Gari Renso Pascual Cucho has extensive experience in climate change, water resources and environmental management. He was coordinator at the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (MIDAGRI), where he led the adaptation and mitigation policies aligned to Peru’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). He also worked at the National Institute for Water (ANA) as a specialist in discharge management, was an environmental consultant and headed the directorate of student affairs at UCV Piura.
Susana Muhamad is former minister of environment and sustainable development of Colombia. She was the president of the Conference of Parties of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP16). She is an environmentalist, activist and politician committed to biodiversity protection, climate justice and territorial transformation. In 2024 Susana Muhamad was named by TIME magazine as one of the 100 most influential leaders driving business to real climate action.
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Ricardo Estrada
Coordinator of Eco-efficiency and Circular Economy
Ministry of Environment, Peru
Ricardo Estrada is a Peruvian engineer specialised in industrial hygiene and safety, with a master's in environmental management. He currently works as a specialist focused on promoting eco-efficiency and sustainability in public administration. He has lectured on the rational use of resources and solid waste management, contributing to strengthening institutional environmental management.
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Leonardo Lahud
Trade and Investment Lead Specialist
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
Leonardo Lahud leads the trade and investment portfolio of the Productivity, Trade and Innovation Sector at IDB in Brazil. Previously, he served in the Brazilian government, where he was deputy secretary of foreign trade, deputy executive secretary of the Foreign Trade Chamber, and deputy secretary of international affairs and development of the Ministry of Planning and Budget. He holds a master's in international trade and investment law from the World Trade Institute, linked to the University of Bern (Switzerland), a postgraduate degree in international relations from the University of Brasilia, and a law degree from the Federal Fluminense University.
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Silvia Solano
Regional Lead Latin America, Green and Resilient Buildings Program
International Finance Corporation (IFC)
Silvia is an architect with a master’s in natural resources management. With over 15 years’ experience in the construction market, she has honed her expertise across Latin America. She is a leader of the Green Building Market Transformation Program (GBMTP) in Latin America, responsible for strategy and implementation of the programme in Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Brazil. Experienced in green buildings and EDGE certification, she engages with private sector developers, industry associations, financial institutions, government and international cooperation agencies. Her focus on decarbonising the built environment and promoting the expansion of green and resilient buildings underscores her commitment to sustainable development.
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Luiz Fernando Krieger Merico
Economic Affairs Officer
UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
Luiz is a geologist with a master’s in environmental analysis and a PhD in geography. He was a researcher and teacher of resource economics for more than 10 years in southern Brazil. Luiz has 12 years’ experience in Brazilian public environmental management, from local to national level. He was coordinator of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for Brazil and senior adviser in climate change and biodiversity of the Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden. At the UN since 2016, he has been coordinating international cooperation activities in many countries on a circular and low carbon economy and nature-based solutions.
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Victoria Flores
Minister of Environment and Circular Economy
Province of Córdoba
Victoria Flores, a lawyer with a degree from the National University of Córdoba and a master's in administrative law, served as a councilor for the City of Córdoba (2015-2019). In 2019, she took office as president of the Córdoba Works and Services (COyS) agency where she initiated the city’s circular economy work on recycling and the use of waste as raw material. Since December 2023, she has served in her current post, expanding the circular economy and sustainable development model throughout the province, including the strategies for the care of the 30 protected natural areas and the conservation of ecosystems and biodiversity.
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Josué Christiano Gomes da Silva
President
Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (FIESP)
In addition to his position at FIESP, Josué Gomes is also the president of Coteminas, a leading bed and bath company with industrial units in several countries through the American continents. In addition, he is the 1st vice-president of the Center of Industries of the State of São Paulo (CIESP) and chairman emeritus of the Brazilian Textile Industries Association (ABIT). Beyond his industrial activities he is a member of the Owen School Corporate Council of Vanderbilt University and of the board of the Child Cancer Treatment Institute of São Paulo (ITACI).
Rachel is French and has been living in Chile for more than 20 years. She has over 25 years’ experience in the operation of drinking water and sewage treatment plants. She contributed to the implementation of Santiago de Chile’s sanitation plan and the transformation of wastewater treatment plants into biofactories, where the circular economy became the central pillar of water management. In response to the water crisis, she is working on integrated solutions to ensure that cities, agriculture, and mining can continue to coexist sustainably within the same territory.
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Daniel Boeira Lodetti
Deputy Head of Sustainable Development
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil
Daniel is a diplomat and part of the team that led the G20 Initiative on Bioeconomy (GIB). He was the negotiator for Brazil at the UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture, the European Biomass Conference, and the Latin American and Caribbean Forum on Sustainable Development. He is a member of the advisory board of the World Bioeconomy Forum and an alternate board member of the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns (10YFP). Daniel has education in economics and diplomacy.
