Keynote speakers

Different keynote speakers will address the conference theme from their experience and reflect on Ecosystem Services for the Future: Delivering value for Nature, Livelihoods and Economic Investment.

Below an overview is given of the keynote speakers.

Wednesday 8 June

10:00 - 11:00

• Beatrice Cyiza - Ministry of Environment in Rwanda (TBC)
• Peter Katanisa - World Bank 

       On Ecosystem Accounting in Africa

Thursday 9 June

09:00 - 10:00

• Dr. Aida Cuni-Sanchez - Norwegian University of Life Sciences and honorary fellow at the University of York, UK

      Local perceptions of tropical forest ecosystem services, insights from Africa

• Prof. Tuyeni Heita Mwampamba - National Autonomous University of Mexico

Where are the cultural, spiritual, and intrinsic values of nature in Africa’s discourses on ecosystem services?

Friday 10 June

09:00 - 10:00

• Beth Kaplin - Director Center of Excellence in Biodiversity & Natl Res Management (CoEB), Univ of Rwanda

     Ecosystem-based Adaptation experience in Rwanda

• Charles Karangwa - International Union for Conservation of Nature, Africa Region   

   Enhancing Ecosystem functionality through payment for Ecosystem Services

Biographies

Charles Karangwa - is a Regional Head of Land Systems, Covering Forests, Drylands and Sustainable Agriculture at The International Union for Conservation of Nature, Africa Region, and serves as Country Representative for Rwanda since January 2016. Charles has led IUCN Work on Land restoration in Africa as part of the Bonn Challenge and AFR100, he engaged both Governments and Non-States actors to bring Africa’s commitments to land restoration up to speed since 2016. He recently joined the COP26 High-Level Champion team as the lead for land restoration in Africa and works to engage private sector and other Non-State Actors for an ambitious climate action to Race to Zero and Race to Resilience by 2050. 

With more than 18 years of Experience in the interface between sustainable development, conservation and sustainable finance in Africa and South East Asia, he focused his work on Climate Change, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity conservation, nature-based solutions, ecosystem restoration, and sustainable finance. Prior to joining IUCN, he worked for UNHCR, Oxfam, Care International, and Wildlife Conservation Society. 

Charles holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from African Leadership University School of Business (ALUSB) with focus on conservation finance, an MSc. in Poverty Reduction, Policy and Practice with a Focus on Environmental Policies from the University of London (SOAS), a Bachelor of Development Studies with focus on rural economics.  

Prof. Tuyeni Heita Mwampamba - is a native Tanzanian who was trained as an ecologist at the University of California Davis. She is based at the Institute of Ecosystems and Sustainability Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico where she leads work on the social and ecological dimensions of community management of natural resources. Her research seeks to understand tropical forest systems outside of reserves and how forest managers (including local communities) understand and navigate the concept of “sustainability”. Over the past 20 years, Prof. Her work has applied the ecosystem services concept and existing frameworks to understand charcoal production systems in the Global South and her research explores issues of sustainability along charcoal value chains and the charcoal narratives in energy and environmental policies. More recently, her interest has expanded to explore how to expand the research space for the broader inclusion of stakeholders and other knowledge systems.  She is a Coordinating Lead Author in the recently completed IPBES Values Assessment and is currently undertaking a sabbatical year in the Department of Ecosystems and Conservation at the Sokoine University of Agriculture in Morogoro, Tanzania.  

Dr. Aida Cuni-Sanchez - is an Assistant Professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, and an honorary fellow at the University of York. She has a PhD in environmental Sciences from the University of Southampton (UK) and a Licenciatura in Biology from the University of Barcelona (Spain). She has over 10 years of work experience in 12 countries in tropical Africa, where she has focused on tropical forest ecology and carbon stocks, forest use and valuation by local communities and local communities’ adaptation to climate change. She received the 2020 L’Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science UK Award for Sustainable Development and the Chr. Michelsen price for outstanding development research (Norway) in March 2022. As well as developing the AfriMont plot network, she is a key partner in research collaborations in Africa including AfriTRON (tropical lowland forest monitoring), Mountain Research Initiative, Mountain Sentinels and ATBC-Africa Chapter.