Keynotes

Dr. Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian is Director of the Department of Social Inclusion at the Organization of American States (OAS). For more than 15 years, she has led missions, programs, and projects and conducted research on issues of democracy and elections, and equity and social inclusion, among others. At the Department of Social Inclusion, Muñoz-Pogossian leads work on the inclusion of populations in vulnerable situations and on the promotion of the full exercise of their human rights. Among her responsibilities, she directs work on migration and refugees in support of the OAS Secretary General and the Member States.

Dr. Muñoz-Pogossian holds a PhD in political science from Florida International University, Miami, and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of South Florida, Tampa. She is the author of various academic publications and opinion columns on issues of democracy, human rights, migration and refugees, gender equity and social inclusion, among other topics.

Amanda Maxwell is the Director of the Latin America Project at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). She started there over 10 years ago, focused on a campaign to protect rivers in Chilean Patagonia. Since then, the Latin America Project’s work has grown to include clean energy advocacy, climate change policy, green finance, water management, and improving air quality, as well as continued efforts to protect wildlife and ecosystems throughout Latin America. She also advocates for the strengthening U.S. federal laws and policies that impact the environment of the region, such as the Lacey Act and the newly-passed United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Before joining NRDC in 2009, Maxwell received her bachelor’s degree in history and Spanish from Middlebury College and her master’s in international politics and economics from Charles University in Prague. She also studied at the Universidad de Buenos Aires.
 

Julia Carabias Lillo is a biologist and was awarded the Mexican Belisario Domínguez medal in 2017. This recognition is granted by Mexico’s Senate to recognize citizens that stand out for their service to the country and humanity.

From 2001 to 2004 Carabias served on the board of directors of Resources for the Future, an international environmental research organization, and from 2002 to 2004 she served as chair of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the Global Environment Facility. She was awarded the International Cosmos Prize in 2004 and in 2005 received the United Nations Environmental Programme Champions of the Earth Prize.

She completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees in the Faculty of Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). In UNAM she developed scientific research in ecology and education from 1977 to 1994. The focus of her research in ecology has been in the areas of tropical forest regeneration, environmental restoration, natural resource management and conservation, and environmental policy making. In 1994, she was asked by the President of the Mexican Republic, Ernesto Zedillo, to form part of his cabinet as the Ministry of the Environment Natural Resources and Fisheries.

She has published numerous scientific articles, in addition to co-authoring various books. Carabias is currently a member of several consultative councils and forms part of the academic councils of various national and international organizations.