Andrea Meza Murillo

Deputy Executive Secretary, UNCCD

Andrea Meza Murillo is the Deputy Executive Secretary of UNCCD. Ms Murillo is the former Minister of Environment of Costa Rica. She is an expert in sustainable development with more than 20 years of experience in formulating public policies and executing projects. She has worked in more than 15 Latin American countries in multidisciplinary projects financed by various multilateral organizations (IDB, World Bank, CAF, European Union, UNDP), bilateral (AECID, GIZ) and National governments. Andrea Meza is part of our 16 WOMEN Restoring the Earth 2023 selection.

Walter Willett

Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition, Harvard University

Dr. Walter Willett is Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. He served as Chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health for 25 years. Dr. Willett has published over 1,900 articles, primarily on lifestyle risk factors for heart disease and cancer, and has written the textbook, Nutritional Epidemiology, published by Oxford University Press. He also has four books for the general public, Eat, Drink and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating, just recently revised and released, Eat, Drink, and Weigh Less, co-authored with Mollie Katzen, The Fertility Diet, co-authored with Jorge Chavarro and Pat Skerrett and Thinfluence, co-authored with Malissa Wood and Dan Childs. Dr. Willett is among the top three most cited persons in all areas of science. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the recipient of many national and international awards for his research.

Jennifer Pryce

President and CEO, Calvert Impact Capital

Jennifer Pryce is President and CEO of Calvert Impact Capital. For nearly a quarter of a century, Calvert Impact Capital has strived to make markets work for more people, more often, by investing in communities overlooked by traditional finance. Calvert Impact Capital invests through organizations that on-lend to people and businesses in the US and over 120 countries. In 2017 the organizations in their portfolio provided more than $5 billion to finance everything from solar panels in Tanzania and small businesses in Texas. Jenn began her career in the Peace Corps where she taught math in Gabon. She then worked as an equity research analyst for Neuberger Berman and on the investment banking team at Morgan Stanley’s London office before joining The Public Theater in New York City and leading the Washington DC regional office for the Nonprofit Finance Fund. Jenn studied engineering at Union College and holds an MBA from Columbia University. She currently serves as a Forbes contributor, a lecturer at Oxford Saïd School of Business and the Advisory Board Chair of Quantified Ventures.

Sadhguru

Founder, Isha Foundation

Sadhguru – Founder, Isha Foundation Ranked amongst the fifty most influential people in India, Sadhguru is a Yogi, mystic and visionary. He has been conferred the Padma Vibhushan, India’s highest annual civilian award, accorded for exceptional and distinguished service. Sadhguru is a speaker and opinion-maker of international renown. He has spoken at various forums across the world, including the UN Headquarters, UNESCO Headquarters, World Economic Forum, the World Bank, the House of Lords, TED, Microsoft and Google Headquarters. He has also been invited to speak at leading educational institutions: Oxford, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Wharton and MIT among others. Over the years, Sadhguru has launched mega ecological initiatives. The movements Rally for Rivers and Cauvery Calling address the urgent need to revitalize Indian Rivers and issues related to Soil, Water and Climate Change. Recognized globally for their wide reach and impact, these initiatives have become game-changers by establishing a global blueprint for economic development that is ecologically sustainable. Sadhguru has been invited by the UN, UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) and UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) to discuss global solutions to the world’s ecological issues. Sadhguru’s celebratory engagement with life includes an active involvement in fields as diverse as architecture, visual design, poetry, painting, sports, music, aviation and motorcycling. Three decades ago, Sadhguru founded Isha Foundation, a non-profit human-service organization, with human wellbeing as its core commitment. The Foundation has initiated powerful yoga programs for human transformation and wellbeing, and path-breaking outreach projects to uplift rural communities. Isha is supported by over eleven million volunteers in more than 300 centers worldwide.

Benki Piyãko

Asháninka Community Leader, Terra Kampa do Rio Amônia

Benki Piyãko is a political authority and is held in high esteem both at home and internationally. He actively participates in important initiatives of his people, the Ashaninka, especially in the defense of their country and in the construction of educational centers to train local communities. He supports indigenous peoples in defending their land against exploitation by outsiders, he also teaches them optimized methods of soil management and illustrates how to use natural resources while preserving a unique ecosystem rich in species. Among the many projects that Benki Piyãko has led is the creation of the Yorenka Ãtame (“Knowledge of the Forest”) Center, with the aim of providing hundreds of communities in Brazil and Peru with an environmental management and conservation model based on the knowledge handed down by indigenous peoples. In his new project Beija flor (“Ko- libri”), Benki Piyãko works with non-indigenous communities. The aim is to reforest degraded areas on the border between Brazil and Peru and to create jobs in the region while at the same time training young people in sustainable farming methods.

Rodrigo A. Medellin

Senior Professor, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Rodrigo Medellín has studied and worked on ecology and the conservation of Mexico’s mammals, especially bats, for over 30 years. After graduating from the UNAM, he earned his PhD at the University of Florida. Medellín uses a different approach that includes community ecology, plant-animal interactions, population biology and molecular ecology. He is also Adjunct Professor at Columbia University in New York and the University of Arizona. He is also a Research Associate of the American Museum of Natural History and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. In 2011 he became President of the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB), the most important group of conservation professionals in the world, and is a member of numerous national and international conservation organizations. He is founder and director of the Program for Conservation of Bats of Mexico. In 2004 and 2007 he was re-elected as representative of North America to the Animals Committee of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and is part of the Millennium Project of the United Nations to stop the loss of natural resources. He has produced more than 170 publications including scientific articles and dissemination of scientific knowledge, and 40 books on ecology of bats, conservation and diversity of mammals. Rodrigo has served as Associate Editor of the scientific journals Conservation Biology, Journal of Mammalogy, ORYX and Acta Chiropterológica. His work has received several national and international awards.

Galina Angarova

Executive Director, Cultural Survival

Galina Angarova is a representative of the Ekhirit nation of the Buryat Peoples, a Russian Indigenous group. Galina is currently serving as the Executive Director of Cultural Survival, an Indigenous-led NGO and U.S. registered non-profit advocating for the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Galina comes to Cultural Survival after serving as a program officer at the Swift Foundation, and prior to that, as representative of the Indigenous Peoples’ Major Group at the UN. Previously, Galina was the Russia program director at Pacific Environment, where she organized direct actions against large resource extraction projects in Siberia and the Russian Far East.

James Marape

Prime Minister, Papua New Guinea

Prime Minister Marape, who is also a former finance minister of Papua New Guinea (PNG), was first elected to Parliament in 2007 and was elected Prime Minister in May 2019. In addition to the Finance portfolio, he has also served as Minister of Education, Parliamentary Secretary for Works and Transport, and has sat on the Parliamentary Referral Committee on Inter-Government Relations. Prime Minister Marape has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, a post-graduate Honours degree in Environmental Science, and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Papua New Guinea. He previously worked as Acting Assistant Secretary of Policy with the Department of Personnel Management from 2001 to 2006.

Jolene Marie Cholock-Rotinsulu

Miss International Indonesia 2019,

Jolene Marie Cholock-Rotinsulu is an Indonesian-American International Paralympics Games committee member and disability rights activist. She is also a television actress, a singer, a young entrepreneur, mountaineer and a beauty pageant titleholder, who won the title of Puteri Indonesia Lingkungan 2019. Jolene is an advocate for environmental and social issues in Indonesia. Along with the Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia, Jolene is involved with local NGO Rumah Karya Sahabat Anak Grogol, supporting free education for the homeless and street children in Grogol District, Jakarta.

His Majesty Inkosi ya Makosi Gomani V

King of the Maseko Ngoni, Malawi