Kolbe Soares

Kolbe Santos holds a degree in Forest Engineering, with specializations in Forest Systems Management and Rural Land Georeferencing. He also holds a master’s degree in development Practices (MDP). With 25 years of experience in the environmental field, he has worked as a manager of a National Park with IBAMA, a Model Forest coordinator with the Minas Gerais State Forest Institute and contributed to the creation of a Protected Areas Mosaic while working with Fundação Pró-Natureza. He has also served as a Forest Engineer in a community-based forest management project in a National Forest in the Brazilian Amazon. For the past 11 years, Kolbe has been working at WWF-Brazil as a Conservation Specialist, focusing on areas such as socio-bioeconomy with Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities in the Cerrado and Amazon biomes, landscape planning, and partnerships with public institutions for the implementation of Protected Areas. He also volunteers as the President of the Brazilian Model Forest Network, supporting the governance and operations of Brazil’s five Model Forests through capacity building, networking, exchanges, and collaboration with public agencies, civil society, and the private sector.