Director, International Land Conservation Network (ILCN) at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
Associate Director, Sustainably Managed Land and Water Resources, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
Project Coordinator, Land and Water Conservation, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
Program Coordinator
ILCN Steering Committee Members at the 2018 Land Trust Alliance Rally in Pittsburgh, PA
Director, International Land Conservation Network (ILCN) at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
Jim Levitt is a co-founder and the director of the ILCN, based at the Lincoln Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Levitt focuses on landmark innovations in the field of land and biodiversity conservation, both present-day and historic, that are characterized by five traits: novelty and creativity in conception, strategic significance, measurable effectiveness, international transferability, and the ability to endure. Such innovations include: the establishment of the first public open space in the English-speaking world in Boston in 1634; the creation of the world's first state and national parks at Yosemite and Yellowstone in 1864 and 1872; the invention of the world's first land trust in Massachusetts in 1891; and the ongoing emergence of landscape-scale conservation initiatives around the globe in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In each of these landmark innovations, key factors for success include: the engagement of highly talented social entrepreneurs; the leveraging of some of the most advanced technologies of the day; and the use of inventive financial and organizational tools.
Levitt has written and edited dozens of articles and four books on land and biodiversity conservation. He has lectured widely on the topic in venues ranging from Santiago, Chile to Beijing, China, and Stockholm, Sweden. Among his current efforts, Levitt is advising colleagues in Chile on the expansion of private land conservation initiatives and enabling legal frameworks in that nation. He is also engaged in an effort to link land conservation innovators at universities, colleges and independent research institutions around the globe. Levitt is a graduate of Yale College and the Yale School of Management (Yale SOM). He was named as a member of the first class of Donaldson Fellow by Yale SOM for career achievements that “exemplify the mission of the School”. Jim and his wife Jane have three children and live in Belmont, Massachusetts. The family loves to spend part of every summer on their forested land in Maine, most of which is permanently protected with a conservation easement.
Associate Director, Sustainably Managed Land and Water Resources, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
Chandni Navalkha is the Program Manager for Land Conservation Programs within the Department of Planning and Urban Form, where she works on projects to advance and accelerate the enduring protection of land and water resources worldwide. Prior to joining the Lincoln Institute, Chandni was a fellow with the Sri Lanka Program for Forest Conservation, conducting research on the impacts of conservation on local livelihoods near the Sinharaja World Heritage Site. Chandni has worked for organizations in North America, Latin America, and South Asia supporting urban, peri-urban, and rural communities involved in voluntary land and resource conservation, and earlier in her career worked in change management for private and public sector organizations as a consultant with Accenture. She holds a Master’s in Environmental Science from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a dual Bachelor of Arts in English and Economics from Cornell University.
Project Coordinator, Land and Water Conservation, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy
Robin is the Project Coordinator for the Land Conservation Team (LCT), where her work is focused on the International Land Conservation Network (ILCN) and the Academics for Land Protection in New England (ALPiNE) network. Previously, Robin was an Americorps Terracorps Service Member, working for the North County Land Trust in North Central Massachusetts as a Land Stewardship and Community Engagement Coordinator. She recently graduated from Smith College with a degree in Geology, and has a passion for land stewardship and conservation. She is also a 2019 graduate of the ALPINE Summer Institute, a summer training program in large landscape conservation organized by the Lincoln Institute's ALPINE (Academics for Land Protection in New England) project and the Highstead Foundation.
Program Coordinator
Lily is a '22 graduate of UMass Amherst, where she studied journalism and public policy. She found her way into the field of land conservation through the ALPINE summer institute and is looking forward to continuing to learn about this space alongside the ILCN team. Before she came to Lincoln, she was a freelance reporter for the Harvard Press and spent a summer interning at CommonWealth Magazine.
After hours, Lily is an avid distance runner, outdoor enthusiast, and artist. She races for Battle Road Track Club, an elite post-collegiate running team; enjoys getting out and about in nature; and often disappears into the creative ether of crafting, drawing, making, or pondering what to make. A few of her simple pleasures are cats, coffee, crosswords, and Oxford commas.
Project Coordinator, European Land Conservation Network, tilmann.disselhoff@nabu.de
Tilmann Disselhoff holds a PhD in Civil Engineering from Technical University of Berlin and has received scholarships by the Robert Bosch Foundation and the German National Academic Foundation. Ha has over a decade of work experience as consultant for the European Commission, the German Federal Environmental Ministry, the German Federal Environmental Foundation and other clients. In recent years, Tilmann has focused his professional interest on conservation financing and private land conservation. He currently coordinates a LIFE project to develop the European Land Conservation Network (ELCN), an EU-wide network of organisations active in private land conservation. Tilmann is a founding steering committee member of the International Land Conservation Network and a steering committee member of Eurosite.
Anton Gazenbeek, anton.gazenbeek@skynet.be Anton has over 30 years of experience in European environmental and economic policies and funding programmes covering various roles and capacities, both for the EU Institutions (European Parliament, European Commission) and for public and private entities at national or European level. As well as a wide range of topics. In particular, nature conservation (Natura 2000 Network, LIFE programme), maritime policy (the blue economy and its sustainability), the environmental impact of agriculture and forestry, river and wetland processes and restoration, stakeholder and community involvement, landscape management and heritage. Professional activities included policy analysis, project assessment and inspection, project and team management, financial and contractual management and auditing, research and reporting, production and editing of publications. Anton, based in Belgium, was a key participant in the founding meetings of the ILCN, and has been on its Steering Committee since 2014.
Victoria Marles, CEO, Trust for Nature, victoriam@tfn.org.au
Trust for Nature was established 44 years ago by an act of the Victorian Parliament. The Trust has the power to covenant under the act and has established 1332 covenants. It also owns and manages for conservation 44 reserves around Victoria, including Victoria’s largest freehold property, which was purchased in 2002 and comprises approximately 30,000 hectares. Trust for Nature operates a modest revolving fund for the purchase, protection and sale with covenant of private land. The Trust's activities are guided by a science-based statewide conservation plan, which identifies the key areas for private land protection in Victoria. Victoria has been actively involved in the establishment and ongoing activities of the Australian Land Conservation Alliance over the last 6 years. Victoria is a lawyer by training and lives in Melbourne, Australia.
Lisa McLaughlin, Chief Conservation Officer, The Nature Conservancy of Canada, Lisa.McLaughlin@natureconservancy.ca In her 17 years with NCC, Lisa has held various roles including field researcher, landowner engagement officer, stewardship program manager, fundraiser and government relations coordinator. Lisa led NCC’s Conservation Volunteers program, a coast to coast program aimed at engaging Canadians in meaningful conservation work. In her current role, she leads the development and organization wide implementation of NCC’s conservation policy framework, and oversees NCC’s federally funded conservation programs. Lisa has a B.Sc. in biology and a M.Sc. in Rural Planning and Development and has a wide breadth of field research experience and conservation policy development. Lisa lives in Guelph, Ontario, Canada with her husband and two children.
Peter Stein, Managing Director, The Lyme Timber Company, peterstein@lymetimber.com
Peter is a Managing Director for The Lyme Timber Company based in Hanover, New Hampshire USA. Prior to joining Lyme, Peter was a Senior Vice-President at The Trust for Public Land. He specializes in the creation of collaborative conservation investments between his firm and leading land conservation NGOs in the US and Canada. To date these partnerships have permanently conserved more than 1,000,000 acres principally through the use of working forest conservation easements. Peter received his BA in Environmental Planning with Highest Honors from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1975 and was awarded a Loeb Fellowship in Advanced Environmental Studies from the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1981. Peter is a former Board Chair of the Land Trust Alliance (USA) and was a founding commissioner of the Land Trust Accreditation Commission (USA). Peter received the 2012 Kingsbury Browne Award from the Land Trust Alliance and the 2012-3 Kingsbury Browne Fellowship from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (LILP). Peter’s LILP fellowship work has catalyzed a collaborative effort to design an international network of land conservation/land stewardship/land restoration NGOs from around the globe now formally known as the International Land Conservation Network.
Dr. Jin Tong, Science Director, The Nature Conservancy China, jtong@TNC.ORG
Jin is responsible for leading a team to provide strategic and scientific support to conservation programs to demonstrate the science-based approach of TNC. Her expertise lies in protected area planning and management with special focus on the land trust reserve model in China. Besides this, she is quite experienced in wildlife ecology and primatology, as well as community-based conservation methodologies. Jin serves as the China franchise of the Conservation Coaches Network (CCNet). Jin has been with TNC for nearly ten years and initially led the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey conservation project and participated in the national park pilot project. Later, she oversaw the monitoring, research and conservation planning for the first land trust reserve in China and accumulated abundant experience in protected area planning, management and biological surveys and monitoring. Jin holds a Ph.D. in Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology from Peking University, where she studied the socio-ecology and conservation biology of a critically endangered primate species in China.
Kiragu Mwangi, Senior Capacity Development Manager, BirdLife International, Kiragu.Mwangi@birdlife.org
Kiragu has worked seventeen years in the BirdLife International Partnership. From 2001 to 2005, he was based with Nature Kenya – BirdLife’s partner in Kenya. He has now spent thirteen years working for BirdLife International, based in Cambridge, in the United Kingdom. Currently, Kiragu is a Senior Capacity Development Manager at BirdLife. In this role, the focus is on empowering people with capacity development initiatives and projects targeted to individuals for professional development, organizations and systems across the 117 BirdLife International partners. He is very interested in working with people to develop capacity to deliver conservation projects. Capacity for Conservation’s website is one of the examples of work Kiragu has participated in to harness critical information for improving capabilities of individuals and organizations working in biodiversity conservation. Kiragu is also very interested in knowledge management, especially for critical areas affecting people and biodiversity. This has led to developing information platforms for conservation practitioners interested in engaging in dialogue with stakeholders at site, sub-national and national levels on the links between biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and climate change. Kiragu has a BSc in Natural Resources Management and an MSc in Applied Ecology and Conservation. He is a PRINCE2 and MSP certified practitioner and foundation levels respectively, both accredited to APMG International. Through his work Kiragu has travel to 29 countries and remotely helped with conservation projects in another 26 countries all over different regions of the world.
Candice Stevens, Innovative Finance Lead at Wilderness Foundation Africa, candice@wfa.africa
Candice is a biodiversity finance expert and niche tax specialist who works at creating innovative finance solutions for landscape conservation. Candice introduced the first effective biodiversity tax incentive into the South African protected areas network and, together with the Government of South Africa, received the Pathfinder Award Special Commendation for this global innovation. She heads up Innovative Finance within Wilderness Foundation Africa, where she works extensively with multiple stakeholders and industry leaders across different sectors to ultimately plug South Africa’s biodiversity finance gap, with particular emphasis on protected and conserved areas. She sits on a number of national and international committees regarding area-based conservation and financing and resourcing. Candice has a background in both law and commerce as well as experience in protected and conserved area policy and expansion, biodiversity finance, environmental law and policy-making on financial incentives and is regarded as a global expert her in field.
Laura Johnson is a life-long conservationist with more than 30 years experience in non-profit management. She is a co-founder and former director of the International Land Conservation Network and a senior advisor to both the ILCN and the European Land Conservation Network. Laura is the immediate past president of Mass Audubon where she spent 14 years leading the country’s largest independent state Audubon organization. Prior to joining Mass Audubon, she worked for 16 years at The Nature Conservancy working both as a lawyer and in positions including Massachusetts state director and northeast region vice president. Laura is the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Land Trust Alliance. She is also an Overseer of WGBH, on the Board of Advisors of the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC), on the Board of Visitors of Mount Auburn Cemetery, and a Corporation member of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Laura served for 8 years as a founding member of the MA Department of Conservation and Recreation’s Stewardship Council. Laura received a BA in history from Harvard, and a JD from NYU Law School. From 2013-2014 she was a Bullard Fellow at the Harvard Forest, Harvard University where she completed a study on private land conservation efforts around the world. For relevant publications by Laura Johnson, see: http://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/working-papers/open-field
Angelo is a graduate of the University of Bologna, Italy and began his career as an agro-meteorologist. In 1994, he joined the staff of the European Commission, and has focused there on the conservation of nature for nearly a quarter-century. He has been associated with the EC's LIFE program since the start of his career, and has deep experience in the financing of environmental programmes across the European Union. At present, Angelo is a manager of the LIFE and Eco-Innovation unit in the Executive Agency for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (EASME) of the European Community. Angelo has participated in the meetings of the International Land Conservation Network since its inception in 2014, and has great insight into the ongoing growth of the global conservation community.
Vice President of Education, Land Trust Alliance, rkivikko@lta.org
Renee brings more than 30 years of experience in conservation and nonprofit management with more than 20 of those years at the Land Trust Alliance where she has served in several roles including Midwest director and as national director supervising all field-based programs. Renee currently oversees the Alliance’s education, standards and conservation defense programs. Her Alliance experience includes participating on teams responsible for the 2004 and the 2017 revision of Land Trust Standards and Practices. She is responsible for shepherding the continued development of guidance documents and education programs including the annual national conference (Rally). While Midwest director, Renee convened a Lake Superior bi-national partnership to strengthen the capacity and coordination of the land conservation NGOs to identify and actively protect important natural and scenic areas in the watershed.
Executive Director of Elemental Reserves, erengifo@reservaelemental.cl
Eugenio works to consolidate an integrated view of conservation in Chile, incorporating the diverse contexts and cultures throughout the country. Convinced of the need to change paradigms about the meaning of life in community with other people and with other species on the planet, Eugenio has dedicated his personal life and his career to conservation. Previously, Eugenio was the Executive Director of Amigos de los Parques and Development Director of Tompkins Conservation, leading their work on private land conservation in Chile and building public support for protecting the country’s remarkable natural and cultural heritage. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the Catholic University of Chile and his Master in Public Policy at the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez. Eugenio was a 2019 Eisenhower Fellow, during which he developed a framework for the planning and management of protected areas in Chilean Patagonia.
Javier Beltran, Working Landscapes Coordinator, The Nature Conservancy, jbeltran@TNC.ORG
I am a biologist, who works and lives in Bariloche, Southern Argentina. I have extensive knowledge on aspects of biodiversity conservation, and biodiversity information management. Special aspects of interest include the designation and management of protected areas, including the voluntary involvement of private landowners in nature conservation. I currently am coordinating The Nature Conservancy´s efforts to engage the rural sector in conservation actions and sustainable use of lands and waters in Arid and Semi-arid Patagonia. My aspiration is making conservation and rural production fully compatible. Some of the tools in use include sustainable grazing and conservation easements, and the development of a policy environment which enables greater involvement of producers in the maintenance of structure and functioning of whole systems across working landscapes throughout the region. My area of expertise also comprises the implementation of global and regional environmental treaties and programs, and mechanisms of integration of recommendations of such instruments into national effective policy action.
Armando Carbonell, Senior Fellow, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, acarbonell@lincolninst.edu Armando is an urban planner, and the Department of Planning and Urban Form at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He co-edited two recent Lincoln Institute volumes, Resilient Coastal City Regions: Planning for Climate Change in the United States and Australia and Regional Planning in America: Practice and Prospect. Carbonell has been a lecturer and design critic in urban planning and design at Harvard University and has taught planning studios at the University of Pennsylvania. Until recently, he was Policy and Practice Editor of the British journal Town Planning Review. As part their of centenary celebration this year, he was made a lifetime honorary member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (London). Prior to his appointment at the Lincoln Institute in 1999, he had been the founding Executive Director of the Cape Cod Commission.
Judith LaBelle, President Emeritus, Glynwood jmlnyc1@gmail.com As a practicing attorney in New York City, as founding president of Glynwood (a nonprofit in NY’s Hudson Valley that promotes sustainable agriculture), and as a private citizen, my career has focused on issues relating to conservation of cultural and natural resources, land use, sustainable agriculture and environmental protection. While serving as Counsel and Deputy Director to the NYS Commission on the Adirondacks in 1990, I researched comparable international efforts to meld government and private conservation and toured several French Regional Nature Parks; as a result I was the first American invited to attend the meetings of the Europarc: The Federation of National and Nature Parks of Europe, which I did for several years. I have had a range of other international experience over the past 30 years, including that resulting from Glynwood’s many years of leadership of the US side of the International Countryside Stewardship Exchange program, working primarily with colleagues throughout the UK and Western Europe. I participated in the first international meeting of land trusts in France about 25 years ago; I led several delegations to study and advise projects relating to parks, cultural heritage tourism and sustainable agriculture in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Japan; and lectured on behalf of the US State Department Speakers Tour first in Italy (on private land conservation techniques) and later in Germany (on community-based conservation and regional agriculture). In 2012, I retired after 17 years as president of Glynwood. I moved to Costa Rica where I now write, serve on a foundation board that focuses on agricultural, energy and water issues, and provide advice and assistance to a variety of colleagues and organizations.
Fernando Lloveras, Executive Director, Para la Naturaleza, fernando@paralanaturaleza.org
Fernando Lloveras-San Miguel, Esq. is the Executive Director of the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico (CTPR), a position he has held since 2003. In 2012 the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program stemming from the Land Trust Alliance (LTA) accredited the Conservation Trust. Additionally, CTPR was accepted in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the first and only member from Puerto Rico to join the oldest and largest global environmental organization.
In an effort to draw people into the conservation movement Lloveras-San Miguel spearheaded in 2013 the launch of a new unit, Para la Naturaleza. Para la Naturaleza groups all educational, volunteer and citizen science programming, land conservation and fundraising initiatives of the organization. Para la Naturaleza also manages all 5 visitor centers and 27 natural areas protected by the Trust. Lloveras-San Miguel is a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, member of the Board of Directors of the Land Trust Alliance and member of the Governing Board of the University of Puerto Rico. In addition Lloveras- San Miguel is mentor of the Founder Institute, the world’s largest entrepreneur training and startup launch program, helping aspiring founders across the globe build enduring technology companies. In 1992, Lloveras-San Miguel co-founded and was the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Microjuris.com, Inc., the leading Internet provider of legal and legislative information in Latin America, with operations in Argentina, Chile, Venezuela and Puerto Rico. Since 2003, he remains Chairman of the Board. From 1989 to 1992, Lloveras-San Miguel served as an Advisor on Federal Affairs to the Governor of Puerto Rico, serving as the liaison between US government and the Governor of Puerto Rico. He has also served as a member of the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce’s Government Relations and Technology Committees and has been a Student Mentor for Puerto Rico Youth at Risk. Lloveras-San Miguel holds a Magna Cum Laude Juris Doctor degree from the University of Puerto Rico Law School, a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from Harvard University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College, where he was Senior Fellow.
He is a coffee and cattle farmer and spends most of his free time at his farm in Ciales with his wife Michelle Marxuach and his two children.
John Lounds, President and CEO, The Nature Conservancy of Canada, John.Lounds@natureconservancy.ca
John’s passion for conservation and appreciation of nature was developed while growing up in rural Ontario and spending late summers at a family cottage. John then applied these interests at university, obtaining his undergraduate degree in environmental studies (urban and rural planning) from the University of Waterloo and then a master’s degree in environmental studies from York University. Prior to joining NCC, John was the Executive Director of the Federation of Ontario Naturalists (now Ontario Nature) for six years and held several positions within the Government of Ontario. John joined NCC as its Chief Executive in October 1997. Through his leadership, NCC has further defined its unique role as an organization that works with individuals and groups across Canada that share its passion for land conservation, and utilizes creative means to achieve this goal. One of his first initiatives was to decentralize the organization, in part by establishing regional offices, to ensure a strong presence across the country. NCC has achieved great success, having grown from an annual budget of $8 million in 1997 to over $80 million in each of the past two years. In the process NCC has helped conserve more than 2,500,000 acres of ecologically significant lands across Canada since its inception. While NCC has accomplished a lot over the past decade, in John’s view “there is so much more to do”.
Celia Mahung, Executive Director, the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment, cmahung@tidebelize.org
Celia Mahung has been executive director of the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment (TIDE) in southern Belize since January 2007. Prior to her position at TIDE, Celia worked as Center Administrator at the University of Belize, Toledo Campus and lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Arts. Celia has a wealth of experience in education, leadership, local knowledge and teacher training. Though never trained formally in conservation, Celia has attended numerous conferences on the topic and she demonstrates an appreciation for natural resources. She has implemented a number of programs that have increased community participation in conservation and has used innovative approaches to enhancing stewardship among resource users. Celia leads an organization with a staff of 32 that does natural resource management (marine and terrestrial), conducts scientific research and environmental education. Her organization also manages over 20,000 acres of protected lands acquired through the only ‘debt for nature swap’ program in Belize, awarded in 2001. Along with her conservation work, Celia and her team operate TIDE Tours, a tour operating company, and a Ridge to Reef Expedition.
Celia is committed to the continued growth of the Toledo Institute for Development and Environment and has attracted trained and dedicated staff to grow the organization into one of the largest and respected conservation organizations in Belize. She displays a passion for sustainable development of the Toledo District.
Brent Mitchell, Senior Vice President, Stewardship, QLF Atlantic Center for the Environment, brentmitchell@qlf.org Brent is Senior Vice President, Stewardship, at QLF/Atlantic Center for the Environment. Much of Brent’s current work involves direct exchange among professional peers working for conservation in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and North America, with a particular interest in private and public/private approaches to landscape conservation. These programs reach more than 50 countries. Prior to joining the staff of QLF, Mitchell lived and worked in five countries of the Caribbean and Latin America (including on-site development of the first two natural national parks in Haiti; gazetting of terrestrial and marine reserves in the Turks and Caicos Islands; and field research in wildlife ecology in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela). He worked as a field biologist for America’s oldest land trust, the Trustees of Reservations, before joining QLF in 1987. One of his first projects at QLF was to promote land trusts in eastern Canada, and he served on the board of the nascent American Friends of Canadian Land Trusts. A longtime member of IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas, he chairs a specialist group on privately protected areas. He works with public land management agencies in all three countries of North America, particularly the U.S. National Park Service’s Conservation Study Institute. He is immediate past President of the George Wright Society, the professional association of park scientists and managers. QLF (Quebec-Labrador Foundation) is a registered charity in Canada and a 501(c)3 publicly-supported charity in the U.S. Its mission is two-fold, to support the rural communities and environment of eastern Canada and New England; and create models for stewardship of natural resources and cultural heritage applicable worldwide.
Marcelo Ringeling, Co-Founder, Templado, mringeling@templado.cl
As a businessman and entrepreneur, Marcelo founded several companies in the fields of publishing (Salo Editores), and multiple companies in the field of I&T (1981), Computerland, Apple Chile, Microcare, Microsoft Chile, Softland, Computek among other), consolidating his career with Quintec, a 25 years leader company in IT solutions in Chile and other countries in Latin America. Marcelo has been an active member of the Corporación Parques para Chile since its foundation (2002), in search for opportunities to collaborate in the public and private conservation of the country’s natural heritage. Marcelo has also participated as a teacher and an assessor as well, since its foundation, in San Lorenzo de Recoleta school; committed to technical education access in vulnerable sectors of the country. Since Templado’s foundation, Marcelo has participated in the in the working group established to propose legal and tax incentive mechanisms for private lands conservation. He has represented, in front of diverse audiences, the interests of businessmen who understand that nature conservation is a fundamental pillar of the country’s development. Marcelo studied Civil Industrial Engineering at the Universidad de Chile.
Loring Schwarz Director of Climate Change Program, Mass Audubon, loringschwarz@gmail.com For nearly three years, Loring has been Director of the Climate Change Program at Mass Audubon, the largest conservation organization in the Northeastern US. From 1978 until 2009, I held a variety of leadership and conservation strategy positions at The Nature Conservancy in the US, the Caribbean, and in the Mediterranean Basin where I ultimately learned that climate change is the greatest threat to nature. Before I came to Mass Audubon, I co-authored climate change adaptation guidance for the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and contributed to POWPA adaptation guidelines. At Mass Audubon, I work on both emissions reduction and nature based adaptation strategies at the state and local levels and to create a culture of climate literacy for lasting change in our Commonwealth (informal and formal climate science standards for public schools). This fall, I will be organizing an adaptation summit to gain greater commitment and funding for nature based adaptation including land protection in a new administration; Mass Audubon will also be promoting a ‘switch to green energy ‘campaign to our 110,000 members. In the future, we hope to evaluate our present (34,000 acres) and future lands for climate change vulnerability and strength, sharing our results with the land trust community.
Francisco (Pancho) Solis, Así Conserva Chile, panchosolisgermani@gmail.com
Francisco has been working to help protect the biodiversity and natural beauty of his native Chile since 2000. A lawyer by training and conservationist by passion, Francisco is a long-time advocate of conservation in Chile. In 2003, he was awarded a Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize while working as part of the Coastal Range Coalition protecting southern Chile temperate forests. Currently, he is the Director of Pew´s Chilean Patagonia Project, a both ambitious and urgent initiative to protect one of the world´s most pristine wilderness areas.
Philip Tabas, Special Advisor, The Nature Conservancy, ptabas@tnc.org
Philip serves as Special Counsel for Conservation Strategies in The Nature Conservancy’s North Conservation America Region. He has served as the Conservancy’s General Counsel for the past ten years. Philip has been with the Conservancy for thirty-three years, and has held a range of legal and non-legal positions in TNC in the areas of land protection, government relations, compatible economic development, tax policy and conservation planning. Philip has been involved in numerous private land conservation and compatible development projects, particularly involving the use of conservation easements in the United States and other countries. He has also worked to secure changes in Federal, state and international tax policy to encourage conservation activities. Prior to TNC, he practiced law in Philadelphia, worked as an attorney for The New England River Basins Commission, and was an environmental attorney with Abt Associates, a Cambridge, Massachusetts consulting firm. Philip received a B.A. degree in English from Pennsylvania State University, his J.D. from the George Washington University, a Master of Land Use Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and an LL.M degree in tax law from Boston University Law School. Outside of work he enjoys reading, skiing, hiking and spending time with his family
Henry Tepper has spent twenty-five years as a conservation leader in both the United States and abroad, playing a direct role in protecting almost 1 million acres in North and Latin America. He has served as President of Mass Audubon, one of the largest environmental organizations in New England; Chief Conservation Officer of Patagonia Sur, LLC, a private conservation real estate company in Chilean Patagonia; and Director of The Nature Conservancy's State Programs in both New Hampshire and in New York State. As TNC-NY's Director, Henry led four forest conservation projects in the Adirondack Park totaling more than 350,000 acres. Henry serves on the Board of Directors of the Tierra Austral Land Trust in Chile and the Land Trust Alliance's Land Trust Leadership Council.
Geoff Wescott, Associate Professor of Environment, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University at Melbourne, Geoffrey.wescott@deakin.edu.au Geoff is Associate Professor of Environment in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences at Deakin University’s Melbourne (Burwood) campus. Although originally a marine evolutionary ecologist (an Honours and Masters in Science from the University of Melbourne) he switched to Nature Conservation and Environmental Management through a University College London Masters and a PhD on Victorian Coastal Policy at Deakin. After being the Executive Director of the Conservation Council of Victoria (now Environment Victoria) Geoff has become a researcher, educator and advocate for nature conservation and environmental policy, planning and management -with a specialization in marine and coastal matters. He is a past Chair of the Marine and Coastal Community Network and the Victorian National Parks Advisory Council and has served on many government bodies including the Board of Parks Victoria and the federal government’s National Oceans Advisory Group. He is currently a member of the Victorian Coastal Council and a Director of Zoos Victoria. Geoff has authored/ edited five books and has published over 170 papers, chapters and articles and is a Fellow of the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand.
Jofre Rodrigo, Executive co-director, Xarxa per a la Conservació de la Natura (XCN), jrodrigo@xcn.cat
Jofre is from Catalonia and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Girona, as well as a Master's Degree in Advanced Studies in Foundations of Economic Analysis from the same university. Following his Master’s degree, he focused on professional environmental consultancy. He is currently executive co-director of the The Nature Conservation Network of Catalonia (XCN). Established in 2003, XCN is a second-level organization composed of over 160 associations, foundations, city councils, and enterprises. A working group under XCN coordination facilitated, for the first time in Europe, the civil code regulation of land stewardship contracts in Catalonia. Currently, the Government of Catalonia is working together with the XCN to implement a public Register of Stewardship Agreements and a tax incentive framework for land stewardship.
Yang Fangyi, Partnership Development Director, Paradise International Foundation, fangyi.y@139.com
Fangyi graduated from Yunnan University and Gottingen University, Obtained Bachelor’s degree of Economics and Master’s degree of Forestry respective. He has worked with Conservation International since year 2004, playing the role of focal points of Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund which is the first Fund in China to fund civil society groups to work for biodiversity conservation. From Year 2011, Fangyi has worked with SHANSHUI conservation center, which is a local conservation group and he has lead the forest team to design and implement the Mekong Fund. From 2013, Fangyi has started 3 years career with Alibaba Foundation and design the funding program including Qingyuan Initiative (Pollution Prevention Action by NGOs), Nature Education and Environmental Philanthropy Venture program. Prior to serve as the director of Partnership Program at Paradise International Foundation, Fangyi has served as senior researcher at China Global Philanthropy Institute, leading the team to research on social finance and impact investing.