Speakers

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  Alberto Pallechi World Resources Institute, Acting Director, WRI Faith and Sustainability
  

  Alberto Pallechi

  World Resources Institute, Acting Director, WRI Faith and Sustainability

  Alberto is Acting Director, WRI Faith and Sustainability. He works on WRI’s Faith and Sustainability initiative, supporting existing and new faith-based projects in the area of sustainability and enabling faith-based communities to identify ideas and programs that build capacity for community-level solutions to sustainability challenges. Alberto also oversees WRI Europe’s activities around natural resources, peace and security, supporting the ‘Water, Peace and Security partnership’ and coordinating outreach activities with relevant European actors.

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  Alexandra M Goossens-Ishii Soka Gakkai International, Programme Coordinator
  

  Alexandra M Goossens-Ishii

  Soka Gakkai International, Programme Coordinator

  Alexandra works as Programme Coordinator for environment, climate change & biodiversity for Soka Gakkai International (SGI), a community-based Buddhist organization that promotes peace, culture and education. Her work focuses on the UN processes related to the environment, climate change and biodiversity. Based in Geneva, she is advocating from the perspective of human rights, public participation, and environmental and social justice. She is also a member of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration Advisory Board and a co-convenor of the Faiths for Biodiversity coalition.

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  Gopal Patel Bhumi Global, Director
  

  Gopal Patel

  Bhumi Global, Director

  Gopal D. Patel is a faith-based environmental activist, campaigner and consultant. For more than a decade, he has spearheaded environmental initiatives that engage religious communities and leaders in India, East Africa, Europe, and North America. He is Co-Founder and Director of Bhumi Global, a non-profit organization that works to educate and mobilize Hindu communities globally for environmental action. He is also co-chair of the United Nations Multi-faith Advisory Council and co-chair of the Advisory Board to the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

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  Nicholas Pande Anglican Communion, Environmental Policy Lead
  

  Nicholas Pande

  Anglican Communion, Environmental Policy Lead

  Nicholas is the Environmental Policy lead at the Anglican Communion Office at the United Nations. He is also the Global Facilitator of Communion Forest – a global initiative on ecosystem conservation, restoration and protection by Churches of the Anglican Communion. Nicholas has a background training on agronomy with a passion for care for creation.

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  Susan Hendershot Interfaith Power & Light, President
  

  Susan Hendershot

  Interfaith Power & Light, President

  Rev. Susan Hendershot is the president of Interfaith Power & Light, a US national non-profit organization with a mission to inspire and mobilize people of faith and conscience to take bold and just action on climate change. She is a preeminent voice in the religious environmental movement.