The second conversation will focus on how people using landscapes in the productive sector and ministries of environment can best collaborate to achieve conservation. Ministry leaders in Rwanda, Uganda and Mexico will discuss the lessons they’ve learned and how these can apply to other countries and communities working to balance development and biodiversity goals.
Speakers:
- Jean Pierre Mugabo is the current Director-General of Rwanda Forestry Authority (RFA). From 2017 to 2020 he was the head of the forestry department in Rwanda Water and Forestry Authority (RWFA), Ministry of Environment. Mugabo holds a masters degree in Agronomy and has remarkable experience in forest development programs and management.
- Dr. Sol Ortiz is a biologist from the Faculty of Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a doctor in ecology from the Institute of Ecology of UNAM. She has worked in the public sector since 2001, first at the National Institute of Ecology, as coordinator of the Biosafety Program. From 2007 to 2018, she joined the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT). Since December 2018, Dr. Ortiz has worked at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on climate change, genetic resources for food and agriculture, soil conservation, integration of biodiversity in agriculture, and sustainability. Among other activities, Sol coordinates the development and implementation of the National Strategy for the Sustainable Use and Conservation of Pollinators in Mexico, acts as National Focal Point to the Global Soil Partnership, and also serves as Technical Secretary of the Committee on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
- Adriana Vidal (moderator) is a Senior Forest Policy Officer at IUCN’s Forest Conservation Programme (FCP) where she works with government agencies, partners and international global spaces advocating for and supporting enhanced policy frameworks for forest conservation, restoration and sustainable landscape management approaches. She joined IUCN in 2015 and currently coordinates the FCP’s international policy work on climate change and biodiversity and provides expert advice for country-level policy influencing strategies and activities. Adriana previously worked for 8 years in the non-profit, public and private sectors in the USA and Peru, providing legal counsel and policy advice on REDD+, forest conservation and environmental and social compliance involved in extractive industries. Adriana holds a JD degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and an LLM from New York University.
