About the Global Green Recovery Collaborative

About the Global Green Recovery Collaborative

The GGRC was founded by an all volunteer global team of University of Cambridge Conservation Leadership masters alumni at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. With so many lives lost and economies shattered, many have asked, “How do we recover from this?” We believe that the best solution is to collaborate for a green recovery in order to achieve an environmentally resilient, just, and equitable future. With the help of our website development team, we launched this platform to enable action and collaboration for a green recovery not just from Covid-19, but from all environmental challenges.

It is our hope that this collaborative will inspire people to act and share knowledge, tools and opportunities to work collectively, so we will all succeed.

What is a "green recovery"?

Green Recovery is the big redesign! It is repairing our world and recovering from environmental damage, to become healthy and resilient.

Green recovery is also the process of transforming how we live and interact with each other and our environment so that biodiversity will thrive, the climate will stabilize, and we will be able to adapt to new realities that have resulted from past ways of living. As social and environmental injustices and harms are linked, green recovery is a response to the complex, interconnected woes that affect people and the planet in an urgent mission for a better future.

Support the GGRC

The launch of the GGRC is made possible by a grant from the Sansom Conservation Leadership Alumni Fund. We are seeking additional funding to allow us to grow.

If you are interested in partnering with us as a funder, please contact us directly at greenrecoverycollaborative@gmail.com.

GGRC FAQs

Learn more! Check out our FAQs.

Newsletter

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We are looking for committed volunteers to support and contribute to the GGRC. Volunteer to expand our reach and impact.

Team & Advisors

Leadership Team

Roz

Rosalind Helfand

Co-Lead
United States
Rosalind Helfand is an independent expert in environmental and social policy, strategy, and advocacy. Based in Los Angeles, California, she collaborates with communities, nonprofits, and governments to create and implement innovative, intersectional policies and programs. From campaigns to coalitions, she brings people together across issues, including environmental justice, protecting nature, and equity. In the Cambridge University Conservation Leadership masters program, she researched how we can achieve transformative change for the future of biodiversity. Rosalind has contributed to global discussions on “collective crisis leadership” with UCCLAN, and researched local environmental leadership with Jacaranda School in Malawi. She contributes to policy discussions with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), and successfully led a nonprofit coalition campaign to engage California as the first United States subnational government Observer to the CBD. She founded the environmental policy consultancy, PAJE: Policy. Action. Justice. Environment.
Ravi

Ravi Prasad

Co-Lead
Fiji
Ravi Prasad has more than ten years of global experience in environment, sustainable development, international relations and climate change. He currently works as the Monitoring and Reporting Specialist with the UNDP Asia-Pacific. He has previously worked as the Field Team Lead with the World Mosquito Program, Australia; International Climate Protection Fellow with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany; and International Corps with EarthCorps, USA. He completed an MPhil in Conservation Leadership from University of Cambridge in 2017, and is currently coordinating the Conservation Leadership Alumni Network (CLAN) in Oceania. Ravi loves travelling, learning new languages, rugby (on TV) and watching TV shows. He is really excited to extend his expertise, passion and positivity towards achieving a green recovery for all.
Iris Dicke

Iris Dicke

Netherlands
Iris Dicke currently works as a Policy Advisor for a political party in the Netherlands, which aims to develop policies based on an ecosystem’s perspective. In her role, Iris focuses on strengthening biodiversity in urban and rural areas as well as how to structurally integrate biodiversity into policy and economy. Prior to this, Iris worked at an international development consultancy and forestry consultancy, focusing on research and analysis of natural resources policy and land rights. As a member of the University of Cambridge, Conservation Leadership Alumni Network (UCCLAN), she helped coordinate and develop a statement for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework for the Convention of Biological Diversity’s – Open-ended Working Group. Now, she would like to further the call for a green recovery.
Lucia

Lucia Norris-Crespo

Ecuador
Lucia Norris-Crespo was awarded an MPhil in Conservation Leadership at the University of Cambridge (2016-2017) and a double major in International Relations and Communications (2010). She worked as a political communications Advisor for the City Council on developing communications strategies and sustainability and gender violence campaigns that were implemented in Quito between 2009 and 2013. At FFLA, LAC Secretariat for CDKN, Lucia gained administrative and technical experience while coordinating projects and participating in developing MEL and Communications strategies. In 2014, Lucia started working at WWF as the Public Policies Officer for the Galapagos Programme and later as the M&E Officer for the Ecuador program. In 2018, she worked on a circular economy project to improve the quality of life of waste pickers. From 2019 until July 2021, Lucia was responsible for Jocotoco Foundation in Galapagos, and now she works as an independent consultant on sustainability, conservation, and the circular economy. She is very much interested in understanding and implementing new economic development models.
Roberta

Roberta Kamille Pennell

Belize
Kamille Pennell currently works for Wildlife Conservation Society (Belize) as the Terrestrial Coordinator, responsible for the implementation of the organisation’s terrestrial components of Belize’s conservation strategy, ensuring thriving wildlife, wild places and healthy and productive ecosystems. Prior to this, she held the post of CITES Coordinator at WCS and was responsible for building communication, administrative structures and capacity to effectively deliver on Belize’s commitments as a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Earlier in her career, she worked at a local organisation in Southern Belize, which implemented people-focused conservation and evidence informed conservation in and around terrestrial protected areas in development, management and leadership positions. She is skilled in grant writing, conservation policy, fundraising and leadership in conservation. Kamille is interested in the social dimensions of conservations, an interest that was fostered while pursuing the Cambridge Masters in Conservation Leadership.
Janet

Janet Taylor

South Africa
Janet is a vegetation ecologist from South Africa and currently works for the local government in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Here she has more than 10 years of research experience and her main focuses are on using research outcomes to provide management recommendations to land users for the sustainable use and conservation of the natural resources within the province. Her research interests include bush encroachment, plant-animal interactions and savanna ecology. Janet completed an MPhil in Conservation Leadership through the University of Cambridge in 2017, where she gained experience in communication and collaboration during her dissertation on avian species prioritization among conservation partners along a migration route. She also has an MSc in Grassland Science from the University of the Free State (SA). She has been an editor of a magazine for a scientific society in Southern Africa and enjoyed working together as a team. With these skills, she hopes to contribute to the awareness of global green recovery.
Teona

Teona Gamtsemlidze

Republic of Georgia / United States
Teona Gamtsemlidze is from Tbilisi, Georgia, currently residing in Los Angeles, California. She holds a masters degree in law, and has extensive project management and development experience. For over 12 years Teona worked for nonprofit and international organizations, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Her primary focus was democratic governance, sustainable development, public awareness raising and education, advocacy and policy making as well as human rights promotion. Working for OSCE and UNDP enabled her to be engaged in capacity building of democratic institutions and to shape policy making. She advocated for adoption of a number of positive changes to the election legislation to bring it closer to international standards. Teona is a fully accredited BRIDGE facilitator. BRIDGE stands for Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections and is a capacity development tool, designed to be used for institutional excellence.
Evelyn Britez Navarro

Evelyn Britez Navarro

Paraguay
Evelyn Britez Navaro is a biodiversity conservation professional with experience in protected area management, project management, monitoring and evaluation. She has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering and Master’s Degree in Conservation Leadership (University of Cambridge). Her conservation career started in Paraguay, volunteering for the Department of Protected Areas of the Ministry for the Environment and local non-governmental organisation, Guyra Paraguay. She then became a staff member of the latter and worked for the Sites Programme. In 2016-2020 her work focused on the Atlantic Forest region, managing projects to promote its conservation and restoration. These interventions supported over 60 small landholders and the Mbyá Guaraní indigenous people to start producing and commercialising shade-grown yerba mate under organic and fair-trade standards for the first time. She has also worked as a consultant for the non-governmental organisation Federación por la Autodeterminación de Pueblos Indígenas and for UNICEF Paraguay on monitoring and evaluation.
Tatjana Baleta

Tatjana Baleta

South Africa
Tatjana is a South African conservation researcher and science communicator. Currently she is the Wikimedia Visiting Fellow for Climate at the Global Systems Institute, where she works with the University of Exeter to update open access climate change knowledge on Wikipedia.Previously, her work has included research and comms for organisations like the Marine Megafauna Foundation, the Sustainable Seas Trust, the South African National Biodiversity Institute, Jive Media Africa, Fauna and Flora International and the conservation technology network, WILDLABS.She holds an MPhil Conservation Leadership from the University of Cambridge, and a BMedSc (Hons) in Cell Biology and a BSc Genetics, Ecology and Evolution from the University of Cape Town.Tatjana is a biology nerd, nature fanatic and science writer, interested in the meeting points between art and science. She spends her free time surfing and diving in the ocean and hiking and rock climbing in the mountains.

Advisors

Aditi

Aditi Jha

India
Aditi Jha is a public policy and sustainability specialist. She has developed and managed some of South Asia’s largest landscape conservation projects. At the World Bank, she worked on framing India’s forest and climate engagement strategy and on integrating environmental and social sustainability within multi-million dollar development projects in the agriculture, water supply and transport sectors. She has also held roles at IUCN, where she developed a course on water-governance used by practitioners and diplomats from the Himalayan Region, and at the United Nations, where she managed the World Heritage Biodiversity Programme. Aditi holds an MPhil in Conservation Leadership from the University of Cambridge and a BA in English Literature from St Stephen’s College, Delhi.
Carolina

Carolina Soto-Vargas

Colombia
Carolina Soto-Vargas is a very enthusiastic biologist who completed an MPhil in Conservation Leadership from the University of Cambridge in 2017. For the last three years, she has been working for the Humboldt Institute (IAHV), and she leads the Participatory Science and Traditional Knowledge research group. She has worked on several conservation projects, including a spell of five years as a program manager for the Northern South America Jaguar Program; she also worked as the environmental advisor for a project that brokered communication between indigenous communities of the Colombian Amazon and the Colombian government. Carolina speaks four languages and believes in the importance of communication, co-creation, and integration of various systems of knowledge in conservation. She loves working with local communities and tries to propose new approaches to engaging people in conservation through meaningful participation based on ethics, justice, and equity, especially in areas with challenging conditions in terms of violence and inequality.
dav

Noa Steiner

Israel
Noa Steiner is a passionate environmental policy expert, and a current PhD candidate studying the EU Common Fisheries Policy. Noa’s educational background includes a BSc in Life Sciences, an MSc in Desert Studies from Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel and an MPhil in Conservation Leadership from the University of Cambridge in the UK. Noa has worked in both the public sector at the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection, as well as in international NGOs – BirdLife International and UNEP-WCMC and specialized in policy formulation for nature conservation. She is interested in learning from fields such as behavioural economics and cognitive psychology in order to integrate within environmental policy and decision-making processes, which could contribute to a rapid and effective transition into a more sustainable world.

Interns

Rachael

Rachael Chandra

Fiji
Rachael Chandra was born and raised in Fiji. Growing up in a Pacific Island country, she developed enthusiasm for solving the issues that are degrading our environment and causing global climate change, particularly in the Pacific Islands. Her passion for her environment led her to complete her B.A. in Environmental Management at the University of the South Pacific. One of Rachael’s key achievements was winning the National Essay Competition’s Certificate of Commendation. In her essay, she emphasized being environmentally friendly by using biodegradable plastics and switching to green energy to reduce the occurrence of intense cyclones in the Pacific. Rachael aspires to work in an international environmental organization that promotes sustainability. She is excited to join the GGRC team as an intern, and to gain the practical skills and experience she needs to achieve her goals.

Web Team

Philip

Philip Huynh

Web Consultant
United States
Phillip Huynh is a proud graduate from Cal State Northridge with a degree in Cinema & Television Arts. Not that it matters since he had a full career pivot from building movies on sets to designing and creating experiences from e-commerce to learning to today’s Web3. He is currently a product designer at Groovetime.

Special Thanks To

eyalphoto.co.il

Dana Dellus-Neeman

UI Designer
Israel
Dana Dellus is a freelance Ui/Ux designer from Israel. She creates identity branding for local and international companies and organizations, from logos to brand guidelines, across multiple platforms. Responsible from inception to launch and updating the design and designing intuitive and engaging user experiences for the client’s products, with beautifully crafted ui elements tailor made for the client. She is working closely alongside clients, helping them understand their needs, and tailoring the user’s experience and visual requirements to meet their needs and goals. She lives in Rehovot with her family and loves chocolate, typography, and (happy) colors.
Iris

Iris Livneh

UX Designer
Israel
Iris Livneh is a UX designer and researcher with a BA in Psychology and American Literature and an MSc in Cognitive Psychology and Human Factors Engineering. She has worked at B2B product companies, focusing on complex systems and end-to-end design processes (research, UX/UI), and currently working at Buildots, a start-up dedicated to bringing high-tech abilities to the construction industry. When the COVID pandemic broke, she searched for ways to help by contributing from her professional experience. She volunteered for both a design group that planned technological solutions to help medical staff avoid becoming impaired by the disease and the Global Green Recovery Collaborative to make COVID an opportunity to help bring about a positive change in the environment. She lives in the north of Israel, and in her free time, she enjoys solving riddles (escape room enthusiast!), watching football games, music, and cooking.
Shavnita

Shavnita Dutt

Website Developer
Fiji
Shavnita Dutt is a website developer based in Fiji. She has over five years experience in software development focused mainly on web-based applications. She has developed 12 websites and maintains over 55 websites in her current position as Senior Website Designer in the Fijian Government’s ITC. Apart from her interest in the field of IT, she is also interested in climate change and how as an individual she can contribute to our environment in a positive way. She continuously seeks to learn and increase awareness of her surroundings by watching documentaries on environmental related issues. Additionally, she plans to found an environmentally friendly business for local supermarkets to install vending machines for recycling plastic bottles, as plastic pollution is one of the biggest factors affecting our marine life. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Information Systems from the University of the South Pacific, Fiji.
Yonatan

Yonatan Kra

Website Developer
Israel
Yonatan Kra has been involved in some awesome projects in the academy and the industry – from C/C++ through Matlab to PHP and javascript. Former neuroscientist, CTO at Webiks and Software Architect at WalkMe. Currently he is a software architect at Vonage and an egghead instructor.