Garo Batmanian, is the General Director of the Brazilian Forest Service responsible for promoting sustainable forest management, forest restoration, and value chains of forest products. He has previously worked in the World Bank offices in the USA, Brazil and China. His last position was the Global Lead for Forests, Landscape Biodiversity responsible for coordinating the implementation of an integrated green agenda. Garo also coordinated the World Bank’s Forest Action Plan, managed the Forest Investment Program (FIP) for the World Bank, and the Program for Forests (PROFOR), the Global Partnership for Sustainable and Resilient Landscapes (PROGREEN) and the Pilot Program to Conserve the Brazilian Rainforest. Earlier in his career, he was the LAC Program Director of WWF-USA, and the first CEO of the World Wide Fund for Nature Brazil (WWF-Brazil) having led the development of the Amazon Rainforest Protected Areas Initiative (ARPA). Garo is also the founder of FSC-Brazil, served as its first chairman and led the process of developing national standards for natural forest management in the Amazon and for plantations. Garo holds a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Georgia, USA.