Global Forest Coalition Team

Bolivia
marylouise.malig@globalforestcoalition.org

Mary Louise Malig is a leading researcher, analyst, and campaigner on trade, climate, and social justice. Originally from the Philippines and currently based in Bolivia, she has published widely on trade, agriculture, deforestation, and climate change.

She is co-author of The Anti-Development State: The Political Economy of Permanent Crisis in the Philippines and recent articles including “TFFF: A False Solution for Tropical Forests, Decoding the Digital Economy, and The Amazing AI: At the Cost of Ethics, Theft, Racist Algorithms, Invasion of Privacy, and Violation of Rights.

Her work combines rigorous policy research with movement-driven advocacy, making her a recognized voice in global struggles for forests, climate, and justice.

The Netherlands
vivien.delaak@globalforestcoalition.org

Vivien is based in the Netherlands and manages GFC’s budgets and funding. She also serves as treasurer of the Royal Dutch First Aid Association and a few other local foundations, being equally competent in international NGO operations and local civic contexts.

Vivien grew up in Hong Kong and has had a wide-ranging career, from banking, information technology to TV broadcasting, demonstrating proficiency across various aspects of finance, management and creative production. She stands out for her ability to interpret complex financial data and develop innovative solutions.

Vivien identifies with her mixed heritage, embracing her Indonesian-Chinese and Dutch roots. She speaks six languages – English, Dutch, Mandarin, Cantonese, Indonesian (Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Sunda) and Japanese.

She studied finance at the University of Cambridge and the University of Macau, developing a strong foundation in economics, financial theory and applied corporate finance. She also studied law and justice at Harvard University, and has a deep interest in the legal principles that underpin societal structures and economic systems.

Alongside her career in finance and management, Vivien is also an accomplished concert pianist. She continues to contribute to the evolution of financial practices, and has a deep commitment to growth, learning, and the pursuit of excellence in finance.

Portugal
oli.munnion@globalforestcoaltion.org

Oli Munnion has been involved in climate justice and environmental struggles for 20 years, starting with campaigning to end open-cast coal mining in Scotland and participating in UK-wide climate justice and anti-militarist direct action movements. 

As energy companies turned to burning biomass instead of coal, Oli joined GFC member group Biofuelwatch as a member of staff and later co-director, working on biomass energy campaigns and in particular, efforts to end subsidies for the world’s largest biomass burner, Drax power station. Oli later joined the GFC team and worked in various roles, such as climate campaigner and publications coordinator, and after a sabbatical, rejoined the team as the coordinator of the Climate Justice and Forests campaign. 

Having moved back to Portugal, where he grew up, Oli has also worked for GFC member group ZERO on biomass energy and wood pellet campaigns, and supported other groups in their efforts to reduce the scale and impacts of Portugal’s monoculture eucalyptus plantations. Oli has also held the role of editor of the Geoengineering Monitor website, which is a collaboration between ETC Group, Heinrich Böll Foundation and Biofuelwatch.

Oli is father to two wonderful children and lives on a small farm with his family in central Portugal, where they grow food and rear livestock guided by agroecological principles.

Brazil
valentinafmartinez@globalforestcoalition.org

Valentina is a feminist, researcher and the Gender Justice and Forests Campaign coordinator of the Global Forest Coalition (GFC). She leads actions to protect forest ecosystems, biodiversity, communities and the rights of women in all their diversity, including Indigenous peoples, local communities, people of African descent, peasants, gender diverse people and youth. She designs, develops and implements strategic technical policies and intersectional campaign activities with GFC members and allies to mainstream gender justice and its intersection with nature.

Valentina has a great deal of international experience working with climate and gender justice movements, as well as civil society organisations advocating for gender-responsive policies in international policy processes. Born and raised in one of Venezuela’s Amazonian territories, she earned a doctoral degree at the Federal University of São Carlos, in Brazil, where she is currently based. She believes that feminist emancipation and a decolonial lens must be at the heart of preserving natural life on Mother Earth.

Togo
kwami@globalforestcoalition.org

Kwami is an environmental justice activist from Togo. He fights against extractive projects in Africa and worldwide, and works with several alliances to promote peoples’ solutions to the climate crisis. He is involved in mobilising forest-dependent communities in Africa to share their traditional knowledge and fight deforestation, forest degradation and biodiversity loss.

Former Friends of the Earth Togo campaigns coordinator, he held several positions within Friends of the Earth Federation between 2013 and 2022. He served as a Consultative Board member of Friends of the Earth Africa, member and treasurer of the Executive Committee of Friends of the Earth International, and Friends of the Earth International’s Internationalist Solidarity System focal point and membership development focal point for Africa. 

Kwami served as GFC’s regional focal point for Africa from 2018 to 2024. He currently coordinates the campaign on Extractive Industries, Tourism and Infrastructure. A specialist in Conflict Transformation, Kwami holds a Master’s in Cultural Development.

Colombia
andrea.echeverri@globalforestcoalition.org

Andrea is a feminist environmentalist with 15 years of experience in civil society organisations and grassroots movements in struggles to defend all forms of life. She is trained as a sociologist and specialist in education and environmental management and is currently a student of the Master’s in Climate Change, Sustainability and Development in the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar in Quito. Her life’s meaning is focused on transforming the relationship between nature and cultures to overcome the crisis of civilisation and advance towards environmental and social justice. She was part of the Jungles and Biodiversity team of CENSAT Agua Viva, a GFC member group, for many years.

As part of her work at GFC, Andrea seeks connection and collaboration with member organizations and allies from a multi-scale and complex perspective on the drivers of unsustainable livestock production, including debunking narratives, and understanding financing and supply chains; in the same line, she pushes for a shift in the food system governance, diets within planetary and social boundaries and agroecology and agroforestry as realistic and necessary levers of change in the food systems.

She lives on an agroecological farm in the Andes of Colombia, where she takes care of many delightful creatures, including 2 dogs and the surrounding forest. She is also part of a small community reservation where she keeps learning with peasant communities about synthropic agroforestry, agroecology, ecological restoration and basically on how to become again part of the web of life.

Brazil
Jana.uemura@globalforestcoalition.org

Jana Uemura is a climate campaigner based in Brazil. She has over fifteen years of experience working at the intersection of environmental justice, international cooperation, and popular education, focusing on advocacy, intersectional human rights, and the defence of territories and communities affected by climate injustice. 

Driven by an early awareness of the destruction of Brazilian forests, her journey in environmental activism began in her youth, with her engagement in climate negotiations starting at COP15. This initial concern evolved into a deep and sustained commitment to forest and nature conservation, strengthened by her studies and the voices of traditional peoples, scientists, and activists such as Luciana Gatti, Ailton Krenak and Luiz Marques. 

She has worked with organisations including Ação Educativa and processes such as the World Social Forum, where she led projects and campaigns, supported dialogue between grassroots movements and institutional spaces, co-authored advocacy materials, facilitated multilingual events and publications, and contributed to the development of international networks for climate justice. She holds degrees in philosophy and international relations and is passionate about languages, being fluent in Portuguese, English, and Spanish, with basic knowledge of French and Japanese.  

Partly of Japanese ancestry, she is immensely grateful for everyone who came before her, and who inspire her to follow the way—cultivating philosophy, practising samurai martial arts, and playing music that blends traditional and modern instruments and melodies. She lives happily ever after with her husband/best friend in a small apartment in São Paulo, where they care for two cats and numerous books.

The Netherlands
annedi.berdin@globalforestcoalition.org

Anne-Di Berdin (she/her) supports the implementation of campaign activities and works closely with the Campaign Coordinator to promote gender-responsive forest conservation.

With a background in human rights and gender advocacy, Anne-Di is committed to ensuring that the rights of women, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities are central to environmental action. Her values are shaped by lived experiences across the Global South and North, where she witnessed how systemic injustice often marginalises those most connected to the land.

She finds purpose in amplifying grassroots voices and supporting community-led solutions that uphold both ecological balance and social justice. For Anne-Di, protecting forests means respecting sovereignty, traditional knowledge, and the right of communities to care for their territories.

It brings her joy to explore new forms of knowledge—as a lifelong learner, she delights in reading, learning languages, travelling, and engaging in hobbies like journalling, Lego building, and salsa dancing.

United States
megan@globalforestcoalition.org

Megan is a communications professional specializing in issues of environmental, climate, and gender justice, and she enjoys building understanding and connections between communities and causes. She has worked in non-profit and governmental organisations as a media analyst and strategic communications advisor since 2007. 

A language enthusiast, Megan is also an editor, translator and interpreter. She is a certified Spanish-English translator with the American Translators Association and provides language services for many groups working on the environment and social justice. 

Megan grew up in rural Maine and New Hampshire (USA) and attended McGill University and Georgetown University. After working in Washington, New York, and Bangkok, she moved to North Carolina, where she and her husband are raising two amazing children. She is inspired by her mom and dad (a poet and a hydrologist) and her two grandmothers, both named Rosemary.

France
ismail.wolff@globalforestcoalition.org

Ismail has spent nearly 20 years working for climate justice, human rights, and social change. As GFC’s Strategic Communications Manager, based in France, he helps shape the coalition’s global messaging and campaigns.

Before joining GFC, he founded and led ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), building a strong network of lawmakers across Southeast Asia that pushed for democracy and accountability. With a background in journalism and nonprofit communications, his work has appeared in outlets like The New York Times, The Guardian, Reuters, and National Geographic.

Passionate about storytelling and collective action, Ismail believes in the power of people coming together to challenge injustice and drive systemic change.

After many years in Southeast Asia, he now lives in France with his partner and three kids. A late-bloomer to running, he’s now hooked — and when not outdoors, he enjoys music, travel, cooking, and exploring nature with his family.

The Netherlands
jeroen@globalforestcoalition.org

Jeroen is GFC’s Controller, based in the Netherlands. He is responsible for both accounting and financial & management reporting. He likes travelling and exploring nature.

Russia
al@globalforestcoalition.org

Dr. Andrey Laletin is one of GFC’s co-founders and was chair of the Coalition between 2012 and 2015. Since then, he has been serving as the membership coordinator and regional focal point for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Dr. Laletin graduated as a biologist from Krasnoyarsk State University in 1981 and earned his PhD from the Forest Institute of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1987.

He has published more than 70 scientific articles and other papers in Russian and English, including contributions to seven collective monographs. He has participated in many Conferences of the Parties of CBD and UNFCCC.

Chile
doyarzo@gmail.com

Through university volunteering, Diego has collaborated with social organizations in conducting community workshops for self-construction of low-cost appropriate technologies, problematizing the true scale of consumption and the ecological impacts of a linear energy production chain.

Currently, Diego collaborates with international coalitions of non-governmental organizations in the coordination of media campaigns focused on environmental education and raising awareness of the effects and impacts of implementing industrial mitigation measures on the effects of climate change, focusing his work specifically on the consumption and production of energy from technologies financed by compensation mechanisms in carbon markets.

Diego’s professional life is dedicated to strengthening the potential of talented young people at the Universidad Austral de Chile, where his work as a professor of Physics and Mathematics for more than 20 years has focused on fostering critical thinking and the practical and creative application of knowledge. He committed to promoting interdisciplinary education and preparing new generations to face global challenges with an analytical, sensitive, and collaborative approach. Recently, through the connection between art and science, he has facilitated courses for young researchers that promote scientific outreach in conjunction with artistic mediation, seeking to develop inclusive and innovative educational strategies that contribute to social progress and cultural empowerment among the local community.

Canada
heather.lee@globalforestcoalition.org

Heather is excited to assist in maintaining global alliances that identify the interconnected root causes of major issues facing forests, amplify community-led solutions, and strengthen the voices of front-line communities.

After learning that seeds and animals were being genetically engineered for corporate gains, Heather made that the topic for both her Undergraduate and Master’s degrees obtained through the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo (Canada). Her thesis focused on the lack of transparency and accountability in Canada’s policy-making processes, as well as the increasing privatisation of governance in federal policy-making.

While in school, Heather also focused on food sovereignty and encouraged youth engagement in shaping food policies through her position on the Toronto Youth Food Policy Council, co-founding and working with numerous community groups, and giving talks across Canada.

She continues to speak out against false solutions to climate change, including genetic engineering, in her positions as the Assistant Director at the Global Justice Ecology Project, Campaigner for the International Campaign to STOP GE Trees, and Steering Committee Member of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network.

Heather lives with her partner on the edge of Lake Ontario in Toronto, Canada and is happiest spending her time reading, exploring forests, and kayaking with her friends.