2023 Pre-forum event

Dr. Tim Coles founded and is CEO of Operation Wallacea that provides a method for funding long term biodiversity research using tuition fees paid by students. Opwall has operated as a commercial business for 25 years and established reliable working partners in a series of countries around the world. It is these contacts including those at govt level that are being used to develop the potential mangrove reforestation projects for funding. Opwall has spent 25 years building small businesses in places such as Indonesia to deliver the research programmes they deliver. The Opwall teams have published over 560 papers in peer reviewed journals from their research programmes and have managed large scale projects overseas for the World Bank, Darwin Initiative and GEF. Tim also founded the Wallacea Trust that works on a series of conservation projects around the world based on the principle of incentivising individuals or local communities to achieve the desired conservation outcomes. Tim also led on the Wallacea Trust working group that developed an international biodiversity credit methodology.

Dr. Hilde Eggermont is a freshwater biologist (PhD, 2004). She is currently the Strategic Coordinator of the Belgian Biodiversity Platform, a national science-policy interface for biodiversity. Her day-to-day activities focus largely on making the bridge between science, policy and practice in the context of European initiatives and global initiatives. She is Chair & Coordinator of the European Biodiversity Partnership (Biodiversa+) uniting 70+ research policy actors and environmental policy actors from 36 European and associated countries as part of the European Biodiversity Strategy 2030. She also acts as Belgian Focal Point for the Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), and as Vice President of the International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN).

With project co-ordination and financial control, Christi provides overall leadership of ADEPT, overseeing daily operations and ‘building organisational capacity’. Cristi graduated from Brasov University in IT, economics and accounting and has worked for rural development NGOs since 2000. He has been guide and translator for numerous World Bank missions, and speaks Romanian, English and German.

FPG (Federatie Particulier Grondbezit) is the Federation for Private Landownership in The Netherlands. The Federation has about 1,600 members who, together, own 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of land in The Netherlands. FPG joins forces and looks after the interests of private land managers, aimed at the conservation and development of a balanced countryside in the Netherlands. FPG has a mission based on its conviction that private landownership is the key to the development and conservation of a vital and attractive countryside in a highly urbanised country.

Luc supports the board to translate the needs and ambitions of the members into policy positions and strategic interventions towards governments, stakeholders and citizens.

Constantin Kinský is a Czech patron and financial advisor. He grew up in France, where he graduated from three universities and lived with his parents in Scotland for one year. He worked in the London and Paris branches of the Merill Lynch bank. In 1997, he returned to Moravia and manages the estate in Žďár nad Sázavou. He runs the family company Kinský Žďár, which manages 750 ha of ponds, forestry and agriculture. Since 2006, he has led a branch of the consulting firm Roland Berger. From 2011 to 2017, he chaired the French-Czech Chamber of Commerce. He is currently engaged in consulting in the financial sector on a freelance basis.

As Director of Carbon Policy & Strategic Partnerships, Meredith Reisfield works across topic areas, including policy, science, demand, and supply, to bring agriculture to the forefront of solutions for climate change. A key component of her role at Indigo includes leading Indigo’s engagement with NGOs, policy, academic partners. Previously, Meredith worked in sustainability consulting at Quantis, leading sector teams advising clients across the food, apparel, and cosmetics industries. She holds a Masters in Sustainable Systems from the University of Michigan and a BA in Environment, Economics, and Politics from Claremont McKenna College.

Guillaume Sainteny is a graduate of the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, holder of an MBA, a master’s degree in law, a doctorate in political science and former auditor of the Institut des Hautes Etudes de Défense Nationale. He has held several positions within the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, in particular those of Deputy Director of the Cabinet of the Minister and then Director of Economic Studies and Environmental Assessment. He teaches sustainable development at AgroParisTech after having taught at Sciences-Po and at the Ecole Polytechnique. He currently sits in various organizations (French Academy of Agriculture, National Biodiversity Council, Steering Committee of the Federation of Regional Natural Parks, etc.) Guillaume Sainteny’s work and publications focus, in particular, on environmental policies, eco-taxation, biodiversity, climate change, etc. Guillaume Sainteny’s great expertise in the fields of science-politics and the environment will be a force in carrying out the main mission of Plan Bleu: to protect the Mediterranean basin by guiding the authorities for enlightened decision-making.

Giulio Volpi is policy coordinator at the Directorate General for Energy of the European Commission where focuses, amongs to thers, on distributed renewable energy. Giulio joint the European Commission in 2008 to work on international environmental relations for DG Environment. Before that Giulio worked for several years in Latin America,coordinating a number of projects in the field of renewable energy and climate change. Giulio has also worked in the NGO and private sector on climate change and sustainabilityissues. Giulio has a European Master's Degree inEnvironmental Management (Erasmus University) and MA inPolitical Sciences from Pisa's university. He has also concluded advanced studies on energymarkets at the Florence School of Regulation, European University Institute.