Since February 2010 Jean-Philippe Palasi heads CI Europe, the new Brussels based policy office of Conservation International. His role is to lead the local team and position CI as a trusted adviser of EU institutions on policies that affect global ecosystems and human well-being.

A French national, Jean-Philippe was always attracted to nature conservation. Born in the dense urban environment of central Paris, he was however exposed to nature early on in his life. Like others in his generation, he was also touched by early ecologists such as by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and by the spirit of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. He became an active advocate of nature and biodiversity already while studying economics and political sciences at Sciences-Po Paris and the London School of Economics.

Prior to joining CI, Jean-Philippe worked six years at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), where he built a program dedicated to the EU’s 32 overseas regions and territories. From Greenland to the Caribbean and Polynesia, he was exposed to a great range of environmental situations and field conservation strategies. He brought to CI his experience of engaging large networks of stakeholders and running advocacy work at local, national and European Union levels.

Jean-Philippe’s role is critically important to CI’s mission. With 27 member states and a population of 500 million, the EU is the world’s first economy and has a vast footprint on global natural resources. The EU is also a political force of growing influence, often at the leading edge of global environmental leadership and accounting for more than one half of all development funding globally. For all these reasons, EU engagement is critical to translate CI’s field successes into change at global scale.