting Professor at Norwegian Life Science University in Ås where he supports the development of Whole Schools Approaches & Sustainability.
His recent work focuses on transformative social learning in vital coalitions of multiple stakeholders at the interface of science and society. His teaching and research focus on designing learning processes and learning spaces that enable people to contribute meaningfully sustainability. A central question in his work is: how to create conditions that support (new) forms of learning which take full advantage of the diversity, creativity and resourcefulness that is all around us, but so far remain largely untapped in our search for a world that is more sustainable than the one currently in prospect?
He writes a regular research blog that signals developments in the emerging field of sustainability education: www.transformativelearning.nl
Lavinia Warnars
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Founder of iEarth and Ego2Eco and associate consultant at International Biodiversity Consultants, Ltd. Lavinia is a purpose driven entrepreneur and consultant in the field of sustainability, climate and biodiversity finance and consultancy.
Her personal and professional journeys have been broad, but the main underlining theme is the Ego to Eco transition humanity has to make in order to co-evolve and live in harmony with nature, inspired by the Earth Charter.
Lavinia loves learning, travelling, sports, and experiencing pristine nature, from the Amazonia and Galapagos, to mountains and nature parks.
Robert Woodford
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Robert is the co-founder and executive director of the non-profit Deep Time Walk Project. He has MA Regenerative Economics (Schumacher College), MSc Science and Religion (University of Edinburgh), MA Management (Durham Business School) and BA Music (Durham University). He previously worked in senior roles at Qualcomm Europe and Adobe/Macromedia. A classically trained singer, Robert enjoys running, kayaking and wild swimming. Born at 330.43 CO2e ppm.
Atsufumi Yokoi
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Atsufumi Yokoi (Japan) is Vice President for Global Engagement Strategy of Okayama University, and UNESCO Chairholder in Research and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), established at Okayama University in 2007.
Ricardo Young
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Ricardo Young (Brazil) is a key figure in the socio-environmental entrepreneurship in Brazil. He was a councilor (member of the congress) in the city of Sao Paulo (2013-2017), elected in 2012 and has significant experience in developing public-private partnerships in Brazil. He is one of the founders and former president of the board of Ethos Institute for Business and Social Responsibility (a major association of companies in Brazil committed to sustainability) and former president of the Brazilian Association of Franchising. He is also a Co-Founder and Council Member of several organizations such as Sustainable São Paulo Movement, Sustainable Amazon Forum, and World Business Academy in Brazil. He was also a former member of the Sustainability Council of Santander Bank, Kimberly-Clark, Fibria, and Amata companies, as well as a Council Member of the Global Reporting Initiative and Corporate Sustainability Index, Baumgart Institute, and Bemtevi impact investments.
Ricardo is the founder and partner at CTI- Culture Transition and Integrity. He is also the founder of Casa Amarela, a space for art, culture, society, and the environment in Sao Paulo that holds a permanent exposition of Museu Xingu (one of the most expressive collections of indigenous artifacts in Brazil). He is currently the president of IDS Instituto Democracias e Sustentabilidade in Brazil and is part of the Institute of Advanced Studies of the University of Sao Paulo in the Chair of Global Cities.
In the late 90s, when Ricardo was Chairman of Yazigi (a language school network located all over Brazil through franchising), he incorporated the Earth Charter as an educational instrument in this school system. Since then, he has incorporated the Earth Charter in many of his activities, courses, and talks. Ricardo has a postgraduate degree in General Management, PDG-EXEC, and a doctorate in Sustainable Cities from the University of São Paulo (incomplete). He is also a fellow of the ELIAS program at MIT.
Miaojie Yu
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Dr. Yu Miaojie, is President, Liaoning University, China, He is a Fellow of the International Economic Association of the United Nations, a distinguished professor of the National Talent Program, and a recipient of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars. He is a deputy to the 14th National People’s Congress, Member of the Standing Committee of Liaoning Provincial People’s Congress, a special inspector of the State Committee of Supervisory, Vice President of Liaoning Provincial Discipline Inspection and Supervision Association, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and President of Liaoning University. He is among the top 1% most highly cited economists in the field of economics and management in the world and is also at present the only Chinese scholar to win the Royal Economic Society Prize. He is one of the first-batch Changjiang Young Scholars (2015), an Outstanding Young Scientist of Beijing, a Boya Chair Professor at Peking University, a member of Economic and Trade Policy Advisory Committee of Ministry of Commerce, a council member of “China-US Research Think-Tank Alliance” of the Ministry of Finance, an Honorary Professor of Irkutsk State University in Russia, an expert member of International Advisory Council of Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, and holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Davis. He serves as the Vice President of China Society of World Economics, Vice President of the Chinese Association of Quantitative Economics, Vice President of China Society of Industrial Economics, Vice President of Chinese Association of Hong Kong & Macao Studies, a contact representative for NPC Financial and Economic Committee and Budget Work Committee, Vice Chairman of Liaoning Federation of Social Sciences, and a member of the Legislative Committee of Liaoning Provincial People’s Congress. He has been appointed as an expert advisor by the United Nations, Asian Development Bank, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Commerce, Counselors’ Office of the State Council, and various local governments. He was specially invited to the Headquarters of the United Nations to deliver a report on China’s economic development and enjoys special government allowances from the State Council.
