ClientEarth Summit 2024 (2024)

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Anne-Sofie Bäckar

Executive Director, ChemSec

Anne-Sofie Bäckar has worked with chemical management for 22 years and for the past 17 years as the Executive Director of ChemSec. She was among the people that originally started ChemSec in 2002 in a small office. Under her tenure as Executive Director, ChemSec has grown into a well-respected player and developed world-class chemicals management tools such as the SIN List and the Marketplace. Anne-Sofie holds a M.Sc. in chemistry from the University of Hamburg, Germany. Before joining ChemSec, she worked for consumer organisations in the Nordic countries, monitoring chemical issues from a consumer perspective. As a scientist, she started her career with biotechnology research on diseases. She has been a member of the Executive Committee of IPEN (2008 -2020), a board member of the Centre for Chemical Substitution (2018-2021) and a Member of the Supervisory Board at the Swedish Chemical Inspectorate (2020 ongoing).

Babette Tachibana-Brophy

Law and Policy Advisor, Ecosystem Governance, ClientEarth

Babette joined ClientEarthin February 2020 as a lawyer (Australian qualified) with the Forests and Climate Team, combatting illegal timber, developing community legal capacity, and improving forest conservation and management in Liberia.

Before joining ClientEarth, Babette completed an MPhil in Conservation Leadership at the University of Cambridge as a Gates Cambridge Scholar, researching ways to effectively use the law to deliver strategic conservation outcomes. Babette was also a Senior Lawyer advising the National Parks and Wildlife Services in Australia, established a novel wildlife law and policy research program in Namibia and worked in private practice with Australian law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth.

Chitra Grace

Professor & Vice Principal (Academics), Global Institute of Public Health (GIPH), Ananthapuri Hospitals and Research Institute

Dr. Chitra Grace has a key interest in public health, epidemiology, and environmental health with a dual masters in Environmental Sciences and Public Health. Dr. Chitra has done her Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), Chennai. Later, she was employed with ICMR School of Public Health, National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai. Presently, she teaches Epidemiology, Quantitative Research Methods, and Health and Environment courses at the Global Institute of Public Health. Furthermore, she is Co-Principal Investigator (Kerala) for the project, Community Voices for Vaccines in India (COVVINDIA), funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). Dr. Chitra also contributes as a part- time consultant for the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) – Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India project, with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), Chennai.

Dorota Napierska

Toxic-free Circular Economy Policy Officer Policy, Zero Waste Europe (ZWE)

Dorota holds a PhD degree in Biomedical Sciences. Prior to joining Zero Waste Europe, Dorota was leading the Safer Chemicals programme at Health Care Without Harm Europe, and worked for the European Commission and at the Department of Public Health of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. At ZWE, Dorota’s work focuses on the topic of safety of chemicals, materials, products and packaging (and food contact materials / food packaging in particular), as well as clean and effective material cycles needed for achievement of a truly non-toxic circular economy.

Ellen Ormesher

Reporter, DeSmog

Ellen is a reporter with interests across climate, culture and industry. She was previously a senior reporter covering sustainability at The Drum. Her work has also been featured in The Guardian.

Enric Sala

Founder, Pristine Seas

Enric Sala is a former university professor who saw himself writing the obituary of ocean life and quit academia to become a full-time conservationist as a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence. He founded and leads Pristine Seas, a project that combines exploration, research, and media to inspire country leaders to protect the last wild places in the ocean. To date, Pristine Seas has helped to create 27 of the largest marine reserves on the planet, covering an area of more than 6.5 million square kilometers. He has earned numerous honours for his work, including 2008 World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leader, 2013 Explorers Club Lowell Thomas Award, 2013 Environmental Media Association Hero Award, 2016 Russian Geographical Society Award, 2018 Heinz Award in Public Policy, 2021 Prince Albert I Grand Medal, and 2021 National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal. He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Sala earned a B.S. in Biology from the University of Barcelona and a Ph.D. in ecology from Aix-Marseille University, France.

Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara

Founder and Honorary President, Tethys Research Institute

Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara (PhD 1985, U. California) is a marine ecologist who has contributed for over 40 years to the advancement of knowledge of the ecology, behaviour and taxonomy of marine mammals and sharks. He is the honorary president of the Tethys Research Institute which he founded in 1986. In 1991 he spearheaded the creation of the Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals, the world’s first high-seas MPA. From 1996-2003 he served as president of ICRAM, a government body tasked to provide scientific support to national marine conservation policy. He served from 1999-2004 as the Italian Commissioner of the IWC; from 1991-2022 as Deputy Chair of IUCN’s Cetacean Specialist Group; from 2002-2010 as Chair of the Scientific Committee of ACCOBAMS; and from 2014-2022 as the Convention of Migratory Species CoP-appointed Councillor for aquatic mammals. In 2013 he started the Important Marine Mammal Area programme as an initiative of the IUCN Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force, which he created and co-chairs, and supports the Important Shark and Ray Area initiative as senior advisor. He taught conservation of marine biodiversity at the University Statale of Milan from 2007-2016. He has authored over 240 scientific works and several books.

Atty. Gloria Estenzo Ramos

Vice President, Oceana

Atty. Gloria 'Golly' Estenzo Ramos is recognized among the 2024 Philippine Daily Inquirer’s "Women of Power" (WOP) Awards recipients, celebrating women leaders whose achievements inspire and positively impact communities. She was honoured as the 2018 Mariang Maya awardee by the Sigma Delta Phi Alumni Association for her exceptional contributions in various fields. Ramos serves as Vice President of Oceana and has been a key member of its Executive Committee since 2014, leading efforts to shape national policies for science-based and sustainable fisheries management in the Philippines. Her leadership has resulted in significant victories, including the protection of Philippine Rise and the implementation of vessel monitoring rules for commercial fishing vessels. Previously, Ramos represented Southeast Asia on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Academy of Environmental Law Governing Board. She also played a crucial role in establishing the ‘Law’ Program at the University of Cebu's College of Law and co-founded the Philippine Earth Justice Center, focusing on environmental cases and governance. Ramos successfully halted an offshore oil drilling project in Tañon Strait Protected Seascape through legal action, upheld by the Supreme Court in 2015. Prior to her environmental advocacy, she led Kababaihan Laban sa Karahasan, advocating for women’s rights and combating gender-based violence.

Hélène Duguy

Lawyer/Jurist, Clean Air, Water and Soil, ClientEarth

In August 2020, Hélène joined the ClientEarth’s team that specialises on chemicals pollution. She is more specifically involved in matters related to the implementation of the main EU chemicals regulation, ‘REACH’.

Before joining ClientEarth, Hélène worked at the US law firm Squire Patton Boggs as a legal adviser specialising on EU environmental regulatory issues, including circular economy, chemicals and sustainable product policy. Prior to that experience, she worked as an intern at the DG Environment of the European Commission on multilateral environmental cooperation, and at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Center (WCMC-UNEP), focusing on forest (EUTR-FLEGT).

Jonathan White

Lawyer, Accountable Corporations, ClientEarth

Johnny joined ClientEarth’s London office in October 2020. His work focuses on exploring and implementing legal strategies to mainstream climate-related risk and to foster accountability for the impacts of climate change.

Before joining ClientEarth, Johnny worked at the international law firm Clifford Chance for nine years, specialising in international and high value commercial and financial disputes and in international human rights law. He has also worked for human rights strategic litigation groups, and has a particular interest in social corporate responsibility and accountability.

Melissa Aronczyk

Professor, School of Communication & Information, Rutgers University

Melissa Aronczyk is Professor of Media Studies in the School of Communication & Information at Rutgers University. She is the co-author, with Maria Espinoza, of ‘A Strategic Nature: Public Relations and the Politics of Environmentalism’ (Oxford University Press), winner of the 2023 Roderick P. Hart Outstanding Book Award in Political Communication and the 2022 Outstanding Book Award in Public Relations, Innovation, Development and Educational Achievement (PRIDE), both from the National Communication Association. Her research on how PR affects our ability to communicate about climate change has been featured in The Nation, the Financial Times, Rolling Stone, CNBC, The Intercept, Grist, AdWeek, and Yes Magazine. She has also written stories about PR and sustainability for The Washington Post and Foreign Policy magazine. At Rutgers, Prof. Aronczyk is a Faculty Associate with the Eagleton Institute of Politics and Affiliated Graduate Faculty with the Department of Sociology. She is also a Faculty Fellow with the Center for Cultural Sociology at Yale University and a Research Affiliate with the Center on Digital Culture & Society at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. She is an adjunct Research Professor in Communication and Media Studies at Carleton University in Canada. She has held visiting positions at the London School of Economics, Yale University, and the University of Helsinki. Melissa holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Media, Culture and Communication at New York University. From 2023 through 2026, Dr. Aronczyk is the Director of the PhD Program in Communication, Information and Media in Rutgers’ School of Communication & Information.

Pierre Cannet

Global Head of Public Affairs and Policy, ClientEarth

Pierre leads ClientEarth’s Global Public Affairs and Policy team, overseeing the organisation’s influence on decision-makers to achieve the systems change pursued in its strategy across the world. This includes targeted advocacy and policy insights in all its areas of work throughout the life cycle of the law. With his team at ClientEarth, Pierre specialises in cross-cutting strategic policy advocacy, supports our legal teams, and leads on flagship policy initiatives to develop a wide range of environmental campaigns and files around the world. In a fast-moving environment for policy makers, the team is working on finding the most impactful strategies to influence them and convince them to adopt our positive solutions to protect the environment and people across multiple jurisdictions. With his experience in advocacy, Pierre supports the organisation in developing the best tools and skills to accomplish this mission.

Before joining ClientEarth, Pierre was the Executive Director of Advocacy at WWF in France where he worked for a decade leading campaigns and programs on a diversity of environmental issues, from climate and energy to nature and plastics, collaborating at multiple levels throughout the WWF’s global network. Prior to this, Pierre worked with the United Nations in New York on the preparation of the Rio+20 Summit and corporate climate engagement.

Soledad Gallego

Senior Lawyer, Marine and Mediterranean Lead and Head of Spain, ClientEarth

Soledad joined ClientEarth in June 2019, and is based in Madrid.As Head of Spain she provides leadership in developing and delivering ClientEarth’s work in Spain. She works in collaboration with legal and programme experts to design and implement legal interventions in Spain on energy systems, food, oceans and land use, transport and materials, aligned with ClientEarth's regional and global strategies.

As Marine and Mediterranean Lead, she focuses on identifying and developing strategic litigation to protect terrestrial, freshwater and marine wildlife and habitats in the EU Mediterranean countries.

She works on legal cases to avoid adverse impacts on biodiversity by sectoral plans, projects and activities. Soledad also focuses on the appropriate designation and management of protected areas (Natura 2000 network, marine protected areas). This includes actions to preserve and restore ecosystem connectivity and a better protection of rivers, wetlands and coastal and marine ecosystems.

Before joining ClientEarth, Soledad worked as a litigation lawyer for SEO/BirdLife in Spain during 14 years, bringing cases to protect biodiversity before the Supreme Court and national courts. She founded in 2008 the Law Firm “Environmental Justice” where she also provided legal services to Spanish Environmental NGOs. She is a water policy expert and has researched and published extensively on this topic and Biodiversity Law. Previously, she held the positions of General Director of Housing, Water and Town Planning in the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha (2002-2005).

Thais Lazzeri

Director, FALA

Thais Lazzeri is the founder of FALA, an award-winning impact studio that utilizes communication to effect real changes in the environment, human rights, climate, and democracy. Additionally, Thais is director of strategy, impact, and documentary filmmaker. Over 16 years as a journalist, Thais has received 15 awards for storytelling in both reporting and documentaries. She is the only Brazilian journalist to have been honored with the Stop Slavery Award from the Thomson Reuters Foundation, recognising professionals who excel in combatting and exposing human trafficking and slavery on a global scale. She is also the leader in Brazil for the Mentira Tem Preço project , an initiative aimed at combating disinformation misinformation regarding climate, the environment, and hate speech inside and outside the country. In 2014, Thais published the book "500 Gramas de Vida" (Publisher: Belas Letras) to support parents of premature babies.

Walter Mbamy

NADA, ANPN

Walter Mbamy is a dedicated social-ecological researcher committed to studying human-elephant interactions in Gabon. He currently serves as a research assistant at the Gabon National Parks Agency, where he focuses on understanding the complexities of elephant behavior in palm oil habitats for his Ph.D. research. With a Master's degree in Geography of Environment and a keen interest in conservation, Walter has played integral roles in various elephant tracking projects. Notably, he has contributed to projects in collaboration with Duke University, managing elephant tracking efforts, and worked on bioacoustics research with the Sound Forest Lab at the University of Wisconsin. Walter's research endeavors have received recognition and support, including a prestigious Research Grant from the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation. In addition to his academic pursuits, Walter is a co-founder of the Nsombou Abalghe-Dzal Association (NADA), a local community NGO in Gabon. Within NADA, he leads social-ecological research efforts, working closely with local communities to foster conservation initiatives. Through his multifaceted roles and research endeavors, Walter Mbamy continues to make significant contributions to the understanding and conservation of Gabon's rich biodiversity.

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