Introduce yourself

[zacharam]

My name is Magda Zachara and I am a Programme Officer at IUCN Academy.

I come from the world of fundamental research in life sciences, where I also enjoyed the role of a teaching assistant.

Having longed for a new professional adventure, I have been working on designing and delivering educational programmes at IUCN for a year and a half now.

In my current capacity, my primary objective is to ensure, together with my colleagues, that your learning experience is seamless and rewarding. I will also act as the tutor for your individual project.

I am based at the IUCN Headquarters in Gland, a small town on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

Beyond the professional sphere, I have always struggled, as many can relate, with having too many hobbies. This is no longer an issue, as for the year, I have been a mother to a lovely baby girl. As I quickly discovered, that’s my one and only hobby for now.

I look forward to assisting you on your learning journey and connecting with all of you.

A warm welcome,

Magda

[asiimwe-hope]

I am Hope Asiimwe, a Forest Officer working in the Forest Sector Support Department of the Ministry of Water and Environment in Uganda.

I come from the natural resources space, and I would like to understand more about the nexus between finance and nature, especially since this had a drag on our resources in terms of their true value and contribution to GDP often remains underappreciated, and how we can explore relevant data-driven tools.

I expect to dive deeper into understanding the linkages facilitating nature and finance and what areas can be explored to bridge the existing gaps that surround this nexus.

Hmmm…there is not just one specific activity I enjoy in my free time; there is so much I love to do, but top on my list, I love going to new places with my family.

[Hieu Tom]

Tom Bui from Global Affairs Canada, former GEF Council Member and GCF Board Member. Taking this one to round out my training (to complement the experience) and to develop a position paper on desertification, land degradation and drought related to AFOLU, benefiting from the insights from the materials and fellow learners.

[ioana-ene]

HI everyone! Here is Ioana joining from Amsterdam. I am an expert finance professional who after 20 years working for an IT corporation decided to serve a higher purpose and look for more meaningful impact work in sustainability or conservation. I hope this course will provide a good platform to enhance my current knowledge and understanding of how I can effectively act on.

I am a mother of three and my hobby is being outdoors hiking/walking in nature, forest, beaches or fields, rain or sun, there is no day passing by without at least a 10km walk . It is what i want to pass on to my kids and they have, like most children, a natural love for nature.

Looking forward to start learning and colaborating !

[katherine-poe]

My name is Katherine, and I am a Programme Associate with the IUCN Forest and Grasslands Team. I live in Washington, DC, but I am originally from Columbus, Ohio.

I have a master’s degree in biology and a public policy graduate certificate, as well as bachelor’s degrees in conservation biology/ecology and political science, all from Arizona State University.

In my graduate research, I employed GIS and biodiversity metrics to map the conservation benefits of sustainable agriculture solutions for threatened birds in the Peruvian Amazon.

I enrolled in this course to deepen my understanding of the finance-biodiversity nexus. I hope to gain a better understanding of how current finance mechanisms and frameworks affect biodiversity and how they can be leveraged to support nature as well as sustainable livelihoods.

In my free time, I enjoy hiking, yoga, martial arts, nature photography, cooking, and reading, to name a few. I look forward to working with you all during this course!

[neha-bhatnagar]

Hi, I am Neha Bhatnagar, Research Associate, Mobius Foundation.

I am joining this course from New Delhi, India.

I completed my Masters in Biodiversity and Conservation and am passionate about working in conservation initiatives. I have spent the last ten years working on the conservation of rivers and wetlands and am currently pursuing research on various frameworks for Natural Resource Management.

My journey has involved extensive reading and learning about numerous frameworks that support both nature and the interests of businesses and other multi-stakeholder groups. During this journey, I participated in the Introduction to Finance for Nature online course offered by the Academy. I found the course to be highly interesting and gained valuable insights into the critical importance of understanding finance within nature-related frameworks. This experience motivated me to enroll in this professional course to delve deeper into Finance for Nature.

My expectation from this course is to gain a thorough understanding of this crucial aspect of nature conservation. I aim to apply this knowledge to enhance the effectiveness of various conservation frameworks.

In my free time, I enjoy practicing yoga, engaging in self-care activities, and spending time with my young daughter.

[Graeme]

Hello, all. My name is Graeme Cotterill, and I’m Head of Strategy and Operations for North Wales Wildlife Trust, UK.

I wanted to enrol primarily because we have only a very limited local understanding of key nature finance principles and how to apply them on the ground. I want to be able to bridge the gap between what can sometimes seem like very abstract concepts and actually filling the huge gap between what needs to happen locally for nature’s recovery and the ‘traditional’ resources available to deliver change. I expect to be a little further ahead on that journey by the end of the five weeks!

In my free time, I conduct choirs, read low-brow literature and try and keep sane in a house with two young children …

[mathew-collis]

Hi everyone, my name is Matt Collis. I am the Senior Director for Policy at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), an IUCN member. I am based in the UK (working remotely out of Cornwall) but part of IFAW’s global leadership team, with my own team dispersed around the world.

I joined the course because in the policy work I do there is frequent discussions on nature finance and it is very clear to me that policy changes we are seeking will not be successful without long-term and diverse funding. However, I often find the concepts and jargon of the financial world hard to conceptualise so I hope this course will enable me to get a better understanding of how to translate nature into concepts that make sense in the financial world (and vice versa).

I like to spend my free time exploring the beautiful nature around me in Cornwall, but I am also fortunate that my work enables me to travel around the world a lot. I’m also a big fan of football and architecture.

Looking forward to meeting you all.

Matt

[valence-arineitwe]

I am Valence Buherere Arineitwe from Uganda, working with the Ministry of Water and Environment under the Forestry Sector Support Department. My motivation for enrolling in this course stems from my role as a departmental planner. I see the <em style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: var(–bb-body-text-color);”>Finance for Nature course as an invaluable opportunity to deepen my understanding of innovative financing approaches and their practical application to conservation and restoration efforts. I hope to gain insights into global <em style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: var(–bb-body-text-color);”>Finance for Nature initiatives and leverage this knowledge to develop or influence policies that enhance funding for the natural resources sector.

[carmel-lev]

Hi everyone, my name is Carmel and I’m joining from Aegon Group – a global insurance and pension provider based in the Netherlands. At Aegon, I manage our responsible investment strategy, where the topic of nature and biodiversity has gained increasing attention – particularly in terms of its linkage to climate change and how such dependencies, impacts, risks, and opportunities can impact our investment portfolio and financial performance. We are in the process of maturing our responsible investment approach related to biodiversity, including exploring TNFD disclosures; therefore, I hope this course will provide useful guidance on how to quantify biodiversity-related risks related to our portfolio, investment opportunities for the financial industry, and views from practitioners and peers on how they are approaching this topic and how they are overcoming present limitations (i.e., lack of data).

In terms of how I like to spend my free time, I enjoy cycling and dancing flamenco! Looking forward to interacting with you all over these next five weeks.

[Joseph]

Hi All, my name is Joe Goergen joining from Washington, DC.

I am a wildlife professional with ~10 years experience in the non-profit foundation/NGO space, focused on working with governments, supporting IPLC partners, and advising the tourism sector in Southern Africa – in addition to promoting sustainable resource use and indigenous rights in international policy arenas. I recently graduated with a M.S. from Michigan State University where my thesis investigated effects of environmental factors and governance performance on financial sustainability of communal conservancies in Namibia. My research recommended strategies to improve income generation and diversification for community-based natural resource management programs. I am also a Research Fellow at the African Wildlife Economy Institute, Stellenbosch University and professional member of IUCN SULi group.

I am interested in this course to advance my career in nature finance and apply results from my research in Namibia to develop innovative finance mechanisms and investment partnerships. In my free time, I enjoy a variety of outdoor activities and adventure tourism. Looking forward to connecting with this cohort and expanding my understanding of finance for nature! – Joe

[quirine-hakkaart]

Hi all,

So nice to meet you all virtually!

I’m Quirine Hakkaart and I live on the beautiful island of Saba, Dutch Caribbean. I’ve been living here for almost 6 years and I’ve had many roles on the island.

I’m a biologist and an educator, and currently, I’m working at the local government, the Public Entity Saba as a policy advisor, working as an account holder for our local NGO, and also working on topics like waste management, green education, implementation of environmental legislation and fisheries. In addition to this, I’m on the board of our local secondary school, which takes up quite some time too, as the school is in bad weather.

I wanted to join this course because we’re initiating change in nature subsidies we give out, and also we feel like there is a bigger need to organize what we do – nature wise. This includes funding and finances we receive from for example the Dutch ministries.

I hope to learn innovative ways to structure our nature policies, finances and subsidies we give out, and of course connect with all the participants of the course!

In my free time, I like to go running, cycling, hiking and spend time with my family.

I hope to get in touch with all of you soon!

Kind regards,

Quirine

[dileri-berdeja]

Hi All,

My name is Dileri Berdeja I am conservation scientist with a specific focus on biodiversity, animal welfare and invasive species. I have worked in the past years supporting governments, NGO’s and private companies to structure their projects related to biodiversity and in support of animal welfare. Currently, I support an NGO called Freshwater Life to take action to conserve freshwater ecosystems by eradicating and managing invasive species.

I am currently located in Mexico City, although I have lived in Canada for the past six years. I work for various institutions in Mexico, Canada, and the US.

I have enrolled in this course, because Mexico is a country that greatly relies on financial frameworks to supporting climate change initiatives and biodiversity, instead of using primarily scientific approaches. I’ve had challenges communicating specific goals for companies, as they are mostly interested in financial returns.

I am hopeful that this course will help me breach the gap between finance and science, by also helping me to enhance fundraising mechanisms for NGO’s that rely on external financing for their functionality.

My biggest passion during my free time is to practice all kinds of sports, specifically tennis, padel tennis and power lifting. Nice to meet you all!

[Jaime]

Good morning folks, Jaime Lee joining from Vermont, USA.

I’m admittedly an odd duck in this course as my professional background is in digital marketing, but years ago I received a bachelor’s degree in environmental policy, so at least the first module feels like brushing up.

For the past decade I’ve provided digital marketing services to clients in the finance sector, in some instances (rare, but delightful) promoting ESG and impact investment funds. Becoming better versed in Nature and Finance concepts, and the key players active in the space, would enable me to approach these projects and clients from a more informed position.

As for the motivation to enroll, I am in the midst of a career transition and, for the next three months, will be tugging at various threads to determine how I should design the next twenty+ years of my professional career. Just for fun, a week ago I asked Gemini — Google’s AI chatbot — the best way to go about this transition. Everything it populated was predictable, though when it recommended professional certifications, I asked for more specificity. Wouldn’t you know, it listed<i style=”font-weight: bold;”> this exact program. In 2016 I attended the IUCN Congress in Hawaii on a fluke, so to see “IUCN” pop up in my life again was most welcome, and here I am.

Bonus: On a volunteer basis I engage with land use planning both at the municipal and State level. I’m also a bluegrass musician (mandolin, guitar, vocals, and some fiddle).

[Christophe]

Hi Everyone, my name is Christophe Mason-Parker and I am based in Seychelles where I run a small environmental NGO with a focus on research, conservation and education.

Seychelles economy relies heavily on natural capital and much of the work our NGO undertakes aims to mitigate the impacts of biodiversity exploitation and climate change. I have joined this course to improve my understanding of the nature finance nexus and to explore ways of applying this knowledge to our operations.

When I am not at work, I can usually be found underwater often with a camera in my hand.

I am looking forward to getting to know everyone as the course progresses.