Paul Holper is an experienced environment and science communicator. He spent 25 years at Australia’s CSIRO in senior positions. He managed the Australian Climate Change Science Program, with over 100 researchers. Prior to that he was Communication Manager for CSIRO Atmospheric Research. He convened international climate change ‘GREENHOUSE’ conferences and has run workshops in Australia and overseas. Paul is a Director of Scientell PL. He has worked for iCLIM, the Pacific climate change adaptation program run in collaboration with SPREP. This entailed visits to Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu and extensive discussions with government officials, representatives from NGOs and environmental practitioners. He has produced climate change brochures for the Victorian Government, highlighting the latest projections and adaptation options. He has an honours degree in chemistry and qualifications in science communication and education. He has written 23 science books for children and for adults.
Mr. Luna holds a M.Sc. in Forest Sciences from the University of Göttingen, Germany, with a specialization in Forest Policy in the tropics and subtropics; and a B.Sc. in Forest Engineering from the University of São Paulo, Brazil. He has more than 25 years of professional experience with more than 12 years of international long term assignments developing and implementing projects in Latin America, Africa and Oceania. From November 2014 onwards Mr. Luna has been assigned as the Coordinator for the EU-GIZ Adapting to Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Programme. Other former assignments include as the Chief of Party to the MexicoREDD+ Project, in Mexico; Program Manager at USAID/BOLIVIA; Coordinator of the regional office of CIFOR for Latin-America in Belem-Brazil, Forest Program Coordinator and Scientific Advisor for South America under IUCN in Quito, Ecuador, and as a Forestry Advisor under the GTZ/DED/KfW-funded Social Forestry Project in Lesotho, Africa.
Charlotte is a highly accomplished, skilled and talented development professional with over a decade of experience in international development in 20 countries worldwide. She has a proven track record of providing strategic and programming direction to organisations to develop, implement and monitor policies, strategies, campaigns and programs to build gender-sensitive community resilience. She is an excellent educator and communicator of development theory and practice to a variety of stakeholders including government officials, non-governmental staff and partners, communities, academics, and other groups. She is co-author of Toward Resilience (Practical Action, 2013), a practitioner’s guide to disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation programming and advocacy, which integrates gender throughout; and has developed a range of participatory risk assessment tools and guidance for working with poverty-affected and vulnerable communities.
Environment & development consultant with 10 years’ experience in 7 sectors in 16 countries, including 10 Caribbean & Pacific SIDS. Key highlights:
2014 Climate Change Project Officer, The Australian National University
2013-2014 Sustainable Financing Consultant, Cuso International
2013 Marine Protected Areas Expert, GOPA Consultants
2012-2013 Policy Research Manager, Caribbean Policy Research Institute
2012 Executive Director/Park Manager (World Heritage Site), Jamaica Conservation & Development Trust
2011 Climate Change Consultant, Environmental Solutions Ltd
2011-2012 Environmental Project Manager, Conrad Douglas & Associates Ltd
2007-2009 Environment & Sustainable Development Officer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Currently self-directing PhD research into climate change adaptation in SIDS. Seeking to use my qualifications & skills to help limit human-induced climate change, & ensure that adaptation actions in SIDS meet their development & resilience needs & goals.
Matt is a Sustainability Planner with 30 years of experience in local governance, environmental planning, development planning, climate change and sustainable development programmes and development management projects. His experience in all levels of government has centred on community development frameworks, the integrating of environment and development (decision-making), participatory land use planning and governance. He has a wealth of experience and knowledge in: vulnerability assessments, risk management, adaptation approaches and methods, capacity needs assessments (CNAs) and NRM Policy development, as well as technical skills in impact assessment, coastal management, GIS/Remote sensing, soil and water management, and monitoring & evaluation (M&E) of programmes and projects. Matt has lead teams in rural development, climate change adaptation, integrated coastal management, disaster risk reduction, poverty alleviation, sustainable tourism, urban development and land use planning
My specific areas of expertise are in climate financing, project proposal development, monitoring and reporting for key development partners including EU, WB, UNDP, Adaptation Fund and GEF. I am well versed with EC project management cycle, budget support mechanisms and GEF, WB and AF project proposal processes. In 2012, I was engaged as the Public Finance Expert for the Climate Change Public Expenditure and Institutional Review (CPEIR) exercise and it provided information on how relevant agencies utilised their budgets and resources to address climate change issues. I was engaged as the Climate Change Adaptation Specialist by UNDP in 2013 to provide specialist inputs into the development of an economy-wide GEF funded USD 14m project proposal for climate change adaptation which was approved in 2014. I am currently the Monitoring and Reporting Expert for two multi-million dollar climate resilience projects targeting all the communities in Samoa and its funded by PPCR-WB and AF-UNDP.
Over 30 years experience financial & contract management, budgeting, established financial systems in Samoa, Tokelau, SPREP & PIFS. Now, Financial Management Specialist, Samoa's Pilot Project Climate Resilience (PPCR-ECR) and Adaptation Fund-ERCC. Ability to meet funders' accountability criteria to drawdown upto US$3M in 3mnths intervals. Wealth of project experience in PPCR, AF,GEF, ADB & EU writing proposals, manage, monitor, report financial, contract progress & project results across sectors i.e regional economic integration, communities resilience to climate change & disaster risk management. Over 20 years experience in organisational development, institutional strengthening & governance, established performance management, monitoring & evaluation frameworks at regional & national levels. Extensive experience in results-based planning & management,capacity building and institutional reviews. SPREP Pacific Climate Change Centre (PCCC) capacity building management planner.
I'm a trained Environment & Climate Change Adaptation Practitioner/Specialist with over 10 years of practice and consultancy experiences. Provided technical advice to Governments of Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu on policy changes, marine resource use, climate change. Area of expertise includes; policy analysis, environment management systems, V&A, M&E, mainstreaming climate change adaptation interventions into planning processes, MPA, community engagement and workshop facilitation. Authored book on, Climate Change Adaptation and the Coastal Zone of S.Tarawa (2014), "Kiribati: the inter-linkages and the array of adaptation barriers and limits". Co-authored the "Kiribati Second National Communication Report to the UNFCCC" (2013) and other technical reports.
With over 16 years of experience in sustainable energy development, and climate change mitigation and adaptation, my work focuses on increasing energy access, improving livelihood, and building resilience of vulnerable communities in developing countries. I have provided services to donors and development agencies; including IFAD, Sida, UNESCO, UNEP and USAID; both being part of an organization as well as independently. I have been extensively involved in understanding the needs of developing countries of Asia in relation to improving access to energy supply and resilience to climate change; and developing innovative solutions to address those needs in ways that are appropriate to local contexts. Areas of my expertise are:
• Climate Change Adaptation: Adaptive capacity for municipalities; community based adaptation planning; and climate vulnerability assessment.
• Climate change mitigation: Strategies for low carbon development, sustainable waste management, sustainable city planning, and Measuring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) of greenhouse gas emissions.
• Sustainable energy: Energy access through renewable energy technologies, energy efficiency in buildings and facilities, and policy analysis for cleaner technologies in SMEs.
Palanitina is a highly qualified, experience and respected senior Samoan public service leader with significant experiences in health governance and health system strengthening. public health services in general, public health education, health promotion, disease prevention and high level public health leadership, management and administration. She had held senior executive positions in the Samoan Government, including the Director General of Health (DGoH) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ministry of Health for 9 years (Feb 2005 – Feb 2014) and Assistant CEO of the Division for Women in the Ministry of Women, Community and Social Development (MWCSD) from Sept 1998 – Jan 2005. Palanitina has championed health system strengthening (HSS) based on the WHO Framework on HSS 2005. She led and completed in 18 months (Feb 2005 – July 2006) the realization of the public health reform which began in 1998. She was instrumental in the development and advocacy for passage through Parliament of 18 legislations plus several health policies within her terms of leadership; to practically implement the MOH’s new monitoring and regulatory functions. She has been advocating for women’s empowerment at policy and program levels. She led the practical translation of regional and international conventions through empowerment programs, including the establishment of women’s leadership networks. She led the establishment of the Partnership for the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which the Samoan Government ratified in 1992. A sought after adviser, Palanitina has evaluated a number of Pacific regional and country programs, including for AusAid before becoming DFAT, WHO and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. She has facilitated country and regional collaborations and, through her consultancy and government CEO appointments, Palanitina has had significant involvement in the delivery and review of regional and some international programs through WHO.
A multiple disciplined evaluation and sustainability consultant with over three years experience working in the Pacific region and 18 years experience working in Australia. Demonstrated knowledge and experience in climate change adaption, proposal writing, sustainability education, behaviour change (community engagement), monitoring and evaluation, carbon accounting, permaculture, international development (water security, food security, coastal adaptation), strategic planning and information and communications technology. Hard working and professional attitude complimented with friendly personality. Understands the challenges faced by Pacific Small Island States and has the ability to be flexible and creative in responding to these challenges. Co-founder of Pacific Research and Evaluation Associates (PREA) http://www.prea.com.au . All consultancy work outlined below is with PREA. Let us work together to achieve a good outcome.
Tom is a sustainability expert and certified knowledge manager. Tom recently co-founded innovative start-ups in training, software and services. Tom’s focus is to help establish a robust system of knowledge content, tools, processes, expertise to enable effective solutions to sustainability issues. Tom’s career includes roles as a senior manager in a government cleantech funding program, director at an international certification company; as well as co-founder of a non-profit and a specialized consultancy/software company (ClimateCHECK). Tom’s experience covers North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Tom has worked with 100s of organizations on climate change, clean technologies and sustainability. Tom co-founded the GHG Management Institute, the world’s leading GHG training provider with 1000s of experts in over 100 countries. Tom co-founded Interactive Leader and led development of the Collaborase online platform - used by sustainability and green standardization initiatives implementing “Interactive Standards 2.0” systems. Tom is International Chair of ISO climate change standards (ISO TC207/SC7 GHG management and related issues). As Chair of ISO TC207/SC7, Tom leads the efforts of 57 participating countries, 18 observer countries and 18 liaison organizations to develop international standards to meet the needs for GHG Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV). ISO TC 207/SC7 encompasses standards for GHG quantification, GHG verification and GHG accreditation (e.g. ISO 14064, 14065, 14066). Tom’s experience with GHG standards also includes WBCSD-WRI GHG Protocol, Climate Disclosure Standards Board, UNFCCC CDM, and various GHG programs. Tom has a degree in environmental economics and completed graduate studies in climate change economics. Tom also has degrees in environmental engineering, and completed graduate studies specializing in GHG measurement, air pollution and clean technologies.