Countdown to CBD COP15: Landmark Leaders' Event for a Nature Positive World
Securing an agreement to save our life support systems
20 September 2022 - 6:00pm

SPEAKER BIOS

MASTER OF CEREMONIES
Ms. Andrea Meza
Deputy Executive Secretary, UNCCD
Andrea Meza is the Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nation Convention to
Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Before her current position she served in the
Government of Costa Rica, as Minister of Energy and Environment and as Climate
Change Director. She has also worked as international consultant for more than 15
years with multilateral and bilateral agencies (IDB, World Bank, EU, GIZ, AECID) inthe design and implementation of sustainable development policies and projects
related to climate change, land conservation, management of protected areas, land
use and transport planning in LAC region. She started her professional career
working with an NGO in land conservation issues promoting conservation
easements, payment of environmental services, and promoting the creation ofprivate and community reserves in Latin America.

OPENING

OPENING STATEMENT
President H.E. Mr. Rodrigo Alberto Chaves Robles
President of the Republic of Costa RicaHe served as Minister of Finance of Costa Rica from November 2019 to May 2020. He is precededby a 27-year career at the World Bank, where the last position he held was Country Director forIndonesia & Timor-Leste, from August 2013 to November 23, 2019. Mr. Chaves Robles is noted for
his leadership of high-performing teams advising on transformative public policy. He has 30 yearsof macroeconomics, public policy and finance experience in over 40 countries in Latin America
and the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, South Asia and East Asia. He manages highprofile business relationships with members of government, the private sector, the international
community and civil society; efficient management of budgets and negotiations in complex publicaffairs. He is characterized by critical thinking, strategic and innovation skills. In his more than
three decades of experience, he has developed analytical and operational work. He has
implemented macro and microeconomic policies, including tax adequacy, quality of tax spending
and fiscal spending, local public services, financial market development, private sector,
entrepreneurship, credit and investment, and rural development. He headed the Financial Sector
Assessment of Emerging Economies for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Mr.
Rodrigo A. Chaves Robles holds a PhD in Applied Economics and Financial Markets andInstitutions from Ohio State University, and is an expert in macroeconomics, public
macroeconomics, public policy, rural development and poverty reduction.

OPENING STATEMENT
H.E. Rt Hon Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister of Canada
Justin Trudeau is Canada’s 23rd Prime Minister. He has been the Prime Minister of Canada sinceNovember 2015 and the elected Leader of the Liberal Party since April 2013. Justin studied literature
at McGill University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in 1994. He went on to complete theUniversity of British Columbia’s education program, and spent several years teaching French, math,and other subjects in Vancouver. As Prime Minister, Justin is focused on creating good middle classjobs, making life more affordable, keeping Canada’s communities safe, fighting climate change, andmoving forward on reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. A proud feminist, Justin appointed
Canada’s first gender balanced Cabinet.

OPENING STATEMENT
Jennifer Tauli Corpus
Leader, negotiator and expert of the International
Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity
Jennifer Tauli Corpuz, from the Kankana-ey Igorot Indigenous people in the Philippines,
a lawyer by profession, is Managing Director for Policy at Nia Tero. She is a leader,negotiator and expert of the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB) on
area-based conservation (30x30), access and benefit sharing, digital sequence
information (DSI), and Indigenous peoples' rights. She is the former coordinator of the
Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Policy Advocacy Program of Tebtebba – Indigenous
Peoples’ International Center for Policy Research and Education. She was the 2012
Indigenous Intellectual Property Fellow at the World Intellectual Property Organization(WIPO), and since then has participated in the WIPO IGC negotiations on the protectionof traditional knowledge.

LEADERS’ LANDMARK CALL TO SAVE OUR
LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS AND ACHIEVE A
NATURE POSITIVE WORLD BY 2030

STATEMENT
President H.E. Mr. Gustavo Petro Urrego
President Colombia
President Gustavo Petro Urrego is an economist from the Universidad Externado de Colombia. He has a
specialization in Public Administration from the Escuela Superior de Administración Pública of Colombia(ESAP), a Master's degree in Economics from Universidad Javeriana in Colombia, a specialization in
Environment and Population Development from the Catholic University of Louvain and PhD studies in New
Trends in Business Administration from the University of Salamanca, in Spain. He founded, together with thedemobilized members of the peace process, the political party Alianza Democrática M-19, a movement that
achieved great popular support and participated in the drafting of the 1991 Political Constitution ofColombia. With the support of this movement, Gustavo Petro became a member of the House ofRepresentatives in. In 1994 he was appointed to the Colombian Embassy in Belgium as diplomatic attachéfor Human Rights, a position he held until 1996. He returned to Colombia in 1998 and again ran for theHouse of Representatives with the endorsement of the Vía Alterna Movement, which he had founded
together with other former members of the M-19 Party and was again elected Representative for the 20022006 period. From 2006 to 2010, Gustavo Petro was Senator of the Republic, where he was elected the best
congressman both by his colleagues and by the national press, thanks to his denunciations of corruption
and his political control debates, including the one on paramilitarism in Antioquia. He was elected Mayor of
Bogota for the 2012 to 2015 term, and in 2018 he was a Presidential candidate for the Significant
Movement of Citizens - Colombia Humana, with a historic result of more than 8 million votes; having
obtained the second highest vote in the presidential elections and making use, for the first time, of the
Statute of the Opposition, he acted as Senator of the Republic for the period from 2018 to 2022. On June
19, 2022, he was chosen as President of the Republic of Colombia, together with Vice President Francia
Márquez Mina.

STATEMENT
President H.E. Mr. Guillermo Lasso Mendoza
President of Ecuador
Guillermo Lasso Mendoza was born in Guayaquil on November 16, 1955. Being the lastof 11 siblings, he worked in his adolescence to contribute financially to his home andfinish his studies. From a young age, he always dreamed of promoting opportunities for
Ecuadorians and of working to build a better Ecuador for all. His career, of more than 50
years of experience in the public and private sectors, has been marked by ideas ofprogress, and dedication to his country and his family. He has written two books: “Lettersto my children” and “Another Ecuador is possible”, in which he expresses in each word thestages of his life and his political ideals, correspondingly. In addition, in 2011, he received
an Honorary Doctorate from the Universidad de las Américas due to his professional
career and achievements. He founded Ecuador Libre, a think tank that promotes
individual liberty, justice, free markets, private property, and the rule of law. To serve theEcuadorians, he founded the Creating Opportunities (CREO) party. In 2021, he won the
Presidency after being a candidate in 2013 and 2017. The main objective of his mandate
is to build the Ecuador of the Encounter, to generate opportunities for all Ecuadorians.
His commitment and duty to citizens are established as the guide that will lead the way toa more democratic, peaceful, and free country for all.

STATEMENT
H.E. Mr. Timmermann
Executive Vice-President of the European Commission
Frans Timmermans is Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, leading its
work on the European Green Deal. He is responsible for the European Climate Law that
put the 2050 climate-neutrality target into law and for the Fit for 55 package to meetthe -55% emission reduction target for 2030. Frans Timmermans leads the EU’s
international climate negotiations. In June, he presented the Nature Restoration Law,part of the Biodiversity Strategy. He also oversees the Commission’s zero-pollution
ambition, the circular economy action plan, the Farm to Fork strategy and otherinitiatives.
From 2014-2019 Timmermans was First Vice-President in charge of Better Regulation,
Inter-Institutional Relations, Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. In the
Netherlands, he previously served as Minister of Foreign Affairs (2012-2014), Minister ofEuropean Affairs (2007-2010) and Member of Parliament for Partij van de Arbeid(PvdA) (2010-2012 and 1998-2007).

STATEMENT
H.E. Mr António Guterres
Secretary General of the United Nations
The ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations, took office on 1st January 2017.
Previously, he served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from June
2005 to December 2015. Mr. Guterres spent more than 20 years in government andpublic service. He served as prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, as Presidentof the European Council in early 2000. Mr. Guterres is a member of the Club of Madrid,a leadership alliance of democratic former presidents and prime ministers fromaround the world.

STATEMENT
Mr. Huang Runqiu
President of the Fifteenth Meeting of the Conference ofParties to the Convention on Biological Diversity &Minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of
the People's Republic of China
He holds a PhD degree in engineering and the professional title of professor and PhD
supervisor. Prior to joining the MEE, He was the vice president of Chengdu University ofTechnology and the vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the Sichuan Provincial
People’s Congress. He served as the vice minister of the Ministry of Environmental Protection(superseded by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in 2018) from March 2016 to April
2020. He has been committed to scientific research in areas of geological engineering andgeological environmental protection. In 2018, he was awarded the Hans Cloos Medal by theInternational Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment (IAEG).

PANEL 1
ON CONSERVING, RESTORING ANDSUSTAINABLY USING NATURE

PANEL 1 MODERATOR
Ms. Monica Medina
Assistant Secretary Bureau of Oceans and International
Environmental and Scientific Affairs
Previously, Assistant Secretary Medina was an adjunct professor at Georgetown
University's School of Foreign Service. She was also a Senior Associate on the Stephenson
Ocean Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and CoFounder and Publisher of Our Daily Planet, an e-newsletter on conservation and theenvironment. A former Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans andAtmosphere, she served as General Counsel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA), and Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense.

PANEL 1: SPEAKER
H.E. Mr. Lee White CBE
Minister of Water, Forests,the Sea and Environment of
Gabon, charged with Climate Planning and Land-use
Professor Lee White is the Minister of Water, Forests, the Sea and Environment, in charge of
Climate Planning and Land-use Plan (Gabon). He is also an honorary Professor at the
University of Stirling and was awarded a CBE in 2011 for services to conservation inCentral Africa. His career in the West and Central African forest belt spans 35 years. He has
been Director of the Gabonese National Parks Agency for ten years, driving it’sdevelopment as a para-military force working alongside the army and the police to ensure
sound governance of natural resources and to stop all forms of ivory trafficking, illegal
fisheries, illegal gold mining and forestry as well as other forms of trafficking.
Professor White holds a PhD on forestry’s impact on wildlife and climate change (Zoology)
from the University of Edinburgh. As a scientist, he has published over 100 scientific articles
and book chapters and authored and edited more than 15books on the ecology andconservation of the African rain forest. He has lived in Gabon for more than 30 years andbecame a Gabonese citizen in 2008.

PANEL 1: SPEAKER
Ms. Razan al Mubarak
President The International Union for Conservation of Nature
Razan Al Mubarak is a United Arab Emirates native who for more than twenty years has
played a vital role in guiding her country toward a more sustainable future while
spearheading progressive environmental protection and species conservation globally. Herdiverse experience leading the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi, the largest environmental
regulatory agency in the Middle East, the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund,an international philanthropic organization supporting species conservation projects
worldwide, and Emirates Nature – WWF, a Dubai-based NGO focused on citizen
engagement, earned her recognition as one of the top 100 Young Global Leaders by theWorld Economic Forum in 2018. In September 2021 at the World Conservation Congress inMarseille, France, Razan was elected president of the International Union for Conservationof Nature. Currently, as President of IUCN, Razan Al Mubarak is responsible for
implementing the vision, mission, and strategy of the organization, which represents over
1,400 members, including states, government agencies and non-government organizations
from 160 countries.

PANEL 1: SPEAKER
Mr. Cristián Samper
President & CEO, Wildlife Conservation Society
Cristián Samper has served as President & Chief Executive Officer of the Wildlife Conservation Society(WCS) since August 2012. WCS is one the largest environmental non-profit organizations in theworld, established in 1895 to save wildlife and wild places. Prior to joining WCS, Dr. Samper served
as Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History for a decade, managing thelargest museum collection in the world. He also served as Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution and Deputy Director of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. He was the founding
director of the Alexander von Humboldt Institute, the national biodiversity research institute forColombia. Dr. Samper served as chair of the Subsidiary Body of Scientific, Technical & Technological
Advice of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity where he helped develop a global strategy forplant conservation and launched the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. He also served as a ViceChair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission and as a member of the Scientific and TechnicalAdvisory Panel of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). He is a member of the Council on Foreign
Affairs and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Samper grew up in Colombia, studied
Biology from the Universidad de Los Andes, and earned an MA and PhD from Harvard University
where he was awarded the Derek C. Bok Award for Excellence in Teaching. Cristián is currently
Principal Advisor for Nature at the Bezos Earth Fund. In October 2022, Dr. Samper will step down as
WCS President & CEO to become the Managing Director and Leader of Nature Solutions at the Bezos
Earth Fund.

PANEL 1: SPEAKER
Ms. Valérie Courtois
Director, Indigenous Leadership Initiative, a partner with Enduring
Earth in the Indigenous-led PFP proposal in NWT, Canada
Valérie Courtois is a registered professional forester who specializes in Indigenous issues, forest
ecology and ecosystem-based management and planning. She is a member of the Innu
community of Mashteuiatsh, located on the shore of Peikuakami, or Lac-St-Jean, in what is now
known as Québec. Courtois holds a degree in forestry sciences from the Université de Moncton.
She has served as a forestry advisor for the Assembly of First Nations of Québec and Labrador,
forestry planner for the Innu Nation, and as a consultant in Aboriginal forestry, including
certification and spatial planning, and caribou planning. She has received numerous awards
and recognitions for this work, including as a Labradorian of Distinction, a distinguishedalumnus of the Forestry Faculty of the University of Moncton and most recently received an
Honorary Doctorate in Laws (honoris causa) from the University of Guelph. Courtois has been
the Director of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative since 2013. In addition to her work inconservation and planning, Courtois is an avid photographer. She is also on the Board of
Directors of the Corporation du Mushuau–nipi, a non-profit that encourages cultural andprofessional exchanges between Innu and other cultures on the George River. She lives in Happy
Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador.

LEADERS’ LANDMARK CALL TO SAVE OUR
LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS AND ACHIEVE A
NATURE POSITIVE WORLD BY 2030
Continued

STATEMENT
H.E. Mr. Olaf Scholz
Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
Coming from northern Germany has been the Federal Chancellor of Germany since
December 2021, leading the country's first "traffic light" coalition in Federal
Government (the nickname is based on the parties’ colours). Olaf Scholz already knew
the government district in Berlin well, having previously served as Federal Minister ofFinance (2018-2021), Federal Minister for Labour and Social Affairs (2009-2011), andas a Member of the German Bundestag. He was also Hamburg’s First Mayor from2011 until 2018. Olaf Scholz studied law and worked as a lawyer until 1998.

STATEMENT
H.E. Lyonchhen Dr. Lotay Tshering
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bhutan
Prime Minister of Kingdom of Bhutan since November 2019 and a practicing Urologist,
consultant surgeon. He has an MBA from University of Canberra, Australia and is a
Urology fellow of Wisconsin Medical College Hospital. Completed General Surgery from
Dhaka University. Formerly worked as the head of surgical department and consultant
surgeon at Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital and also headed His
Majesty’s Medical Unit. Became the President of Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa, the rulingparty in 2018. A recipient of His Majesty’s Druk Thuksey medal in 2017 and theprestigious Lungmar scarf in 2020 for outstanding effort to safeguard the country fromCOVID-19 pandemic including by heading His Majesty's Kidu Medical Unit.

STATEMENT
H.E. Ms. Jacinda Ardern Timmermann
Prime Minister of New ZealandPrime Minister Jacinda Ardern was born in the city of Hamilton, New Zealand, and grew
up rurally. She attended high school before graduating from the University of Waikato
with a Bachelor of Communication Studies in Politics and Public Relations. Postuniversity, she worked as an advisor in the office of then-Prime Minister Helen Clark, in
London for the Government Cabinet Office and as an Assistant Director in the
Department for Business and Enterprise, and on a review of Policing in England andWales. The Prime Minister joined the New Zealand Labour Party at age 18 and entered
New Zealand’s Parliament in 2008. Over her twelve years as a representative she has
been a strong advocate for children, women, and the right of every New Zealander tohave meaningful work. She became the MP for the Auckland electorate Mt Albert inearly 2017, and the Leader of the Labour Party in August 2017. As well as Prime
Minister, she holds the roles of Minister for National Security and Intelligence, andMinister for Child Poverty Reduction, an issue particularly close to her heart. She is also
the Minister Responsible for Ministerial Services and Associate Minister for Arts, Cultureand Heritage.

PANEL 2
ON GREENING AND BLUING FINANCE
AND FINANCING GREEN AND BLUEPANEL 2: MODERATOR
Ms. Usha Rao Monari
Associate Administrator United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP)
Ms. Rao-Monari has over 30 years of investment experience and has held several senior
positions, particularly in the infrastructure area. She previously served as Senior Adviser toBlackstone’s Infrastructure Group, as Chief Executive Officer of Global Water Development
Partners, a Blackstone portfolio company, and held several senior positions, notably as
Director of the Sustainable Business Advisory Group at the International Finance Corporation,
part of the World Bank Group.
She has until recently served on the Boards of a number of organisations in the field ofsustainable development and has held a number of Board and advisory positions in the areasof water, natural capital, biodiversity and environment. Ms. Rao-Monari holds a Master’s
degree in International Affairs and Finance, School of International and Public Affairs/Schoolof Business, Columbia University, New York, a Master’s degree in Management Studies,
Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management, Mumbai, India and a B.A. Honors Economics, Delhi
University, New Delhi.

PANEL 2: STATEMENT
H.E. Ms. Ursula von der Leyen
President of the European Commission
Ursula von der Leyen was Minister at federal level in Germany for more than 14 years
and responsible for family, then labor and social affairs and later defence. In 2019, she
was elected as President of the European Commission. As the head of the European
executive, she has defined six headline ambitions for Europe for her mandate: aEuropean Green Deal, a Europe fit for the digital age, an economy that works forpeople, a stronger Europe in the world, promoting our European way of life, and a newpush for European democracy.

PANEL 2: SPEAKER
CEO Ms Carole Laible
CEO of Domini Impact Investments
Carole Laible is the CEO of Domini Impact Investments. She has over twenty years of
impact investing experience, having joined Domini in 1997. Ms. Laible has spearheaded
Domini’s pioneering work on systems-level issues and stability. This systems approach
includes the Domini Forest Project, which recognizes that forests provide significant value
to investors, corporations, Indigenous Peoples, and biodiversity, including as a crucial partof the climate system, and investors’ policies and practices can impact forests both
positively and negatively. Ms.. Laible has also been active in the fossil fuel divestment
movement. She has supported divestment outreach and advocacy efforts, especially thoserelated to the NYS Common Retirement Fund. Carole serves as a founding member of
Sustainability Accounting Standards Board™ (SASB)™ Investor Advisory Group, now known
as the ISSB Investor Advisory Group, engaging with companies on the use of SASB metrics.
She works to support diversity in the field of finance, including as a Global Angel memberof 100 Women in Finance. Ms. Laible holds a B.S. in accountancy from St. John’s
University.

PANEL 2: SPEAKER
Mr. Carlos Manuel Rodriguez
CEO and Chairperson, Global Environment Facility
Lawyer by profession, politician by choice, and conservationist at heart, Carlos ManuelRodriguez was elected as CEO and Chairperson of the Global Environment Facility by its
governing body, the GEF Council, in June 2020. The former Costa Rican Environment andEnergy Minister was a pioneer in the development of Payment for Ecosystem Services
initiatives and strategies for forest restoration, ocean conservation, and de-carbonization,and is an internationally recognized expert on environmental policy, multilateralenvironmental negotiations, and financing for nature conservation. During his threeterms as Minister of Environment and Energy, Costa Rica doubled the size of its forests,
made its electric sector 100 percent clean and renewable, and consolidated a National
Park System that has positioned the Central American country as a prime ecotourism
destination.

PANEL 2: SPEAKER
Mr. Ambroise Fayolle
Vice President, European Investment Bank
Ambroise is responsible for climate action and environment, development policy, andoversees EIB activities in France, Germany, and countries in Africa. He spent most of his
career in various positions at the French Treasury Department and at the IMF andWorld Bank before moving to EIB.

PANEL 2: SPEAKER
Ms. Lisa Martin
CPSM, C.P.M is Senior Vice President, Global
Procurement and Chief Procurement Officer for global
biopharma company, GSK.
Lisa Martin, CPSM, C.P.M is Senior Vice President, Global Procurement and Chief
Procurement Officer for global biopharma company, GSK. She leads procurement of all
externally purchased goods and services, totalling over £9 billion per year. Lisa also leads
Worldwide Real Estate and Facilities across all of GSK’s 287 sites, with a budget of over£350 million. Lisa is part of to The Sustainable Procurement Pledge to improve responsible
sourcing practices amongst procurement professionals. She is also an inclusion anddiversity advocate, sponsoring Employee Resource Groups, leading diverse recruitment
efforts and driving increased spending with diverse suppliers. Before joining GSK, Lisa was
CPO of Teva Pharmaceuticals. Lisa has held roles at Pfizer, Warner Lambert, Sony Pictures
Entertainment, Columbia Pictures Entertainment and NBC. In 2013, Lisa was awarded theprestigious J. Shipman Gold Medal Award for distinguished service to the supply
management profession. Lisa is Chairperson Emeritus of the Institute for Supply
Management. She earned a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, in communications andpsychology from Long Island University C.W. Post College, New York.

PANEL 2: KEYNOTE
H.E. Ms. Bérangère Couillard
Minister of State for Ecology of France
Bérangère Couillard was born in Rennes, France. She has a Master degree in Marketing and Sales
from the Institute of Management of Rennes. After her studies, she pursued a career in the foodindustry and then in the textile sector near Bordeaux, France. In 2017, she joined « En Marche »the French political movement created by Emmanuel Macron. In June 2017, she was elected MP
in the national assembly and then reelected in 2022. In the national assembly, she handled themission of recorder for the Transport Law, a major law of the first president Macron's five-year
term, which aims at modernizing the French public and private transports and at making themcleaner and more sustainable. At the same time, she wrote and was recorder of a law to protectfrom domestic violence, definitively adopted in July 2020. Since September 2021, she is a memberof the French High Council for Gender Equality's (HCE). In the national assembly, she is also amember of the French Sustainable Development and Country Planning committee, a member of
the French Gender Equality Delegation and was designated spokeswoman for « La République enMarch » in the national assembly. In 2022, she was in charge of Gender Equality topics for the
President's national campaign and wrote the gender equality part of the program. The 4th of July
2022, Bérangère Couillard was appointed Minister of State for Ecology. She is now in charge of
biodiversity, wild animal welfare, water, waste processing, and forest.

LEADERS’ LANDMARK CALL TO SAVE OUR
LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS AND ACHIEVE A
NATURE POSITIVE WORLD BY 2030
Continued

STATEMENT
Honourable Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama
Prime Minister of FijiFrank Bainimarama has been the Fijian Prime Minister since2007. Under his leadership, Fiji has undergone a broad programof social, economic, electoral and constitutional reforms, leading
up to the establishment of Fiji’s first genuine parliamentarydemocracy of equal votes of equal value in 2014. He enlisted into
the Royal Fiji Military Forces Naval Division as an Ordinary
Seaman in 1975. He held the position of Commander of the Royal
Fiji Military Forces for 15 years. He retired from the Military on 5th
March, 2014, after 39 years of service at the rank of Rear-Admiral.

STATEMENT
H.E. Mr. Anthony AlbaneseMP, Prime Minister of Australia
The Hon Anthony Albanese MP was sworn in as Australia’s 31st Prime Minister on 23
May 2022. Anthony Albanese previously served as Deputy Prime Minister and Leaderof the House of Representatives. As Infrastructure Minister and Communications
Minister, he delivered nation-building projects, connecting the country throughthousands of kilometres of roads and rail, and rolling out the high-speed fibre
National Broadband Network. He was widely recognised for his ability to bringstakeholders, businesses, and communities together to deliver projects that boosted
the economy, enhanced productivity, and improved Australia’s quality of life.
Anthony was first elected to the Australian Parliament as the member for the Sydneyseat of Grayndler in 1996. In 2019, he was unanimously elected as the Leader of theAustralian Labor Party. Anthony grew up with his mother, Maryanne, in a council
house in Sydney. As he watched his mum juggling the challenges of life on adisability pension, Anthony came to understand the power of a parent’s love in theface of hardship – and the power of government to change lives for the better. Thisknowledge still drives him today – both as Prime Minister and as a father – as heworks to building a stronger Australia to hand to his son Nathan’s generation.

STATEMENT
H.E. Mr. Sauli Niinistö
President of the Republic of Finland
Sauli Niinistö is the 12th President of the Republic of Finland. He took office on
March 2012 and was re-elected for another term in January 2018. Sauli Niinistö
was first elected to Parliament in 1987 and served as Minister of Justice 1995-1996
and Minister of Finance 1996-2003. In 2003, he took up the post of Vice President of
the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg. He returned to the Finnish
Parliament in the 2007 and served as the Speaker of Parliament until 2011.
President Niinistö has a Bachelor of Laws degree from University of Turku.

CLOSING SEGMENT

CLOSING REMARKS
Ms. Inger Anderson
Executive Director, UN Environmental Program
Inger Andersen is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive
Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. Between 2015 and 2019,
Ms. Andersen was the Director General of the International Union for Conservationof Nature (IUCN). Ms. Andersen has more than 30 years of experience ininternational development economics, environmental sustainability, strategy andoperations. For 15 years at The World Bank, Ms. Andersen held several leadership
positions including Vice President of the Middle East and North Africa; Vice President
for Sustainable Development and Head of the CGIAR Fund Council. Prior to theWorld Bank, Ms. Andersen worked for 12 years on drought, desertification; andwater management at the United Nations including at the UN Sudano-Sahelian
Office and UNDP.

CLOSING REMARKS
Ms. Elizabeth Mrema
Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
Elizabeth Maruma Mrema is the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological
Diversity. She has worked with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) forover two decades and was the Director of Law Division at UNEP. Prior to that, she was
Deputy Director of the Ecosystems Division, in charge of coordination, operations andprogramme delivery. She also served as Executive Secretary of the UNEP/Secretariat of
the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals. Her work at
UNEP has focused on development, implementation and enforcement of environmental
laws, including multilateral environmental agreements at national, regional andinternational levels.

CLOSING REMARKSThe Rt Hon Lord Goldsmith
Minister of State (Minister for the Pacific and theInternational Environment) of the United Kingdom
From 1995 to 1996, Zac worked for the California-based environmental economics thinktank
Redefining Progress, before working for the non-profit International Society for Ecology andCulture. In 1998, Zac became editor of the Ecologist magazine. Zac was first elected as Memberof Parliament for his home seat of Richmond Park and North Kingston in 2010. He was also amember of the Environmental Audit Committee for nearly a decade.
In March 2018, Zac helped to coordinate the international illegal wildlife trade conference which
was held in London in October. In July 2019, Zac was appointed as the Parliamentary UnderSecretary for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department forInternational Development. Zac’s responsibilities included climate change, international
environment, the illegal wildlife trade, forests and animal welfare. Later in September 2019, Zac
was promoted to Minister of State for: the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs;
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; and the Department for International Development. Zac
now sits in the House of Lords and continues as Minister. Outside of his political work, Zac hasraised significant funds for a wide range of conservation and environmental campaigns.