Fellowship Alumni
Past Distinguished Fellows
The Honorable Robert Blake
As a Lui-Walton Distinguished Fellow, Robert Blake works to elevate and advance Conservation International’s efforts across Asia.
Robert also serves as a senior director for McLarty Associates and leads the firm’s Southeast Asia practice. He served for 31 years in the US State Department in a wide range of leadership positions. From 2013 to 2016, he served as US ambassador to Indonesia, where he focused on building stronger business and educational ties between the United States and Indonesia while also developing cooperation to help Indonesia reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In 2009, he was appointed by President Obama as assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia. He served until 2013 and was awarded the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award. From 2006 to 2009, he served as US ambassador concurrently to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Previously, he served as deputy chief of mission (DCM) from 2003 to 2006 in India, where he was named the worldwide DCM of the Year by the State Department.
Robert is currently chairman of the board of the US-Indonesia Society, a member of the boards of the Asia Foundation and the Bhutan Foundation, and a member of the Global Leadership Councils of the World Resources Institute and the Natural Resources Defense Council. He holds a BA from Harvard College and an MA from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C.
Christiana Figueres
Climate & Leadership Diversity
Christiana Figueres is a world authority on global climate change and was the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 2010-2016. During her
tenure at the UNFCCC, she brought together governments, corporations, financial institutions, communities of faith, technology providers, NGOs and activists to jointly deliver the historic Paris Climate Agreement, in which 195 sovereign nations agreed
on a collaborative path forward to limit future global warming to below 2°C. The agreement entered into force in less than a year, breaking the record of the U.N. In addition to her role as a Distinguished Fellow at Conservation International, Figueres is Vice-Chair of the
Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, a ClimateWorks Board Member, World Bank Climate Leader and Missions2020 Convener.
Ólafur Grímsson
Oceans & Climate
Ólafur Grímsson served as President of Iceland from 1996 to 2016, during which time he made renewable energy and climate change key areas of focus. In 2013, he announced the formation of the Arctic Circle, a nonprofit organization designed to enable dialogue among political and business leaders, environmental experts, scientists, indigenous representatives and other international stakeholders to address issues facing the Arctic as a result of climate change and melting sea ice. Grímsson currently serves as the Chairman of the Arctic Circle.
Anote Tong
Oceans & Climate
Anote Tong served as President of Kiribati from 2003 to 2016 and is known for his efforts to raise global awareness around climate change and its threats to Pacific Island nations. Tong has led several initiatives to combat climate change and protect marine areas.
Past fellows
Dan Abbasi
Climate Action Platform, Senior Fellow
Dr. Daniel Abbasi, CEO of the Climate Action Platform, which is in incubation at Conservation International, has 25 years of cross-sectoral experience on climate change – in government, academia, investing, media and manufacturing. He is MD of GameChange Capital and former director of MissionPoint Capital Partners, both low-carbon private equity firms. He was CEO of Flowcastings GmbH, an innovative manufacturer improving the efficiency of jet engines and power turbines. He won an Emmy as executive producer of the TV series Years of Living Dangerously. Dan was a Federal appointee to U.S. EPA and the U.S. National Climate Assessment and Associate Dean at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, during which he directed the Yale Environmental Attitudes & Behaviors Project and Yale Environmental Poll and authored Americans & Climate Change. He brings direct marketing and consumer technology experience to CAP from roles as: EVP for ActBig/Etrana, a venture-backed software software startup that aggregated purchasing power; as strategy director at Time Inc./Time Warner; and head of multiple online education units at Kaplan/Washington Post Company. Dan was an Analyst at World Resources Institute and serves on the Board of the Institute for Transport & Development Policy. Dan earned an BA and MBA from Harvard and a MA and Ph.D. from Stanford.
Natalia Acero
Water & Cities
Conservation International is working to conserve ecosystems that provide water and prevent flooding in three of the five largest megacities in Latin Americas – Bogotá, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro.
Together, these three cities are home to more people than California and almost as many as Spain. In Bogotá, 95% of water come from Andean moorlands, so called ‘paramos.' In Mexico City, the Water Forest (‘Bosque de Agua’)
provides 70% of the water that recharge the main freshwater reservoirs for the city. In Rio de Janeiro, two watersheds provide important freshwater sources for the city. All three cities suffer from regular flooding and both wetlands and forests which
can reduce the likelihood of floods have been destroyed (e.g. 99% of the wetlands in Bogotá have been converted since 1940). Natalia is quantifying how much ecosystem conservation and restoration can contribute to water provision and flood
prevention in these three cities, and to compare the cost of such ecosystem conservation and restoration actions with other, hard infrastructure solutions. The methods, data and results developed by Natalia will be used to build support for ecosystem
conservation and restoration in and around the three cities, and will be used as models to be replicated in other cities in Latin America and beyond.
Marielena Alcaraz
Science-Based Targets Fellow
Marielena uses her sustainability management training to engage the corporate sector in adopting sustainable practices across supply chains and operations, communicating the value that ecosystems have to businesses’ bottom lines. As a Fellow, she works with a cohort of scientists and organizations in developing new science-based targets that companies and cities can use to reduce land impacts from their products and business activities. She focuses on strategizing corporate engagement and accountability to facilitate the future adaptation of the targets. Marielena grew up in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico and will be based in Arlington, Virginia.
Nikola “Niko” Alexandre
Restoration Fellow
A trained ecological forester, Niko’s focus is on ecosystem restoration strategies and the creation of systems that grow strong bonds between people and places. As a fellow, Niko is leading the creation of Conservation International’s Restoration Community of Practice — gathering and synthesizing learnings from across our restoration projects — and developing institutional frameworks for catalyzing restoration work across the organization. Niko has been involved in restoration projects in the Americas and the Asia-Pacific region, and has expertise in conservation finance, institutional strategy, business development and community engagement. When he is not the field, Niko is working from Conservation International’s Arlington office.
Simon Badcock
Asia-Pacific Field Division Sustainable Land/Seascape Fellow
Based in Manila, Philippines, Simon is focused on providing technical and proposal development support to the evolving portfolio of Sustainable Land and Seascapes for the Asia-Pacific Field Division. He is also tasked with exploring strategic opportunities to deepen collaboration between Conservation International and the Asian Development Bank as well as helping field teams improve project management and implementation through the development of a donor-specific toolkit. Simon has more than 20 years of experience in Indonesia spanning natural resource management (conservation, forestry) and large-scale training and capacity building for smallholder producers (cocoa, rubber, Arabica coffee, seaweed) as well as developing private-public partnerships. He has worked on a number of bilateral- and multilateral-funded projects in different roles. Most recently he was chief of party to the Sustainable Landscape Partnership and terrestrial advisor to Conservation International-Indonesia.
Robert Baigrie
Strategic Partnership with Finance and Corporate Sector
Robert Baigrie is based in Singapore and is focused on engaging with the corporate and finance sectors in promotion of innovative, landscape-scale solutions to distinct problems caused by human pressure on landscapes. His initial work is specific to the Asia Pacific region, particularly Indonesia, and it involves efforts to partner directly with companies to promote sustainable finance mechanisms and critical practices such as responsible sourcing and sustainable production. Robert brings 16 years of experience as a leader in the alternative investment sector, and he most recently served as Citibank‘s Head of Capital Consulting Services in Asia Pacific.
Susan Botros
Global Equity Diversity + Inclusion Fellow
Susan Botros has more than 10 years of experience in strategy, policy and project implementation, focusing on the equity and inclusion of vulnerable and marginalized groups. Her experience spans from the British government to international non-governmental organizations. She has worked across various different themes, including modern slavery, women’s empowerment, LGBTQ+ rights, race and ethnicity, disability, inter-faith relations and more. Susan is passionate about grassroots, collaborative work with marginalized groups and the empowerment of vulnerable individuals. This passion has seen her working closely in previous roles with community groups and government to create inclusive projects, policies, and spaces. Susan holds a Master of Science degree in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies from The London School of Economics and Political Science; a postgraduate certificate in Advanced Child Protection from The University of Kent; and a Bachelor of Arts degree in African Studies from the University of Birmingham.
Charlotte Boyd
Africa Oceans Fellow
Charlotte will lead the development of the Africa Field Division’s work on oceans, developing its oceans strategy and supporting existing field teams, as well as growing initiatives on a Mozambique Seascape and the Western Indian Oceans Region. Charlotte is a marine spatial ecologist with a particular interest in the spatial ecology of highly mobile marine vertebrates, such as seabirds and cetaceans, and the identification of important areas for safeguarding species and ecosystems in the context of broad-scale conservation strategies.
Prior to joining Conservation International, Charlotte was the key biodiversity area expert at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), co-leading development of the key biodiversity area training program and building capacity for identifying and mapping key biodiversity areas around the world. She has 25 years of experience in marine science and international biodiversity conservation, with a long-standing focus on Africa and Madagascar. She holds a PhD in marine ecology from the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle WA; an MSc in Conservation from University College, London; an MSc in Economics for Development from New College, University of Oxford; and a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from New College, University of Oxford.
Aaron Bruner
Sustainable Landscapes & Seascapes Economics Fellow
Aaron assesses the systemic economic conditions that drive major investment decisions toward unsustainability across key Conservation International geographies known as sustainable landscapes and seascapes (SLS). Aaron’s analyses help inform decision-makers in SLS sites of opportunities for impact investment, carbon offsets, government policy, philanthropy and other incentives needed to transition the sites to sustainability.
Aaron has worked for 20 years leading conservation projects and research in developing countries. Areas of focus include green economies, the benefits and costs of protected areas, ecosystem service valuation, infrastructure development and conservation incentive agreements. He holds a Master of Public Policy with a concentration in economics from Princeton University.
Jonah Busch
Climate Economics Fellow
Jonah rejoined Conservation International as the organization’s Climate Economics Fellow, researching the benefits and costs of natural climate solutions — actions that conserve, restore or improve nature’s capacity to absorb and store carbon from the atmosphere. His work helped Conservation International and others identify cost-effective ways to combat climate change by protecting, managing and restoring natural ecosystems.
Jonah has published more than thirty scientific articles on climate, forests, biodiversity and sustainable development, and is the co-author of the book “Why Forests? Why Now? The Science, Economics, and Politics of Tropical Forests and Climate Change.” He has advised numerous governments and institutions on the design of climate and forest finance mechanisms. An environmental economist, Jonah holds a Ph.D. in economics and environmental science from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Arnaldo Carneiro
Sustainable Agriculture and Markets Fellow
Arnaldo is responsible for building Conservation International-Brazil’s strategy for sustainable agriculture and markets — forging partnerships with the private sector and other key actors. He will contribute experience in science and research to address the difficult task of reconciling sustainable agricultural production with the conservation of tropical ecosystems. Arnaldo most recently led a research team that provided information and spatial models to help reduce deforestation in Brazil, optimize land-use, build sustainable landscapes and promote compliance with legislation to protect the country’s forests. He has worked as an advisor and scientific partner to a variety of non-governmental organizations including the World Wildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy, Greenpeace, Global Canopy, Solidaridad, and the Institute of Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Amazon (IDESAM). Arnaldo earned his bachelor’s degree in agronomy from the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture of the University of São Paulo, a Master of Science at the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation in Holland, a PhD at the Geodynamics Laboratory of the University of Strasbourg in France, and a post-doctorate at the University of Wageningen in Holland.
Mauricio Castrejón
Sustainable Fisheries, The Americas
Mauricio Castrejón specializes in the social-ecological assessment of small-scale fisheries in marine protected areas, with a particular focus on the impact of diverse human and climatic drivers in the co-management of small-scale shellfisheries in Latin America. Based in the Galápagos, Castrejón is collaborating with Conservation International’s Center for Oceans and the Americas Field Division marine community in the development and implementation of a “coastal fisheries recovery model.” Mauricio was formerly with World Wildlife Fund and the Charles Darwin Foundation.
Emily Corwin
Green-Gray Infrastructure Fellow
Emily’s fellowship is focused on integrating traditional civil or “gray” engineering techniques with “green” ecosystem restoration and/or conservation for the mutual benefit of people and nature. As a registered professional civil engineer in California, and founder of an environmental engineering firm that focuses on water resource and conservation projects, Emily will support green-gray opportunities across Conservation International, starting with pilot projects in the Philippines.
Helen Crowley
Natural Capital Fellow
Helen joins Conservation International as the Natural Capital Fellow after taking a leave of absence from the luxury goods company Kering, where she has been advising and supporting the Luxury and Sport & Lifestyle brands with a focus on innovative sustainability solutions. As a Fellow and Senior Advisor on Resilient Supply Chains, Helen will work primarily with Conservation International’s Center for Environmental Leadership in Business. She will be focusing on bringing “science to business,” specifically around the areas of natural capital accounting, measuring and mitigating business impacts on biodiversity, and supporting new company engagement with Conservation International. She will also provide expert input on other programs linked to supply chains, sourcing and financing. She will be based in France.
Giacomo Fedele
Climate Change Adaptation
Climate change is reshaping human civilization. How we respond will determine the future of our species. Our food system, our economies, our cities and our communities — they’re all adapted to the climate we currently live in. But what if the climate changes too fast for us to keep up? The fate of the one and only planet we’ve ever called home is uncertain. It is in everyone's interest to come together to address the challenges we face. Giacomo is studying the new frontier of climate change, broadly addressing the range of climate change impacts for which climate change adaptation will not be viable. Giacomo is developing specific and replicable recommendations to enhance resilience and sustainable development in specific geographies, countries, and commodities.
Rachel Golden Kroner
Environmental Governance Fellow
Rachel is a conservation scientist with a passion for producing and communicating research to increase the impact and durability of conservation strategies. She led Conservation International’s Conservation Governance Atlas initiative, which explores how lands and waters are governed and how they have changed over time. Her contributions through this fellowship included research on where, when and why governments have rolled back restrictions, shrunk boundaries or eliminated protected areas — considered the cornerstone of conservation efforts. She has a special place in her heart for Amazonian forests, but loves to study (and visit!) all types of ecosystems and learn about new cultures. Rachel holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Policy. She was based in Arlington.
Heidi Hawkins
Climate and Wild Spaces Fellow
Heidi's work will helped Conservation International model and map soil carbon types as part of a suite of natural climate solutions. Working across diverse biomes, she purposefully explored the contribution of wildlife and wild spaces to climate cooling. Heidi holds a Ph.D. in plant biology from Hohenheim University in Germany, with postdoctoral experience at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. She has guided the science portfolio at Conservation South Africa, a Conservation International affiliate, for more than a decade. Her works include over 40 scientific articles and book chapters, which have increased understanding of nutrient cycling, soil carbon and rangeland ecology — with several manuals and guidelines informing land-use practice.
Guillermo Jaramillo
Citizen Science & Technology Fellow
Guillermo is a digital entrepreneur, angel investor and conservationist with over 25 years of experience in using science to inform key business decisions. He brings experience in building digital enterprises from conceptualization to implementation. Guillermo provides advice on citizen science and technological solutions to assess conservation challenges and interventions aligned with Conservation International’s priorities. He is currently developing iObservo — a citizen-science, social platform for conservation, research and exploration.
Murali Kanakasabai
Climate Finance, Global
Murali Kanakasabai is a pioneer in structuring environmental markets globally and designing innovative environmental financial products. Based in Arlington, Virginia, Murali leads global efforts to scale up financial flows to nature-based climate solutions and better integrate nature as an asset class within mainstream financial markets and impact seeking investors.
Justin Kenney
Global Ocean Fellow
Justin works with the oceans and policy teams on our goals to advance the protection of 30 percent of the global ocean by 2030, promote ocean-based solutions to the climate crisis and support efforts to curb illegal fishing. He has more than 25 years of experience bridging communications and conservation in government, philanthropy and advocacy. He served as communications director for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under the Obama Administration and as deputy communications director at the White House Council on Environmental Quality under the Clinton Administration. Justin also directed communications for the environment programs of the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Walton Family Foundation, as well as the Pew Oceans Commission. Most recently he served as a senior advisor for ocean and climate at the UN Foundation, where he worked with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He also directs the 30x30 Ocean Alliance, a partnership that includes Conservation International, and will continue to do so in his new position. Justin earned his master’s degree in public communication from American University and his bachelor’s from the University of Iowa.
Danielle King
Sustainable Landscapes, Global
Danielle King is based in Arlington, Virginia, and leads Conservation International’s efforts to create and implement an innovative, flexible and integrated sustainable landscape approach to holistically manage natural capital and productive systems while improving human well-being in key geographies for maximum impact. Danielle works across divisions and field programs to understand our work and how to bring these projects to scale. Her work will inform sustainable landscapes and seascapes across Conservation International.
Dane Klinger
Aquaculture Innovation Fellow
Dane is an interdisciplinary environmental scientist and economist who has worked for and with businesses, foundations, NGOs and universities in the United States and abroad to address a range of challenges in commercial aquaculture and the global seafood trade. His fellowship is focused on leading the development of Conservation International’s global aquaculture program with an emphasis on improving governance, access to finance and financial tools, and innovation in the aquaculture sector.
Lian Pin Koh, Ph.D.
Research & Innovation, Asia-Pacific
Lian Pin Koh, a distinguished Professor of Applied Ecology & Conservation at the University of Adelaide in Australia, is a pioneer in the use of low-cost drone technology for environmental applications. The focus of his fellowship is fostering and coalescing meaningful engagement among the environmental NGO sector and key academic institutions to advance conservation science, as well as introducing cutting-edge technologies into the conservation arena.
Cyril Kormos
Primary Forests, Global
Cyril Kormos, a Vice-President for Policy at the WILD Foundation and Chair of the IUCN-WCPA World Heritage Network, is renowned for his work on primary forest conservation and wilderness law and policy. Kormos’ fellowship is focused on demonstrating the value of primary tropical forest conservation by providing research, access to the most current data, and identification of policy options that emphasize the essential role of primary tropical forests and the unique benefits they provide in global climate mitigation.
Alan Kroeger
Natural Climate Solutions Communications Fellow
Alan will be working with the Brand + Communications team to communicate the benefits of natural climate solutions, carbon markets and the role Conservation International plays in advancing REDD+ and other conservation efforts. Previously he worked on the Bonn Challenge at IUCN and on assessing progress for the New York Declaration on Forests with Climate Focus. Alan also helped design and implement the Cocoa & Forests Initiative, and he led sustainability and climate policy for Enviva, the world’s largest wood bioenergy company. Alan serves as Head of Supply Chains and Natural Climate Solutions for the satellite monitoring company Satelligence, where he helps the private sector to use technology to halt deforestation, restore landscapes and create forest-positive supply chains. Alan holds degrees in environmental policy and natural resource management from Bard College and Cornell University, respectively.
Juan Carlos Ledezma
Spatial Planning and Target Setting Fellow
Juan Carlos has been working for Conservation International for more than 14 years, supporting the Bolivia office’s Land Use Planning, GIS and Project Management. He is a biologist with a specialized focus in natural resource management and earth observation. As the Spatial Planning and Target Setting Fellow, he will work on supporting target setting for the 10+ countries in the Americas Field Division as well as contributing to Conservation International’s mapping work and the conceptual definition of Climate Irreplaceable Ecosystems. Juan Carlos is based in Bolivia.
Shalom M. Ndiku
Africa Policy Fellow
Shalom will support Conservation International’s Africa Division to prioritize and identify policy opportunities related to biodiversity negotiations, climate change, the forest and ocean protection, rangeland restoration, and engagements with governments. Shalom has expertise in constitutional, extractives and environmental law — with experience both in private practice and the non-profit sector.
Before joining Conservation International, Shalom was the senior program manager in Africa for TrustLaw, the Thomson Reuters Foundation's global pro bono legal service. Prior to that, he provided project management, research and policy support to the environmental organizations Natural Justice and the Friends of Lake Turkana — including playing a pivotal role in putting together the legal petition that led the Kenyan government to pause construction of what would have been East Africa's first coal-fired power plant. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Organizational Psychology from Helderberg College and a law degree from the University of Cape Town, both in South Africa.
Rachel Neugarten
Priority Setting, Global
Rachel Neugarten’s fellowship is dedicated to developing, testing and disseminating methods for mapping important areas for biodiversity and ecosystem services to help ensure countries, development banks and conservation organizations are investing scarce conservation resources in the places where they can have the greatest impact. She is specifically focused on providing and discerning data that informs critical issues such as biodiversity, climate mitigation and adaptation, and freshwater and food security, through remote sensing, ecosystem service modeling and spatial analyses.
Kalei Nuʻuhiwa
Indigenous Knowledge System Fellow
Dr. Kalei Nuʻuhiwa is the Indigenous Knowledge System Fellow based in the Center for Oceans. During her first year, Kalei will explore and document the intersection of Indigenous science and Western knowledge in Hawai‘i, and will advance CI-Hawai‘i’s efforts to redefine how government uses Indigenous knowledge in marine management. Based on this pilot, she will broaden and refine this approach, working with other CI country programs to transform how Indigenous and Western knowledge systems are understood, recognized and deployed for ocean resilience and management. Kalei holds a master’s degree from the Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge at the University of Hawaiʻi, and a Ph.D. in Māori and Indigenous Studies from the University of Waikato in New Zealand.
Edgardo Ochoa
Marine Pollution & Dive Safety, Global
Edgardo Ochoa, a PADI Master scuba dive trainer and Dive Safety Officer, is a passionate ocean advocate. He brings 20+ years of training to help raise awareness and increase people’s knowledge so they will protect and preserve the oceans. He is a leader in ghost net removal and has teamed with PADI to create a global program that will train other divers to safely remove this damaging ocean pollution.
Yves Pinsonneault
Global Sustainable Landscapes & Seascapes Fellow
Yves Pinsonneault’s fellowship is focused on leading a multitude of initiatives for the successful implementation of Conservation International’s focus on sustainable landscapes and seascapes. In this portfolio, Conservation International has selected 16 sites — six in the Americas, four in Africa and six in the Asia-Pacific — at different stages of implementation. With more than 15 years of experience at Conservation International, Yves will ensure strong coordination, alignment and advancement of this initiative via the development of a community of practice and by providing assessment of and support to the progress of all sites. Yves is based in Arlington, Virginia.
Rahman Adi Pradana
Indonesia Policy Fellow
Adi will lead policy engagement with key partners to deliver on climate, biodiversity and ocean policies in Indonesia and the Asia-Pacific region. Adi is a passionate advocate for equitable and sustainable development with more than 12 years of experience in policy analysis and program management in the private, non-profit and public sectors.
Prior to joining Conservation International, Adi worked at WRI Indonesia, where he led the sustainable landscape and cities portfolio, and at the Indonesian government, where he helped monitor and support national priority programs — including REDD+. Adi completed his graduate study in public policy at Duke University, where he was a Global Social Innovation Fellow, and fulfilled his International Development certification in India. He is also part of the Obama Foundation’s Asia-Pacific Emerging Leaders program and the British Council’s Future Leaders Connect program.
Evan Rapoport
Senior Technology Fellow
As the Senior Technology Fellow at Conservation International, Evan helps build creative partnerships with innovative technology companies to benefit nature. He has nearly 20 years of experience inventing and launching new products and companies across many fields. He worked as Project Co-Founder/Lead and Rapid Evaluator of moonshots at Google X in food systems and consumer hardware; as a Product Manager at Google Maps, focusing on community photography and Street View; and most recently as the founding CEO of Oceankind, an ocean conservation foundation. He holds a BA in Cognitive Science with a minor in Computer Science from the University of Virginia.
Keith Roberts
Wildlife Trafficking, Africa
Keith Roberts is a leader in working broadly within the international community to drive legislative and on-the-ground efforts to end the illegal wildlife trade. Roberts spent the last three decades as a Game Warden, Protected Area Manager and advisor to governments and NGOs on anti-poaching, community development and protected area management efforts. Based out of Kenya, Roberts’ fellowship focus is on strategic engagement with partners at all levels to engender a deeper understanding of the role poverty plays a key contributor to poaching as well as how best to mitigate its impacts.
Carlos Manuel Rodriguez
Senior Fellow, Gaborone Declaration, Africa
Carlos Manuel Rodriguez is a former Minister of Environment and Energy for the Republic of Costa Rica, and a pioneer in the development of payment for ecosystem services. In his role as a Lui-Walton Innovator Fellow, he is advancing a highly focused international policy strategy that clearly defines the importance of biodiversity conservation, ecosystem management and climate change mitigation in promoting human well-being. As a skilled policy leader and negotiator, the focus of his fellowship will be in raising awareness as well as the importance of this strategy among leading global decision makers.
Jacques van Rooyen
Rangeland Restoration Fellow
Jacques leads the development of an Integrated Rangeland program for the Africa Field Division. He is creating a strategy for the Rangelands program whilst building a team to ensure continued growth and momentum within the Herding for Health program across the continent.
Cándido Pastor Saavedra
Amazonia Indigenous Fellow
Cándido has more than 20 years of experience designing and implementing training programs and tools, creating small-scale, nature-based enterprises, developing networks with indigenous peoples and organizations across Amazonia, and fostering multi-stakeholder partnerships at local, national and international levels. His focus is to incorporate indigenous territories and their representations as a key piece in conserving Amazonia and promoting climate stability.
Yichuan Shi
China Marine Fellow
Yichuan leads Conservation International’s work in China related to marine conservation, natural climate solutions and protected areas management. His focus is on helping to steer the strategic direction of Conservation International’s work and amplifying its impact in the country. He has over 10 years of experience working in conservation and has worked at IUCN and UNEP-WCMC on the Red List, natural World Heritage sites, and protected areas science and data. A trained geographer, Yichuan holds a master’s degree from the University of Cambridge and a bachelor’s degree from Zhejiang University, China.
Gustavo Souza
Americas Policy Fellow
Gustavo will be responsible for working with country programs in the Americas region to achieve Conservation International’s policy objectives. He will work on enabling conditions for the creation and sale of carbon credits, and will support on the region’s engagement in the upcoming biodiversity negotiations, as well as the design of biodiversity and sustainability policies.
Gustavo comes to us from CDP (formerly the Climate Disclosure Project), where he was the senior policy manager for the Americas — leading policy engagement with governments across the region. His experience spans climate (including REDD+ and carbon markets), biodiversity (including payments for ecosystem services), sustainable supply chains and private sector engagement. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Policy Management from the University of São Paulo and has a Master in Sustainable Resources Management from the Technical University of Munich. He is based in São Paulo, Brazil.
Bjorn Stauch
Africa Conservation Finance Fellow
Bjorn will be guiding Conservation International’s conservation finance activities in Africa. Conservation finance tools include trust and endowment funds, impact investing and conservation agreements. Bjorn will work to leverage financial and capital markets within African landscapes to achieve at-scale environmental impact though structure and innovation. Prior to joining Conservational International, Bjorn worked in investment management, wealth management, banking and private banking across the globe (including the U.K., Caribbean, Singapore, New York and Africa).
Aya Uraguchi
Carbon Finance Supply Fellow
Aya is focused on supporting the design, funding and implementation of carbon finance projects to fight accelerating deforestation and ecological degradation in the Asia Pacific region. Since joining Conservation International in 2010, she has been developing and managing the organization’s conservation work funded by Japanese companies. Before joining Conservation International, Aya worked at a consulting company, Mitsubishi Research Institute, where she provided support to public and private sectors in the fields of climate change and biodiversity. A trained forest ecologist, Aya holds a Ph.D. from Hokkaido University and a bachelor’s degree from International Christian University in Japan.
Marcel Viergever
Sustainable Landscapes & Agriculture, The Americas-Brazil
Marcel Viergever’s fellowship is centered on creating a sustainable agricultural strategy that incorporates conservation in productive landscapes, and identifying the actions and partners to make it operational throughout Amazonia and other regions in Brazil. In particular, he is focusing on the development of projects related to sustainable soy and palm oil. With more than three decades of experience, Marcel brings a wealth of experience in institutional analysis, participatory approaches, indigenous land management, as well as local development and sustainable livelihood approaches.
Neil Vora
Pandemic Prevention Fellow
Neil was a physician with Conservation International where he led efforts on pandemic prevention through addressing the underlying drivers of pathogen emergence such as deforestation. He was previously with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which he first joined in 2012 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer. While with CDC, Dr. Vora deployed to Liberia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to assist in the responses to the two largest Ebola outbreaks on record and to the country of Georgia to lead an investigation of a newly discovered virus related to the smallpox virus. From 2020-2021, Dr. Vora led New York City’s COVID contact tracing program composed of over 3000 staff. He has over 60 publications including in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and The Lancet and is currently an Associate Editor at CDC’s Emerging Infectious Diseases journal. Dr. Vora still sees patients in a public tuberculosis clinic in New York City. He completed medical school at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in 2009 and his Internal Medicine training at Columbia University in 2012.
Elle Wibisono
Indonesia Fishery Science and Policy Fellow
Elle supported the research and implementation of the production–protection approach in oceans through the Blue Halo S Project in Indonesia. Prior to working at Conservation International, she was a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow at the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, where she helped to draft and negotiate oceans bills. She also worked at The Nature Conservancy Indonesia Fisheries Conservation Project on the sustainable management of deep-water snapper and grouper fisheries. In addition to her research and policy work, Elle explores the importance of effective science communication by designing and creating fish comics (fishtory.co). Through her comics, she aims to highlight topics in fishery science and conservation in a fun and engaging way. She received her bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from Wellesley College and her Ph.D. in sustainable fisheries management from the University of Rhode Island.
Margot Wood
Global Sustainability Fellow
Margot’s research is dedicated to zero-deforestation commodity supply chains that protect nature and provide critical ecosystem services to communities. Through a partnership with TRASE (Transparent supply chains for sustainable economies) in the Stockholm Environment Institute and Global Canopy, Margot recently mapped the Colombian coffee supply chain. In her work, Margot strives to understand where important nature is located and how it supports commodity production. Based in Seattle, Margot is part of the Moore Center for Science’s Global Solutions team, and her background is in spatial ecology, mammalogy and tropical landscapes.
Yan Zhang
China Marine Fellow
Yan’s fellowship is dedicated to developing and implementing an integrated marine program strategy for Conservation International-China. His experience in protected areas, natural infrastructure, payment for ecosystem services and climate adaptation enables him to focus on developing solutions ranging from marine protection area management and species protection to blue carbon and marine litter. These solutions will help stakeholders better protect the coastal and marine ecosystems in China.