Hugo Asselin obtained his doctorate in biology at Université Laval and a postdoctorate at UQAT. He is currently Full Professor and Director of the School of Native Studies, as well as Director of Custom Graduate Programs at UQAT. His fields of specialization are social and aboriginal forestry, aboriginal issues, northern development, biology and the environment.

More details to follow!

Amanda started at Nature United in 2016 as a community outreach coordinator and became  the Manitoba program director in 2019. She focuses on long-term relationship building with communities, and working together on  mutual goals such as Indigenous-led land-use planning, Indigenous engagement in forest management and moose monitoring and management initiatives. She also explores shared goals with the provincial government, industry and other non-profit organizations. Before this, Amanda worked at the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources, a non-profit that works with Indigenous communities across Canada, for nearly a decade as a research associate. She has an undergraduate degree in biology from the University of Regina and a master’s in science from the University of Victoria, focused on plant ecology and ethnobotany.

Jim is an environmental social scientist and Associate Professor in the School of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Saskatchewan. He works in rural communities in Latin America and Canada, studying how local and indigenous peoples self-organize to improve their land management, territorial governance, and environmental stewardship. In recent years, Jim has been exploring the role that youth can play in these areas. Jim holds the UNESCO Chair in Biocultural Diversity, Sustainability, Reconciliation and Renewal at the School of Environment and Sustainability (SENS).

Marlene is the Program Director at the Instituto Boliviano de Investigación Forestal. She is interested in understanding the relationship between people and their environment in order to better manage the sustainable and integral use of tropical forest systems. She works with scientific and local experts and combines social and biological research methods. She holds a Ph.D. in Forest Ecology and Management from Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

Giani is a Surinamese Tropical Forestry Expert with over 8 years of experience in Silvicultural research, Reduce Impact Logging, Lecturing, Project management and Forest auditing. He currently works as a technical expert for Eticwood in Suriname and as a project manager for Environmental Services and Support.

Paula, a Filipina forester, has a decade-long career spanning esteemed organizations, including the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO), the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (CGIAR FTA), and the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO). Paula was engaged in numerous on-the-ground forest research and development projects. She holds significant leadership positions, serving as the Vice President of the International Society of Tropical Foresters (ISTF) and as a board member of RECOFTC - The Center for People and Forests and the Global Network for Forestry Young Professionals (ForYP). Through these roles, she champions the cause of genuine youth engagement in the forest sector, advocating for the voices and contributions of the next generation. She holds a master's degree from the University of Saskatchewan, where her research focused on Indigenous youth participation in territorial governance in Bolivia.

Julio Zetina is the World Conservancy Society coordinator for the community of Uaxactún. He has worked directly with the community for over 20 years as an implementation technician.

Miriam is a biologist who works for the World Conservancy Society - Guatemala, as a National Coordinator of Conservation Agreements.

Valeria Romano Lara is a PhD researcher in International Studies at the University of Trento. Her research focuses on the long-term impact of colonial structures on poverty and inequality in forest communities that have implemented community-based natural resource management models. Valeria has previously worked as a lecturer, policy analyst, project manager and in various administrative positions in the public and private sectors. She is a consultant for Sustainable Development Projects at Pilot Projects.

Birendra K. Karna holds a Ph.D. in Natural Resource Management from the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand, and an M.Sc. and an M.A. in Botany and Anthropology, respectively, from Tribhuvan University, Nepal.  He is a natural resource management (NRM) professional with 12 years of experience in research and development on common property institutions and climate change, particularly in the area of community-based forest management and community-based climate change adaptation. Prior to joining ForestAction Nepal, Mr. Karna served as the Co-Director of the Research Program at Nepal Forest Resources and Institutions (NFRI).

Julia is a human geographer whose main interests lie in addressing injustice, exploring human-nature interactions, and critically analyzing food production systems. Most of her experience comes from working in Latin America in diverse cultural and social contexts in an interdisciplinary environment. She has focused on natural resource management, conflict and policy issues affecting marginalized groups, such as small-scale farmers and indigenous communities in tropical forests, as well as coastal fishing communities and sustainability challenges in agriculture in general. Julia is an experienced researcher, lecturer and project worker. Her doctoral research focused on cocoa development in the Peruvian Amazon.

Leigh Fox is a professional treeplanter and founding Director of Fair Trade Carbon Uganda Ltd., a treeplanting and forest management company operating in Western Uganda since 2005. Joint venture contracts with farmers, a 'work for school fees' program for students, and an employee and family health care policy are all features of an African treeplanting company that was conceptualized on a cutblock and financed by trees planted on the West Coast of BC. Leigh holds a BA in Political Science and an MSc in Forestry. His Graduate work focused on Forestry and Food Security in Africa.