List of Presenters
 | Claudia Ochoa 2022 Conference Co-chair 2021 Panelist Lead |
Claudia is an environmental lawyer from Peru that used to work as an advisor at the National Park Service and the National Forest Service. Currently, she also collaborates with Sistema B Perú. In addition, she has also served as advisor to the Ministry of Environment as part of the climate negotiation team that assisted on REDD+ and climate finance, as well as provided technical and legal assistance to different companies and NGOs in sustainability, project design and policy analysis. She is pursuing a master’s degree in environmental management at YSE. Her interests are climate change, biodiversity and financial sustainability. Claudia likes traveling, spending time in nature and having family time at the beach while cooking tons of food for everyone.
| 2021 Organizing Team |
| 2022 Organizing Team |
| Closing RemarksSat 4/23 5:00pm EDT |
 | Leisa Perch SAEDI Consulting |
Leisa Perch is the CEO and Founder of SAEDI Consulting Barbados Inc. She established SAEDI Consulting as part of her commitment to bridging and ultimately eliminating the persistent policy, programming and financing gaps between social and environmental policy. An International Development Expert with more than 20 years of experience in climate change, poverty reduction, livelihoods, gender equality policy, inclusive green growth, inclusive green economy, research and gender mainstreaming (in various regional settings including post-disaster and emergencies). Leisa has a proven track record of enabling purposeful dialogue & debate, coalition-building to deliver new ideas, promoting concepts of change and delivering transformation in developing and emerging economies. Well published, she has worked across the globe, from Latin America to Africa (South and West) and more recently in Asia. She has worked on Caribbean SIDS issues for most of her career. She is keen to expand the space for indigenous feminist voices in the Caribbean.
 | Alejandro Pizarro EcoSwell |
Alejandro Pizarro is a political scientist specialized in Social Research and Sustainable Local Development. In the last 13 years, he has led social research related to corporate reputation, public opinion and social program evaluation for the extractive sector, public institutions, international cooperation, academia and civil organizations in the 24 regions of Peru. He’s currently a Director and Co-founder at EcoSwell, an impact organization that develops sustainability projects on Peru’s rural coast, where he leads the charge of the organization’s social evaluations and community relations in order to understand the local reality and generate a healthy relationship with the beneficiary populations of our projects.
 | Ivet Reyes Maturano Articulación Yucatán |
Ivet Reyes Maturano is a Mexican anthropologist and a member of the grassroots Articulación Yucatán. Ivet graduated from the National School for Anthropology and History in Mexico City, received her MA in Cultural Analysis from the University of Amsterdam and got her PhD from McGill. Her academic work deals with issues of rural change, political ecology and environmental governance. She has also collaborated in diverse art projects in the Netherlands, the US and Mexico.
| Panel 1: Socioecological conflicts in Latin America and the CaribbeanSat 4/23 10:30am EDT |
 | Claudia Sánchez de Lozada Co-chair |
Claudia is a second-year Master of Environmental Management (MEM) candidate at the Yale School of the Environment, specializing in Climate Change Science and Solutions. Her academic interests include climate change adaptation, water resources, and international development. Before attending Yale, Claudia worked as an international environmental consultant assessing environmental impacts from different industries in several countries in Latin America and Africa. She also worked as part of a team of environmental experts in several international environmental litigations. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Macalester College. Her hobbies include photography, camping, and hiking.
| 2021 Organizing Team |
| Opening RemarksMon 4/5 4:50pm EDT |
 | Claudia Valeggia Chair, Council on Latin American and Iberian Studies |
| Opening Remarks Sat 4/23 8:40am EDT |
 | Bart van Hoof School of Management, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia |
Bart van Hoof: Associate Professor, Director sustainability department, School of Management, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia. Visiting staff off campus program on Cleaner Production, Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Development of the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Policy advisor of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development in Colombia. International consultant, and academic change agent in environmental sustainability. Proven results in achieving structural institutional changes in private companies, public policies and academia. Dutch citizen living for 24 years in Colombia. Combines a solid academic background with management experience in large firms, policy advisor and program director.
| Panel 2: Closing consumptive loops in LACSat 4/23 12:00pm EDT |
 | Alejandro Villacorta Executive Director of Fundacion Coatepeque |
Alejandro has been the Executive Director of Fundación Coatepeque since 2012. He has a Bachelor of Communications and an MBA and has spent more than 20 years working in NGOs building and executing cultural, environmental and ecotourism projects. He has commited his time to the interest of community welfare and in the development of initiatives that improve the economy of communities and protect the environment of their habitat. With FundaCoate, he has managed to position Lake Coatepeque as an example of the environmental work that is required in El Salvador. During his tenure, the scope of FundaCoate’s work has increased exponentially and the collection of donations has increased by 400%.
 | Victor Zambrano President, Management Committee of the Tambopata National Reserve Private Conservation Leader in Peru - Kerenda Homet Private Conservation Area |
- ASHOKA Fellow 1996
- Carlos Ponce del Prado Conservation Artificer Award 2014
- National Geographic Conservation Award 2016
- Conservation Hero Award from Critical Ecosystem.
- National Award as a Senior Citizen Entrepreneur 2016 (afp Prima).
- Currently serving as President of the Management Committee of the Tambopata National Reserve.
- Executive Director of the Board of Trustees of the Tambopata National Reserve Management Committee.
| Panel: Defending the Amazon: Stories and ChallengesWed 4/7 5:00pm EDT |
 | Florencia Zapata Deputy Director, Instituto de Montaña |
Florencia Zapata is an anthropologist and naturalist, specializing in sustainable management of mountain ecosystems, participatory action-research methodologies and social memory. She has worked for the Instituto de Montaña for over 20 years, collaborating on environmental conservation, climate change adaptation and cultural affirmation projects in the Andes. Her recent work topics include: nature-based solutions with an emphasis on ecosystem-based adaptation, sustainable and participative management of mountain ecosystems and ancestral technologies for water management in the Andes. Zapata is a member of the Association of Latin American Studies (LASA) and the Permanent Seminar on Agrarian Research (SEPIA).
| Panel: Nature-Based Solutions for the Water Sector in LACTue 4/6 11:00am EDT |