Who we are

Sofia's love for nature and oceans developed while vacationing every summer to the beaches of the Mexican Pacific. But her passion did not materialise after earning a bachelor's degree in Biology from Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. During her time as a BSc student, Sofía worked as a research assistant in the Biosystematics Laboratory and then interned at Pronatura Noreste for six months, where she was involved in restoration, reforestation, and community garden centre projects. Once she completed her degree, Sofía interned at HCV Network, where she was later promoted to Assistant Project Manager. There, she worked with the Network in various projects including the integration of the HCV-HCS approaches; the research on challenges of HCV management and monitoring in certified palm oil plantings; and the development of risk-based approaches to HCV identification. In 2018, she was awarded a CONACyT Scholarship to pursue a Master’s degree in Biodiversity, Conservation, and Management at the University of Oxford. Her interests range from tropical conservation and marine ecology to environmental management and supply chain certification.Sofía is currently based in Costa Rica, and speaks Spanish, English, and French.

Anders has been involved with conservation and certification for more than twenty years, including four years as forest officer for WWF Sweden, and six years as WWF International forest certification and HCV officer. He has participated in numerous national and international FSC processes and working groups, helped to create and develop the HCV concept, and coordinated the FSC Plantations Review. Anders also assisted setting up of the HCV Resource Network, co-facilitated the RTRS standard-setting process, and was a member of the RSPO Biodiversity and HCV Working Group and Compensation Task Force 2011-2016. Other work over the years include developing WWF’s Paper Scorecard and Certification Assessment Tool, assisting Swedish public procurement of wood products, and supporting national implementation of the EU Renewable Energy Directive. Anders joined the HCVRN as full time Technical Manager in 2013. His current work focuses on risk-based implementation of the HCV concept for smallholders and on procedures for participatory forest monitoring. He has a PhD in conservation biology (Uppsala) and a degree in chemistry and botany (Stockholm). Anders is also a licensed teacher with long experience from training practitioners in the field.

Arie has a background in botany and landscape ecology. He has more than 10 years of experience in conservation including research, natural resource management and certification. Prior to joining the HCV Network, Arie worked as an FSC FM certification coordinator at Rainforest Alliance Asia Pacific. He has also worked in development aid projects for mangrove conservation in East Kalimantan under the CIM/GIZ returning expert program. Arie has completed formal FSC and SAN Lead Auditor trainings and has conducted numerous FSC, SAN and Timber Legality verification audits/assessments in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Lao, PDR, Singapore and PNG. He graduated from the University of Hohenheim, Germany.Arie is based in Bali, Indonesia and is fluent in English, German and Bahasa Indonesia.

Celia has over 30 years’ experience in finance working in a wide range of industries, including scientific research, medicine and manufacturing as well as in practice. She trained with one of the top 10 Accountancy firms in London before moving into industry. She now runs her own accountancy and tax practice and assists the Secretariat on a part time basis. She is based in the UK.

Dongdong is currently a PhD student in Sustainable Construction from Bartlett School UCL and holds a master’s degree in Business Management from The University of Edinburgh Business School. She has previous experience in the construction and commercial real estate sectors, where she helped multinational brands on corporate properties’ pro-environmental and pro-social certifications (LEED and WELL) and provided energy-saving design consultancy for high-end hotels and office buildings in China. She has several years of experience in project management (PRINCE2 Practitioner accreditation) and possesses a mixed professional background in both industry and academia. Dongdong is passionate about sustainability, especially from the perspective of organisational behaviour and psychology and will ensure sustainable operations at the HCV Network Secretariat.Dongdong is based in London and is fluent in English and native to Chinese Mandarin.

Ellen is an environmental anthropologist and conservationist by training. Her professional experience includes community conservation and development, protected area conservation, land use planning and responsible commodity production. She lived and worked in Africa (Togo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania) for several years and has field experience in many other African countries, Thailand and Costa Rica. Before joining the Secretariat she worked for Proforest, where her projects as part of the responsible production team took her to 16 countries. She has worked with the HCV approach since 2011, conducting HCV assessments and trainings and producing guidance and technical documents. Ellen helped develop the HCV Assessor Licensing Scheme and more recently led on developing the manual and supporting documents for HCV-HCSA Assessments. She has an MSc in Environmental Anthropology from University College London and a Masters in Environmental Management from Yale University. Ellen is based in the UK and speaks English and French.

Felicia Lasmana is a conservation biologist based in Indonesia, specialized on bats and other mammals. Felly has over 10 years’ experience with baseline surveys, investment due diligence, policy analysis and development, conservation management, and High Conservation Value (HCV) assessments. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology and MSc in Environmental Sciences at Padjadjaran University, Indonesia and MSc in Conservation Biology from University of Kent, UK. She has been trained in in forestry, tropical ecology, ecosystem services and sustainable agriculture in Malaysia, China, and Indonesia. Felly is an ALS Fully Licensed HCV assessor (ALS14007FL), a Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) Lead Auditor and an Indonesian Sustainable Palm Oil (ISPO) approved auditor. She has been involved in HCV assessments and lead biodiversity surveys specialized in mammals in forestry and oil palm in Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar since 2012.

Haryo holds a BS in Forest Management from Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia and and MSc. in Natural Resources from the School of the Natural Resources at the University of Missouri, Columbia, USA. His research focused on spatial modeling for forest ecosystem restoration in peat-landscapes and participatory approaches to building comprehensive spatial planning for rural communities in Central Kalimantan (Borneo). Haryo was a Climate and Geographic Information System (GIS) Program Coordinator in Rimba Raya Conservation (Biodiversity Reserve), an ecosystem restoration concession in Indonesia. In this role, Haryo worked on issues related to forest conservation, restoration, biodiversity reserve management, community development as well as application of REDD+ in Central Kalimantan. Haryo is based in Indonesia and speaks Bahasa Indonesia and English.

With a background in Environmental Sciences, Jimena has extensive experience in sustainable supply chains certifications, as an auditor and as the technical manager of a certification scheme. She has experience with the coordination of multi-stakeholder processes and with managing complex projects. Jimena is based in Argentina and speaks fluent Spanish and English, and moderate Portuguese.

Olivia joined the HCV Network after many years of managing landscape-level conservation projects mostly in Africa, but also in South America and Australia. She is an expert in wildlife protection and monitoring and brought these skills to recent HCV assessments she contributed to in Central Africa. Before formally joining the Secretariat team, Olivia supported the HCV Network with HCV-HCSA assessment training for Licensed Assessors and as a member of the ALS Quality Panel. Olivia's projects will focus on working with Standards to adopt and implement the HCV Approach, while also providing technical input on tools for HCV Identification, Management and Monitoring, and ongoing support to quality assurance. Olivia has a Master and PhD in Tropical Ecology from the Natural History Museum, Imperial College and Plymouth University. Olivia is based in France and speaks English and French.

Paulina joined the Secretariat in 2012 as Coordinator, in 2015 she became Executive Director, and from November 2020 she is Global Director. She has previously worked in the energy, telecommunications and biofuels sectors in South and Central America, and has worked for several NGOs and for the Mexican government, where she helped create and implement a biofuels research and development network in ten countries. Before joining the Secretariat she developed an index to promote sustainable land investments in African countries, and helped several Latin American leaders develop strategies for urban resilience to climate change. Paulina has an MSc. in Environmental Change and Management from Oxford University, and a B.A. in International Relations with specialization in environmental politics from Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico City. Paulina is based in London and speaks English, Spanish and basic French.

Rod is the Global Director of the Forests Program, with oversight of Global Forest Watch, the Forest Legality Initiative and the Global Restoration Initiative, at the World Resources Institute (WRI). Previously he was Director for Forests at WWF International and provided oversight of WWF’s work on forest conservation and its engagement with the private sector through the Global Forest Trade Network and the New Generation Plantations Project. He was the Editor in Chief of WWF’s ‘Forests for a Living Planet’ series. For several years he worked as a forest policy advisor in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. He began his career as a lawyer in Australia and has a Master’s Degree in Environmental Law from the Australian National University. Rod is a Legal Director of the Network since 2015.

Ruth is an anthropologist with more than 20 years of experience in sustainable development and conservation in Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. She has worked for WWF and OXFAM GB on implementing projects and programmes focused on forest governance, FSC certification, sustainable livelihoods, natural resources management, community development, and equitable alliances between communities and the private sector. With WWF, she supported community forest certification, the implementation of the stepwise approach to certification, and the development of the national standards for Brazil Nut Certification in Peru. She has also worked with Rainforest Alliance in several assessments and peer reviews under the FSC standard. Ruth graduated from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru. She is based in the UK and speaks English and Spanish.

Stephan has been dedicated to nature conservation from an early age on. While still being a student, he participated in conservation projects in the Netherlands, Ireland, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Senegal since the 1980’s. He holds a bachelor degree in Tropical Forestry and a master degree in Landscape Ecology. He moved to Indonesia in the early 1990’s to follow his professional dedication first for a mangrove restoration project, and later on for more than 20 years as a conservation director for WWF. For several years he conducted biodiversity expeditions to remote areas in Borneo and coordinated long-term applied research at field stations. He contributed to the development of comprehensive management plans for national parks and conservation landscapes, engaging with all stakeholders and ensuring the participation of local communities. Stephan started to apply the HCV approach soon after it was initiated as a basis for environmental impact assessments and recommendations of buffer zones and plantation areas surrounded by natural forests throughout Indonesia. Stephan is based in the Netherlands and speaks English, Indonesian and Dutch.

Vasco holds a BSc in Human Geography and a MSc. in Development studies and Environment from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. His research focused on the recognition of rural communities needs during the definition of new protected areas using the High Conservation Value (HCV) Approach with a particular interest in socio-economic and cultural aspects in São Tomé Island. In São Tomé, he worked for Birdlife International where he conducted a preliminary assessment of ecosystem services (ES) in the country through participatory focus groups workshops to identify the most important ES for the communities and their perception of availability change on an alternative scenario. Vasco is based in Switzerland and speaks Portuguese, French, English and Spanish.

Yudi has extensive experience in research, conservation and management of natural resource, including forest and palm oil certification practices. Before joining the HCVRN Secretariat, he worked for the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Lembaga Ekolabel Indonesia (LEI), the Nature Conservancy (TNC), Rainforest Alliance and NEPCon. He obtained his forestry degree from Bogor Agricultural University and a master’s degree on Environmental Management from Yale University where he focused on social ecology and community development. Yudi has more than seven years' experiences in natural and forest plantation audits in environment and social aspects. He has completed training for FSC Forest Management Audit, Indonesian Timber Legality Assurance System (TLAS), Sustainable Agricultural Network (SAN) and ISO 9000:2015. He is also registered as a Palm Oil Innovation Group (POIG) auditor. He has participated in field assessments across timber, palm oil, and other sectors. Yudi is based in Indonesia and speaks English and Bahasa Indonesia.