Parallel 4B

Moderator: Daniel Nepstad

Executive Director and Senior Scientist, Earth Innovation Institute in California

Daniel Nepstad is the Executive Director and a Senior Scientist at Earth Innovation Institute in California. Nepstad has worked on jurisdictional REDD since its inception, when he co-authored the "compensated reduction" concept. His focus has been on bringing the basic concept of pay-for-performance for reductions in emissions from deforestation across entire tropical forest jurisdictions into rural development policies and planning and into business strategies.

Jussi Viitanen

Head of Unit, European Forest Institute

Mr. Jussi Viitanen is a Head of FLEGT and REDD Unit at the European Forest Institute in Spain. Mr. Viitanen has more than 20 years of experience working in the field of sustainable forest management and international forest policy development and implementation.  Jussi possess first-hand experience of many of the countries with FLEGT, REDD+ and forest sector reforms.

Lin Tan

Executive President, Hopefull Investment & Holdings

Dr Lin Tan, is Executive President of Hopefull Investment and Holding in China. Hopefull is a private company with main business in soybean processing industry. The company import three million tons of soybean from US, Brazil and Argentina. Tan’s job is marketing study in agricultural resources and soybean production, as well as new market development. Tan is also an affiliated professor of China Agricultural University, teaching International Trade in Agricultural Products in the MBA program. 

Melissa Miners

Global Advocacy Manager, Unilever

Melissa Miners is the Global Advocacy Manager at Unilever and leads the advocacy work for Unilever’s forests agenda. Together with others in the industry, Unilever has committed to achieving zero net deforestation associated with four commodities – palm oil, soy, paper and board, and beef – no later than 2020. Melissa works with partners through the Tropical Forest Alliance 2020 and the Consumer Goods Forum to ensure this is a reality in Unilever’s supply chain.