Campam Expert Group Members' Short Biographies
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CaMPAM Expert Group Members’ short biographies 1. Ramon de Leon A native of Uruguay, Ramón de León first moved to the Caribbean in 1997. Prior to coming to the Caribbean he worked as a fisheries scientist, collaborating closely with fishermen along the coastal lagoons of eastern Uruguay and doing biophysical monitoring in France, Brazil and Chile. From 2004 to early 2015 he served as manager of the Bonaire National Marine Park, a world-renowned dive destination recognized for its biodiversity conservation programs and pioneering “diver tag” user fee system. In this capacity he was responsible for all aspects of daily park operations. His duties encompassed management of staff, budgets and park resource conservation efforts; law enforcement; design and coordination of research and monitoring programs; coordination of outreach and education; and maintenance of the park. Ramón's long-term involvement in the dive industry made him a good fit as manager of a multi-use marine park where the primary stakeholder is the dive industry. Ramón regularly supports professional development of other park managers in the Wider Caribbean. A long-time conservation practitioner, Ramón possesses expertise in marine protected area design, capacity building and management; sustainable financing mechanisms; biophysical and socioeconomic monitoring; management effectiveness evaluation; fisheries management; sustainable tourism and climate change adaptation. He has a keen understanding of how to effectively engage community stakeholders, resolve conflicts, and promote alternative livelihoods that foster sustainable use of coastal and marine resources. Together with other key members of the management team of Stichting Nationale Parken Bonaire (STINAPA Bonaire)—the non-profit charged with managing the Bonaire National Marine Park and the Washington Slagbaai National Park—Ramón has played a leading role in shaping the foundation’s long-term vision, conservation policy and legislative priorities. He has been lecturer in CaMPAM regional courses on MPA management and mentor of MPA managers. 2. Sonia Jind Sonia believes environmental conservation requires social innovation. If we want to keep global hope spots thriving, and rebuild damaged ecosystems, we need to inspire change and reconnect people with the natural world. We need to move beyond “managing resources”, towards seeing ourselves as part of a large, complex web of connections affected by climate change. The human dimension of ocean conservation (i.e. how to motivate change, connect people, and communicate science in a creative way) is her foremost passion. She leverages expertise in marine biology, marine management, and communication to promote healthy oceans and resilient coastal communities. She has over four years of independent research experience in Canada, Latin America & the Caribbean. She holds a Masters in Marine Management and honors BSc in Marine Biology and Psychology. She was the MMA Coordinator at Sustainable Grenadines Inc. and PADI Dive Master. She has participated in a project funded by CaMPAM. 3. Lucia Prinz Maria Lucia Prinz is a seasoned tourism enterprise development specialist with more than 16 years of hands-on experience training and assisting MSME tourism enterprise growth in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia. She developed a Tourism Operations and Management training for rural, often marginalized MSME tourism enterprises methodology through which communities and enterprise owners can be comprehensively trained in creating sustainable tourism businesses. The methodology covers tourism product creation, training in management and operations, client service in different aspects of the enterprise, and sales and marketing; focused on practical, relevant, and user-friendly tools, the course helps local managers coordinate everything from reservation and payment systems to tour logistics and financial procedures, and culminates with a customized operations manual for the particular tourism business. More than 15 years of experience in sustainable tourism. She has been lecturer on sustainable ecotourism associated with conservation areas and business planning in several CaMPAM regional courses on MPA management. 4. John Knowles John Knowles is an applied scientist for the Nature Conservancy’s Caribbean Division with 11 years of conservation experience working in the insular Caribbean, 4 of which he spent living in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Since 2008, John has offered broad support for the Caribbean Division and partners, working with a team of scientists on advancing innovative conservation techniques. He works through collaborative partnerships on the topics of marine spatial planning, protected area system design and coastal resilience. He also works to advance how spatial information managed, improved upon and/or collected by the Conservancy’s Caribbean Division is accessed, viewed and used by local NGOs, park managers and governments to make better decisions. Core conservation layers that John guides the effort to maintain accurate and up-to-date include protected area information and extents and health of marine habitats such as coral reefs and mangroves. Before joining the Conservancy, John obtained the degree of Master of Environmental Management from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences. While completing his degree at Duke John spent six months in Barbados working with four large hotels on reducing their beach front light pollution and volunteered for the Barbados Sea Turtle Project. John graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Biology and Environmental Sciences. His hobbies are kayaking, learning French and sailing. He is currently based in North Carolina, USA. He has collaborated with CaMPAM in activities related to its MPA database and Decision Support Systems. 5. Alessandra Vanzella-Khouri A Colombian from San Andrés Island, a biologist by profession and conservationist at heart, with a Masters degree in marine microbiology. For almost 30 years has worked on marine environmental issues of Latin America and the Caribbean, the majority of those associated to the Caribbean Environment Programme of the UN Environment (UNEP) with headquarters in Kingston, Jamaica. During her work with UN Environment developed and coordinated activities with governments and organizations in the Wider Caribbean for the conservation of marine biodiversity, sustainable use of coastal and marine resources, protected areas, conservation of threatened and endangered species, marine pollution management, governance of the Caribbean marine environment, and related topics. Coordinated on behalf of UN Environment the negotiations for the regional treaty on biodiversity for the Wider Caribbean (SPAW Protocol in 1990) part of the 1983 Cartagena Convention and subsequently led its activities and programmes until her early retirement in 2017. In 1997 she developed the Caribbean Network and Forum for Marine Protected Areas Management (CaMPAM), which today includes hundreds of members and has trained over one thousand marine protected areas practitioners from all countries of the Wider Caribbean (campam.gcfi.org/campam.php). She has led, coordinated and/or participated in numerous intergovernmental and non-governmental meetings and conferences under the aegis of the UN and other relevant organizations to negotiate and develop regional and subregional environmental agreements, initiatives and projects related to the marine and coastal environment of the Wider Caribbean. She has worked in close collaboration with governments and organizations, including the Secretariats of the Bonn, Ramsar, Biodiversity (CBD), and CITES Conventions, the Inter American Convention on Sea Turtles, the Western Hemisphere Migratory Species Initiative (WHMSI), the International Whaling Commission and the International Maritime Organization (IMO). She has written and co-authored numerous papers on these topics and among her contributions towards sustainable development in the region, one could mention the Action Plan for the Caribbean Environment Programme, the Action Plan for the Conservation of Marine Mammals in the Wider Caribbean, technical manuals for sustainable tourism activities, and reports on status and value of coral reefs of the Caribbean In 2016, she was awarded at the IUCN World Conservation Congress the Fred Packard Award “for her outstanding service to protected areas and conservation and her longstanding work with the Caribbean Marine Protected Area Management Network and Forum (CaMPAM)”. Alessandra has been and/or is member of several international committees and initiatives: - World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Caribbean WCPA Network of IUCN - Caribbean Network and Forum for Marine Protected Areas Management (CaMPAM) - Wider Caribbean Sea Turtles Network (WIDECAST) - Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute (GCFI) - International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) - Group of Experts on Marine and Coastal Protected Areas of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (as observer) - International Advisory Board of the GEF/World Bank Project “San Andres Archipelago Biosphere Reserve: regional system of marine protected areas (Seaflower Biosphere Reserve, Colombia) - Advisory Board of the European Union project “Cooperation with Northern and Southern Transatlantic Dimension of Marine Protected Areas” Alessandra