Arikan Yunus Yunus Arikan coordinates ICLEI's global policy and

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ARIKAN Yunus

Yunus Arikan coordinates ICLEI's global policy and advocacy. He has been working at

ICLEI World Secretariat since 2009. Between 2009-2012, he led ICLEI´s Cities Climate

Center. Within this scope, he advanced and coordinated ICLEI´s work on climate mitigation, established the Bonn Center for Local Climate Action and Reporting - carbonn, operating the Cities Climate Registry, and served as the Director of Secretariat of the World Mayors Council on Climate Change. Since 2013, he leads ICLEI´s policy and advocacy work at the UN ECOSOC, UN bodies and multilateral agreements.

BAS Luc

As Director of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's European Union

Representative Office, Luc Bas represents the IUCN Secretariat and provides leadership and guidance for all activities undertaken by the Secretariat within the European Union context in Brussels, including maintaining vital linkages for IUCN to key EU institutions and other public and private actors with regional headquarters in Brussels.

Luc has worked as an adviser on international sustainable development policies for both the Belgian Federal and Flemish Governments. He was a representative for the Government at the United

Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and

Development's national Sustainable Development experts panel, and the Belgium Federal Council, and at various interregional networks on sustainable development.

BEECROFT Stephanie

Stephanie Beecroft is a British national with a background in international cooperation, development and advocacy. She holds a Masters in International Relations from the

University of Strasbourg, having specialised in cooperation between the European

Union and developing countries.

Within the European Youth Forum, Stephanie is responsible for coordinating the Youth

Forum’s relations with the United Nations system, its work on the 2030 Agenda for

Sustainable Development, and its cooperation and partnership with other regional youth platforms and international youth organisations around the world.

BERTOLLINI, Roberto

Dr Roberto Bertollini holds a degree in medicine and a postgraduate degree in paediatrics, as well as a master’s degree in public health from the Johns Hopkins

University, USA. In addition to his position as World Health Organisation (WHO)

Representative to the European Union, Dr Bertollini is Chief Scientist with the specific task of supporting the Regional Director’s Office with the scientific evidence that underpins WHO health policies and strategies.

BIANCHINI Martina

Martina Bianchini is chair of the Green Economy Task Force of the International Chamber of Commerce. In 2013 she joined the FIPRA (Finsbury International Policy & Regulatory

Advisers) network as Special Adviser for the Chemicals Industry. Prior to that she worked at the Dow Chemical Company as Vice President, EU Government and Public Policy, and at Monsanto. Martina served as business and industry delegate to the United Nations and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on chemicals management and sustainable development. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Earth Sciences from the

University of Trier in Germany and a Master of Science in Environmental Sciences/Toxicology from Louisiana

State University, USA.

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BJOERNHOLM-OTTOSSON Ulf

Ulf Björnholm, a national of Sweden, is an expert in European and international environmental policy. He has been the Head of the United Nations Environment

Prior to joining UNEP, he served in the European Commission where he had a leading role in developing a proposal for a new EU Clean Air Policy, presented in 2013. Linked to this, he participated actively in international UN negotiations relating to air pollution, including the UNEPhosted Climate and Clean Air Coalition.

CAÑO AGUILAR Isabel

Programme's Brussels Liaison Office since April 2014. Ulf Björnholm has a Master of

Science from the University of Lund. In addition to being fluent in Swedish, Norwegian and English, he also speaks French and Portuguese.

Isabel Caño Aguilar has a degree in geography and history, with a major in history of art, from the Complutense University of Madrid. She is a teacher by profession and a member of the education section of the General Workers Union (UGT), where she began her involvement with trade unionism. She is currently head of the Brussels office. She has been a member of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) since September 2010 and is a member of the NAT (Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment) and TEN

(Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and Information Society) sections.

She is Vice-President of the EESC's Sustainable Development Observatory (SDO) where she is heavily involved in climate change policy – particularly the social aspects.

CANDOTTI Michele

Michele Candotti joined UNEP in December 2010 as Principal Advisor to the Executive

Director and Head of the Office for Policy and Inter-Agency Affairs (OPIA). Michele brought to the United Nations Environment Programme over 25 years of international professional experience in the fields of development cooperation, programme & policy management and the environment, as well as a strong commitment to environmental sustainability. He joined World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Italy towards the end of

2000 as a Regional Secretary in Northern Italy. He was appointed Secretary-General of WWF Italy in 2003 and held this position for seven years until his appointment to UNEP. Michele holds a University Degree in

Agriculture Sciences from the Italian Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and is an Italian national.

CHEBLY Juan

Juan Elias Chebly is founder and CEO of Voipebox.com. He is a PHD Candidate in

Sustainable Development at Simon Bolivar University in Caracas, Venezuela, and also works for the United Nations Environment Programme as Lead Adviser. He holds a

Bachelor of Science in management, a minor in International Business, and a Finance

Master of Business Administration degree from St. John’s University in Queens, New

York.

At age 24, he became St. John’s Tobin College of Business youngest professor during the

Fall of 2010. In 2009 he founded Voipebox.com, a telecom startup introducing innovative and pioneering VOIP

(Voice over Internet Protocol) telephony solutions in South America. Juan has served as the World We Want

2015 Coordinator at the United Nations Development Programme and currently serves as the Lead Adviser to the Secretariat of Governing Bodies on citizen engagement and multi-stakeholder partnerships at the New

York Office of the United Nations Environment Programme.

COX Tanya

Tanya Cox is the Senior Policy and Advocacy Manager at Plan International’s EU Office.

Since 2011, she led the work of the CONCORD-Beyond 2015 European Task Force (ETF).

As Co-Chair of the ETF, she guided European organisations to influence the EU's position, both in Brussels and at Member State level, in the sustainable development negotiations, with considerable success in pushing for a people - and planet - centered

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approach. Now that “Agenda 2030” has been agreed, she is involved in civil society discussions about how to influence and monitor EU implementation of the SDGs.

DAHL Arthur

Arthur Lyon Dahl is President of the International Environment Forum, and a retired

Deputy Assistant Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme

(UNEP), where he was Deputy Director of the Oceans and Coastal Areas Programme involving all Small Island Developing States (SIDS) countries, Coordinator of the UN

System-wide Earthwatch, and founding Director of the Coral Reef Unit. He is a frequent consultant on sustainability, environmental assessment and indicators to the World

Bank, the World Economic Forum, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and UNEP. He was Visiting Professor, University of

Brighton, and for 10 years has taught advanced studies courses in sustainable development and environmental diplomacy at the University of Geneva and other universities.

DASSIS Georges

Mr. Dassis was elected President of the European Economic and Social Committee

(EESC) in October 2015. He became involved in the trade union movement in Greece from the age of 15 and an activist against the Greek colonels' dictatorship (1967-

1974). He was a permanent staff of the Belgian General Federation of Labour (FGTB) from 1976 to 1980. Since 1981 he has been a representative of the Greek General

Confederation of Labour (GSEE) to the European Trade Union Confederation, to the

International Trade Union Confederation and to the International Labour Office. He is the founding member of the Labour Institute of the Greek General Confederation of Labour (1990) and acted as its secretary for international relations. A member of the EESC between 1981 and 1990 and from 2002, he was president of the section dedicated to economic affairs from 2004 to 2008 and president of the Workers'

Group of the EESC from 2008 to 2015.

DUSIK Jan

Born in 1975 in Plzen (Czech Republic), Jan Dusik graduated from the Law School of the

Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic (Master of Law 1998, Doctor of Law 2001).

In 2002, he received a Master of Science in Environmental Change and Management in the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.

Between 1998 and 2009 (with a one year break in 2003 and 2004 when he worked for the European Commission's Directorate-General for the Environment in Brussels), he held gradually responsible functions in the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech

Republic, including heading the EU Department, through the Director General for International Relations.

FALKENBERG Karl

On 1st September 2015, Karl Falkenberg was appointed as Senior Advisor at the

European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC) dealing with Sustainable Development. Karl

Falkenberg is a trained economist and journalist. He started his career in the

Commission as textiles negotiator. In 1990, he served as foreign policy advisor to EU

President Jacques Delors, with particular focus on the German unification process.

From 1997 to December 2000 he was in charge of the coordination of all World Trade

Organisation issues at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Trade (DG

Trade). In 2001 he was appointed Director in charge of sectoral trade policies and bilateral trade relations and in 2002 Director for Free trade agreements, Agricultural trade questions and African Caribbean and Pacific countries. From 2005 to 2008 he coordinated all bilateral trade policies as Deputy Director General in DG

Trade. In January 2009, he took up the position of Director General of the Environment, covering the EU's environmental policy in both its domestic and international dimensions.

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FIGECZKY Gábor

Gábor Figeczky is an Advocacy Manager at the International Foundation for Organic

Agriculture IFOAM. IFOAM advocates for agricultural policies based on the principles of organic agriculture. IFOAM is active in all the key food/ agriculture related international policy processes and is the only global agricultural organisation that puts the wellbeing of people and ecosystems at the heart of its policies and actions. Gábor Figeczky's areas of work are Food Security, Biodiversity, Climate Change & Sustainable Development.

GABIZON Sascha

Sascha Gabizon is the Executive Director of Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF).

She holds an international business masters from ESCP/EAP France and helped develop WECF

(France, Germany, Netherlands) to become a major international network of women and environment organisations working for sustainable development and poverty reduction in over 50 countries and contributing to international policy processes. She co-facilitates the

Women’s Major Group at the United Nations ensuring participation of over 600 Women’s organisations in the Rio+20 and Sustainable Development Goals policy processes and also is engaged with the women & gender constituency within the Climate negotiations. Before joining WECF she worked at the Wuppertal Institute on cooperation with social responsible businesses.

HAJDU Klara

Klara Hajdu graduated as a biologist and technical translator from the Eötvös Loránd

University in Budapest in 2001, but already started working as a volunteer and intern at

CEEweb (Central and East European Working Group for the Enhancement of Biodiversity) in her last academic year as a student. After graduation she worked as volunteer at an

Amsterdam-based NGO, Milieukontakt Oost-Europa, and after moving back to Budapest joined CEEweb again. Currently she works part time and she is responsible for issues related to resource use, coordinating the work of the Resource Cap Coalition with their partners.

HIME Stephanie

Stephanie Hime has been part-time seconded to the UK's Natural Capital Coalition since

January and is its Technical Director. She is providing support to the Coalition with the consultation and development of its Protocol. In addition to this work Stephanie Hime is a manager and the lead specialist on True Value for KPMG's UK sustainability services team.

Stephanie leads on Natural Capital related work for this team and has represented KPMG on a number of academic and industry panels in relation to biodiversity and ecosystem services.

INNAMORATI Andrea

Andrea Innamorati is a Senior Policy Advisor at the Italian Ministry for the Environment,

Land and Sea. Since 2003, he has represented the Government of Italy in numerous international conferences and multilateral intergovernmental processes related to sustainable development. Andrea Innamorati was a key player in the EU team which negotiated the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and

Production (10 YFP on SCP) and focal point of the Task Force on Education for

Sustainable Consumption led by Italy. He actively participated in the Rio+20

Conference. Andrea Innamorati has represented Italy in the Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals and in the Intergovernmental Negotiations on the Post 2015 Agenda. At present, Andrea Innamorati acts as Senior Policy Advisor on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Before entering the Ministry for the Environment Land and Sea, he worked for four years in the private sector. Andrea

Innamorati has a Masters-level education in Sociology from the University “La Sapienza” in Rome.

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JENSEN Genon

Génon K. Jensen is the Founder and Executive Director of the European Health and

Environment Alliance (HEAL). She has been an official member of the World Health

Organization’s European Environment and Health process representing the health sector since 2000. She is also on the Steering Committee of the International POPs

(Persistent Organic Pollutants) Elimination Network, and serves as the coordinator for the working groups on climate and asthma of the US Collaborative on Health and the

Environment (CHE) bringing together 5000 partners located around the world focused on sharing the latest environmental health science in a civil dialogue meant to contribute to the advancement of policies which benefit the health of all. She serves on the WHO European

Region’s Health in Climate technical committee (53 countries represented), and has contributed extensively to

WHO’s Climate and health work since 2003 World Health day, when HEAL first highlighted the co-benefits to health of strong climate action.

JURAS Alexander

Alexander Juras worked from 1987 to 1992 as a research fellow at the Bonn based

Institute for European Environmental Policy, where his work focused mainly on environmental protection in a transboundary context and environment and civil society in

Central and Eastern Europe. He was the author of the first ever published comprehensive

Directory of Non-governmental Organisations in Central and Eastern Europe. In March

2010 he took over the position of Chief of United Nations Environment Programme’s

Major Groups and Stakeholder Branch in the Department for Regional Cooperation (DRC).

In 2014, the Branch became part of the Secretariat of the Governing Bodies of UNEP.

KING Brenda

Brenda King is a UK representative at the European Economic and Social Committee

(EESC). She is currently president of the EESC's Sustainable Development Observatory

(SDO). She is rapporteur of an EESC report putting forward recommendations for civil society involvement in the implementation, monitoring and review of the Sustainable

Development Agenda in the EU. She was also part of the core team of three members who undertook an impact study in six member states on the EU Renewable Energy

Directive. From 2010 to 2013, Brenda chaired the EU-African Caribbean Pacific subcommittee where she successfully campaigned for 2015 to be the European Year for Development and

Cooperation. Between 2006 and 2008, she was president of the EESC’s specialised section dedicated to employment focusing on job growth and quality employment. For over 10 years, Brenda has overseen the successful delivery of a youth development programme that has been recognised and awarded in the UK.

KOHNEN Marguy

Marguy Kohnen is in charge of coordinating the national sustainable development policy in the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Infrastructure in Luxembourg. She is the interdepartmental secretariat of the Commission for Sustainable Development (ICSD) specifically responsible for the preparation of the draft of the national plan for sustainable development and the drafting of the national report on the implementation of sustainable development. She is also secretariat of the Higher Council for Sustainable

Development, INTERREG and ERDF corresponding to the Ministry of the Environment and representative of the Ministry of Environment in various ministerial commissions.

LINN Monika

Monika Linn is Head of the Sustainable Development and Gender Unit in the Office of the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

(UNECE). Her Unit leads and coordinates UNECE’s contributions to the post-2015 process, as well as for other cross-sectoral themes in the development field, like

Financing for Development and Gender. Monika has more than 20 years of experience

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in multilateral sustainable development work. Before joining the United Nations in 2001, she worked for 10 years in the International Affairs Division of the Swiss Environment Agency and was involved in a wide range of multilateral meetings, conferences and negotiation processes on sustainable development, including the Rio

Earth Summit in 1992.

LYMBERIDI-SETTIMO Elena

Elena has been the European Environmental Bureau’s Zero Mercury Campaign' Project

Manager since 2004. She co-founded and co-coordinates the Zero Mercury Working

Group following mercury policies at EU and globally since 2005. She has over 15 years of experience in EU environmental policy, mainly in the field of chemicals, waste and products, as well as on project management and monitoring, having also worked at the

European Commission. She has been representing the European Environmental Bureau at EU, OECD, UNEP levels in Europe, US and abroad, has organised many conferences, workshops, seminars and written/reviewed several relevant articles.

MORTENSEN Lars

Lars Fogh Mortensen is responsible for work on the Sustainable Development Goals

(SDGs), United Nations Environment Programme and United Nations Environment

Assembly issues and relations with business at the European Environment Agency (EEA).

This includes contributing to the development of indicators, monitoring and assessments experience on analytical and policy aspects of sustainable development from various international organisations, including the EEA, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the United Nations.

OSBORN Derek of the SDGs at global, European and nation levels. Previously, he headed the work of the

EEA on sustainable consumption & production (SCP), green economy and waste. He is a trained economist from the University of Copenhagen and has over 20 years of

Derek Osborn served 30 years in the United Kingdom's Civil Service, for the latter six years as Director General for Environmental Protection with the Department of the Environment until retirement in January 1996. He represented the United Kingdom and was Chair of the

Management Board of the European Environment Agency (1995-1999). He was on the

Board of the Environment Agency for England and Wales (1996-98) having been involved with its planning and creation. He is a non-exec Director of Severn Trent PLC, and Chair of

Jupiter Global Green Investment Trust. He is involved in several environmental organizations including a Board membership of the International Institute for the Environment and

Development (IIED). Derek Osborn was Chair of IIED Board of Trustees from June 1999 to November 2002 when he stood down to serve as Vice Chair of IIED.

PADEANU Alina

Alina Padeanu is a career diplomat, who joined the European External Action Service (EEAS) in

January 2012.

From November 2013 to October 2014, she worked as advisor, seconded by the EEAS, in the

Office of the United Nations's General Assembly President. In this capacity she offered advice on human rights and rule of law and assisted in the preparatory process of the 2030 Agenda for

Sustainable Development.

At present, she works with EEAS Global Issues team and is a member of the 2030 Agenda Task

Force.

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RIBBE Lutz

RIJNHOUT Leida

Lutz Ribbe has been active in the European Economic and Social Committee since 1998. He was one of the main drivers of the EESC's work on environmental issues and sustainable evelopment areas, contributing as a rapporteur of opinions on the EU action programmes in the field of the environment, biodiversity, resource efficiency, to name but a few.

Lutz Ribbe has been the Director of the Environmental Policy Section of EURONATUR and of its office in Bonn for over 20 years. His sustained and knowledgeable environmental activism led to his appointment in 2010 as Chair of the Commission for Agriculture and the

Environment at the German Federal Environmental Agency (Umweltbundesamt).

Leida Rijnhout is Director for Global Policies & Sustainability at the European

Environmental Bureau. She is a Dutch national and has a background in cultural anthropology with more than 30 years of experience in international development cooperation and sustainability. She has facilitated and coordinated for many years the global NGO community for their active engagement in United Nations processes on

Sustainable Development and the Environment. She was heavily involved in the

Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 (Johannesburg) and in Rio+20 in 2012

(Rio de Janeiro), including all the preparatory meetings.

ROBINS Nick

Nick Robins is currently Head of the Climate Change Centre of Excellence at HSBC in

London. At HSBC, his research has included annual ‘state of the market’ reports on the bonds and climate change arena, evaluation of the potential risks of stranded assets from carbon constraints, an estimate of the growth prospects of the global low-carbon economy and an analysis of international ‘green stimulus’ programmes. In the Thomson

Extel awards for European investment research, Nick was ranked as #1 analyst for integrated climate change in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Outside HSBC, Nick is co-chair of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative’s climate working group, a member of

General Electric’s Corporate Citizenship Panel, as well as a Business Fellow of the Oxford University’s Smith

School of Enterprise and the Environment.

ROGGENBUCK Anna

Anna is a Polish national and has a background in social science and environmental engineering. She is leading the CEE Bankwatch Network programme for reforming the

European Investment Bank; in this framework, she works on a variety of issues such as transparency and public participation, accountability of international financial institutions, transport and energy sectoral policies. She is an author and co-author of

Bankwatch’s publications and policy positions on these matters. She has been facilitating

Central and Eastern European Bankwatch Network members’ engagement in European civil society forums as well as in a dialogue with the European Investment Bank and other EU institutions. In her work she has been supporting other organisations' campaigns on EIB’s investments and building coalitions advocating for environmentally sustainable policies orientation.

SALDANHA Jean Letitia

Jean Letitia Saldanha is a Senior Policy Advisor at CIDSE (Coopération internationale

pour le développement et la solidarité), the international alliance of 17 catholic development organisations in Europe and North America. She has been coordinating the alliance’s advocacy on financing for development at the European and international level for more than 10 years and has written and presented extensively on the topic. She also leads the work on Financing for Development of the European

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NGO Federation Concord. Representing CIDSE, a founding member of the International Beyond-2015

Campaign, she has actively shaped the positions of the European hub of the campaign.

SCHOMAKER Astrid

Astrid Schomaker is Director for Strategy at the European Commission's Directorate-

General for the Environment (DG Environment). A lawyer by training, she has made a long career in the European Commission, mostly in the area of bilateral relations with third countries, dealing with the United States, Japan and the Andean Community respectively.

In 2004 she moved to DG Environment to become Head of Unit for International Relations,

Governance and Development and in 2007 Head of Unit for Chemicals, Biocides and

Nanomaterials.

SIMONETTI Paola

Paola Simonetti is the Coordinator for Development Policy at the International Trade

Union Confederation (ITUC). Currently she coordinates the Trade Union Development

Coordination Network (TUDCN), set up and promoted by the ITUC since 2009. In this position she leads trade union advocacy with international institutions concerning development issues – United Nations, International Labour Organisation, Organisation for

Economic Co-operation and Development/Development Assistance Committee,

European Union, as well as, relevant relations with Civil Society Organisation networks.

Prior to that, Paola Simonetti was policy advisor at the ITUC specialised on global development, and she previously served as Head of the European Office of the Italian Confederazione Italiana

Sindacati Lavoratori (CISL) trade union since 2003, in charge of advocacy and programmes management in the field of development cooperation.

STEINER Achim

The United Nations General Assembly in 2006 unanimously elected Achim Steiner as

Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme for a four-year term, and subsequently for a further four years in 2010. Following the decision of the 68 th

General Assembly of United Nations, Mr. Steiner’s mandate has been extended for two years up to June 2016.

STIELSTRA Hans

Hans Stielstra has an education in political science and administration. He worked for the European

Commission’s Directorate-General for the Environment since 1998 in a range of different posts. Since five years, he has worked on international environment issues, currently as deputy head of unit responsible for global sustainability, multilateral environment agreements and trade.

VACCARO James

James Vaccaro is a specialist in social and environmental finance having been at Triodos

Bank since 1998. He has advised on bond issues and share offers for leading social enterprises and charities. He has managed equity investments in a range of early stage businesses in the organic food, recycling and environmental technology sectors. He has been a director of many green and sustainable businesses and has served on the board of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) and been treasurer of a local community development association. James is currently a member of the

Investment & Contract Readiness Fund Advisory Panel and the UK Advisory Board to the G8 Social Investment

Taskforce. He now leads corporate development across the Triodos Bank group internationally, engaging with external stakeholders to find ways in which Triodos Bank can deepen its impact in the sectors in which it operates across Europe.

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VAN DE WALLE Cédric

Cédric Van de Walle is responsible for the strategy and planning unit of the Federal

Institute for Sustainable Development (FISD – Belgium). He is in charge of the coordination of the federal strategy for Sustainable Development, the cooperation with sub-national entities, Impact Assessment and international relations. Since 2012 he has been a member of the steering committee of the European Sustainable Development

Network (ESDN), the main informal network of public administrators and other experts dealing with sustainable development strategies in Europe.

After studying political science and EU politics at the Université libre de Bruxelles, he defended a PhD on political parties at European level (2003). As a scientific expert of the FISD, he has supported since 2003 the work of the Interdepartmental Commission for Sustainable Development, the platform for cooperation between federal departments and contributed to the preparation and monitoring of the federal plan for Sustainable Development. From 2008 to 2011, he joined the Cabinet of the Minister of

Climate and Energy in charge of Sustainable Development.

VAN DER GAAG Pieter

Pieter Van der Gaag is Advisor at the Natural Capital Coalition (NCC). He has been committed to sustainability and stakeholder engagement since he started his career in

1996 with ANPED, the Northern Alliance for Sustainability. In 1998 he was appointed

Executive Director. He was the NGO focal point for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in the development of the 2000 OECD Guidelines for

Multinational Enterprises, and formed a partnership with the United Nations on enabling civil society groups to participate in the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on

Sustainable Development.

VAN DEN BILCKE Chris

Chris Van den Bilcke is Head of Unit at the Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs,

Belgium, and Member of the UNEA Bureau. For several years he has been Head of the

United Nations Environment Programme Liaison Office to the European Union in

Brussels. His professional career has included assignments with the cabinet of the

Belgian federal Minister for the Environment, with the Permanent Representation of

Belgium to the European Union. He participated as delegate in numerous meetings of the UNEP Governing Council, the IEG (International Environmental Governance) process, the Commission for

Sustainable Development, and several environmental Conventions' governing bodies. Under the Belgian EU presidencies in 2001 and 2010 he co-chaired the Council Working Party for International Environment Issues.

VERMUYTEN Sandra

Sandra Vermuyten (Belgium, 1974) is Head of Campaigns of Public Services

International (PSI), a global trade union federation of public service workers’ unions gathering over 20 million members in over 160 countries and 650 organisations. Sandra holds a degree in International public law and an Master of Arts in East European studies with a major in economic and social policy reform in countries in transition.

Since early 2014, Sandra has coordinated PSI’s work on the Post 2015 Development agenda and inter-governmental negotiations on social development goals. She holds her current position since July 2015.

WATES Jeremy

Jeremy Wates has served as Secretary General of the European Environmental Bureau,

Europe’s largest federation of environmental citizens’ organisations, since May 2011. In a career that has included grassroots activism, freelance consultancy, working as an international civil servant and organic farming, respect for the environment has always been a central preoccupation.

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