Juan David Amaya-Espinel is a Colombian urban ecologist with Master's Degree in Natural Protected Areas and a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He is the Environmental Management Master Degree Program´s Director at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana of Colombia and Professor-Researcher of the Faculty of Environmental and Rural Studies. Juan David Amaya-Espinel has more than 25 years of experience in research and management projects on biodiversity conservation and sustainable use in urban settings. Juan David has been working on several urban areas in Latin America by connecting conceptual and practical elements related to urban ecology, conservation biology, and landscape ecology, around the idea to provide knowledge to guide stakeholders for opportunities and tools to incorporate biodiversity and ecosystem services in urban environmental planning. Author of several scientific articles and books on biodiversity and cities. Currently, he has been participating in several initiatives to address urban nature topics at a global and regional scale such as the Horizon 2020 project CONEXUS focused on co-producing nature-based solutions for cities in the European Union and Latin America. Also, he is supporting in Colombia the Biodivercities by 2030 initiative of the World Economic Forum and the Instituto Alexander von Humboldt as well as on the editing of the book Biodivercities by 2030: Transforming Cities with Biodiversity to be launched at the global scale in 2022.
Head of the Urban Development, Planning and Housing Department at AFD, Frédéric Audras leads the institution’s work on sustainable cities. He oversees the appraisal and implementation of urban projects in countries where AFD operates, with the aim of creating dynamics that promote cities’ transitions to more sustainable models. In this role, he draws on his experience in the areas of local public policies and finance that he gained throughout his professional career. After working as a consultant for French local authorities from 1994 to 2001, Frédéric Audras contributed to the creation and development of the Urban Community of Marseilles (which later became Marseille Provence Métropole) as the Head of Budget and Financial Strategy from 2001 to 2003. Driven by his interest in the most advanced forms of decentralization, he then joined the government of New Caledonia (2003-2007) as Adviser for the Economy, Finance and European Affairs. In this role, he helped define and implement major economic development programs in the territory. Frédéric Audras joined AFD in 2007 as the lead expert on local public finance and decentralization. In this position, he prepared and supervised multiple funding projects for local authorities (including in Africa, Southeast Asia, and overseas territories). He then became the head of AFD’s field office in French Polynesia from 2011 to 2015, using a new approach to adapt public policy at the municipal level. After returning to headquarters, he became Senior Advisor to the Operations Directorate on organizational and audit issues before becoming the Head of the Monitoring Department of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations in 2017. This position included support and consultancy activities for local authorities and overseeing the publication of Localtis, a daily digital newspaper for local authorities (over 40,000 subscribers). He started his current position in 2019.
Quentin LEBEGUE has been Head of the Urban Resilience and Social Linkage Unit within the Hanoi AFD agency since July 2018. In this capacity, he pilots the appraisal and monitoring of projects financed by AFD in Vietnam in the urban sector whether it be urban transport (Hanoi metro) or urban resilience issues (flood management, sanitation, public space development...). He holds two Master's degrees in political science and international relations from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He joined AFD in 2008 and has worked in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, particularly in the sustainable city, energy and education sectors.
Architect, born in Passo Fundo, Rio Grande do Sul, graduated in Architecture and Urbanism at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná in 1982. In his 40 years as an architect, he has worked in several cities around the world. In Curitiba, he has worked at Institute for Research and Urban Planning since 1979 where he was designated president from 1994-1996. In 1999 Mauro was advisor for Ministry of Sport and Tourism. He has participated in the development of structuring and iconic projects for the city of Curitiba. He has also worked in national and international scenarios, as technical consultant for Foz do Iguaçu and Brasilia, Luanda in Angola, Choloma in Honduras and in Dominican Republic. Currently at IPPUC, he is involved in several projects related to transport and mobility, works with the recovery of the city center and coordinates the Climate Risk Management Project – Bairro Novo do Caximba (PGRC- Bairro Novo do Caximba), a socio-environmental intervention project on the banks of Barigui River in Curitiba.
Benjamin Mathieu is currently a senior reporter at Radio France, working in the political department of France Info for the past three years. He covered the last presidential election and produced an original podcast on the municipal elections in Paris. A journalist at Radio France for 20 years, he is personally involved in environmental issues, and for several years has produced a podcast dedicated to deciphering the issues related to global warming. He also contributes to the magazine Valeurs Vertes, which deals with sustainable development. He also teaches in journalism schools and at the INA and is involved with the association "la chance, for diversity in the media".
Institute for Research and Urban Planning of Curitiba
Graduated in Architecture and Urbanism at Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, has studied her former year at Ecole D´Architecture Paris La Seine - Beaux Arts in Paris, Daniela has worked at Institute for Research and Urban Planning of Curitiba since 2000. In these two decades dedicated to urban planning, she worked, in addition to IPPUC, also at the Municipal Secretariat for Metropolitan Affairs of Curitiba - SMAM in 2005 and at the State Secretariat for Planning and General Coordination - SEPL of Paraná state from 2011 to 2016 which gave her the opportunity to participate in urban projects of different urban scales. She is the author of the book Traces of Curitiba – 50 years for Urban Planning, published in 2020. Still at IPPUC, she held positions in different sectors, having integrated the teams of various plans and projects for landscaping, transportation and mobility, housing and metropolitan integration relevant to the city of Curitiba.
Harini Nagendra es la Directora del Centro de Investigación de la Universidad Azim Premji y dirige el Centro Universitario para el Cambio Climático y la Sostenibilidad. De formación, es ecóloga y profesora de sostenibilidad. Durante los últimos 30 años, su investigación se ha centrado en la conservación de los bosques y las ciudades del sur de Asia desde la perspectiva de la ecología y la justicia. Es reconocida internacionalmente por su investigación y práctica interdisciplinarias, recibiendo premios como el Cozzarelli 2009 de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias de Estados Unidos, el Elinor Ostrom Senior Scholar 2013 y el Clarivate Web of Science 2017. Entre sus publicaciones figuran los libros "Nature in the City: Bengaluru in the Past, Present and Future" (Oxford University Press, 2016) y "Cities and Canopies: Trees in Indian Cities" (Penguin, 2019, con Seema Mundoli), así como artículos recientes en Nature, Nature Sustainability y Science. La profesora Nagendra escribe una columna mensual "The Green Goblin" en el periódico Deccan Herald, y es una conocida oradora pública y escritora sobre temas de sostenibilidad urbana en la India. También es autora de una serie de ficción de misterio histórico, "The Bangalore Detectives Club", ambientada en el Bangalore colonial de los años veinte. Ha sido autora principal de los informes del AR5 del IPCC y ha sido miembro del Comité Científico de DIVERSITAS y del Programa Global de Tierras. También colabora con la ciencia y la política internacionales a través de su participación como miembro del Comité Directivo del EIT Climate-KIC, del WRI Ross Cities, del Programa Future Earth para el Cambio de los Ecosistemas y la Sociedad, y de la Red Consultiva de Conocimiento Urbano de Future Earth.
Hanoi University of Architecture
NGUYEN Thai Huyen is an architect-urban planner, teacher-researcher at the University of Architecture of Hanoi. She came to France in 2003 to complete her training in urban planning and development at the National School of Architecture and Landscape of Bordeaux and obtained her doctorate in spatial and urban planning at the University of Bordeaux Montaigne. Since 2008, she co-constructed and became co-coordinator of the French-speaking architecture-landscape training and the doctoral program in co-supervision "Architecture, City, Territory and Landscape" at the University of Architecture of Hanoi. NGUYEN Thai Huyen is currently vice-director of the Institute of Training and International Cooperation, responsible for the Francophone Bachelor-Master-Doctorate program in architecture at the University of Architecture in Hanoi. This training is co-organized with the National Superior Schools of Architecture (and Landscape) of Normandy, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Paris Belleville with the support of the Ministry of Culture. Convinced by the philosophy that the architect is the man of the field, it has developed a participatory and prospective approach. This approach has been concretized in the action-research project RecycUrbs-Viet supported by the Institute of Research for Development and by various on-site workshops with cities in Vietnam and the French Agency for Development. Her approach was well demonstrated in the book she edited and recently released Đồng nát, recyclable waste in Hanoi, dynamic spaces in the city (Edition Sciences et Techniques, 2021).
Nadia Sitas is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Sustainability Transitions at Stellenbosch University. Nadia is a transdisciplinary researcher working within the science-policy-practice interface on issues related to social-ecological resilience with a specific focus on equity and gender. Her research interests span both the social and ecological spheres and much of her experience comes from engaging in research and practice in the Global South. Nadia has experience in leading and working in large transdisciplinary teams and is passionate about research that can have transformative impact. For over a decade she has been involved in applied research where she has focused on understanding knowledge exchange processes linked to mainstreaming the environment into various decision-making contexts. More recently her work focuses on the role of foresight and futures thinking and how to co-design creative, participatory processes for catalysing change, especially with youth and other marginalised groups. Nadia has contributed to a number of science-policy assessments including those for the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and Global Environment Outlook.
Hélène Soubelet is a veterinary doctor with a postgraduate degree in plant pathology. She was named Knight of the Legion of Honor in December 2019. She began her career in 1998 as head of the departmental veterinary services of the Puy-de Dôme and then, five years later, of the Sarthe. Three years later, she joined the national plant protection laboratory where she was in charge, at the national level, of the development of methods for the detection and identification of plant pests. In 2010, she joined the Ministry of the Environment as assistant to the head of the biotechnology and agriculture office and then became head of the Biodiversity and sustainable management of environments mission in the Ministry's research department. Since April 1, 2017, Hélène Soubelet has taken over the general management of the Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB).
Ms Chumisa Thengwa is a Professional Natural Scientist, a Registered Environmental Assessment Practitioner and a Grade 1 Environmental Management Inspector (Green Scorpion) who holds a Masters Degree in Environmental Management. Her undergraduate studies were a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and Statistics with an Honours BSc in Zoology which gave her the solid grounding in Science that she has drawn from in establishing for eThekwini Municipality one of the strongest Impact Assessment and Environmental Legal Compliance functions in the space of Local Government in South Africa. Over the past 5 years she was involved in climate change and environmental governance as well as high level decision making in these areas. In this respect, she has presented and fulfilled speaking roles on behalf of the Municipality on various national and international platforms and contributed towards several policy briefs in on nature based urban solutions. Her professional background includes environmental regulation, auditing and reporting; biodiversity protection and conservation, climate change adaptation and mitigation as well as marine protection and research. She also worked in the sustainable coastal livelihoods space in her early career hoping to pursue Marine Biology as a speciality area. She has since held administrative and governance positions on various Boards, Tribunals, and Steering Committees including being a member of the Project Steering Committee (PSC) for the Environmental Impact Assessment and Management Strategy (EIAMS), a national intervention that aimed to look at the future state of the Environmental Impact Assessment system. She was also a Board member for the newly established Environmental Assessment Practitioners Association of South Africa (EAPASA), the only legislated professional registration authority for Environmental Assessment Practitioners in South Africa, occupying the role of Deputy Chairperson of the Board for 3 of the 7 years she spent with EAPASA.
Janet UMUGWANEZA works at Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) in the capacity of Program Manager for Environment, Climate Change Mainstreaming and Biodiversity Management Program under Single Project Implementation Unit. Janet holds a Master’s of Science in Environmental Management from the University of Maryland University College in USA. She also graduated with a Bachelor’s of Technology in Environmental Sciences from the Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa. She has over 11 years’ experience in both programme, project management in environment, climate change mainstreaming, biodiversity and ecosystem restoration and related projects that contribute to building resilience, biodiversity protection and poverty reduction for sustainable development in Rwanda as well as in mainstreaming environment and climate change and biodiversity management aspects into national and District strategies, planning and budget. Janet has led the process of developing and implementation of projects for rehabilitation of urban wetlands in the City of Kigali including the recent completed one of Nyandungu Eco-Park project and the ongoing Second Rwanda Urban Development and Kigali Flood and Catchment Management projects where 5 wetlands will be rehabilitated to enhance biodiversity, flood control and to reduce emissions in the City of Kigali. Prior to this, she has also worked for private company in USA on supporting the company meet its environmental compliance and reporting as well as its support to women involved in coffee farming for carbon neutral coffee products. Janet has also worked in Rwanda Embassy in USA in the capacity of Education coordination and partnerships officer.
Ricardo is an architect from the Universidad de los Andes, has a Master's degree in Design from Milan, Italy, and a Master's degree in Innovative Governance for Large Urban Systems from EPLF, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Ricardo is a specialist in city projects with more than 15 years of experience, where he has worked in public and private initiatives, where he stands out as project manager of new infrastructure projects for multinationals in several countries in Southern Europe and the Middle East.
In addition, he has been a designer of real estate development projects and public space, such as shopping centers, parks, marketplaces and sports venues.
In 2020 he became President of Puerta de Oro - Empresa de Desarrollo Caribe, where he has led emblematic projects such as Ciudad del Río, the integral recovery of the Ciénaga de Mallorquín and Barranquilla 2100.