Catherine Gamper leads the OECD’s work on Climate Change Adaptation, including the coordination of the OECD Task Force on Climate Change Adaptation, which brings together all OECD member and a number of non-OECD members as well as key international agencies working on adaptation to support the implementation of increasingly ambitious national adaptation agendas. Catherine also led the work on an OECD flagship initiative on “Adapting to a changing climate in the management of wildfires”. Catherine started her career at the OECD as a young professional, working on regional development, public investment and multi-level governance. She led the governance directorate’s work on disaster risk prevention & resilience, with a focus on the economics and public finance aspects of disaster risks. Prior to joining the OECD she worked at the World Bank, contributing to its research and operational work on disaster risk reduction and localising development, as well as for a policy research platform in Austria advising local governments on climate change adaptation. Ms. Gamper holds a PhD in public economics from the University of Innsbruck.

Esra Buttanri is the Senior Climate Change Adviser at the Office of the Co-ordinator of OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Prior to that, she was the Head of the Environmental Co-operation Unit at the OSCE. Esra has been working for the last twenty-five years at the interface between environmental, development, foreign, and security policy. In her current position at the OSCE, she has been focusing on raising awareness and building capacity on the linkages between climate change and security, as well as promoting regional co-operation to identify and address climate-related security risks in different regions. She has led several initiatives to reduce vulnerabilities and strengthen climate resilience, including facilitating cross-border co-operation on fire management. Additionally, she has been contributing to the OSCE’s activities in support of the peace and security aspects of the 2030 Agenda implementation, building on her previous engagement in the regional and global processes related to the 1992 Rio Summit on Environment and Development, Rio+10 and Rio+20. Prior to joining the OSCE, Esra worked for the United Nations Development Programme as a Programme Manager, and for the Turkish Ministry of Environment as a Senior Environmental Expert. Esra Buttanri holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering and a Master’s degree in International Relations.

Johann Georg Goldammer is Chief of the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC), which he founded in 1998. Based at Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and Freiburg University, the GFMC has worked with the United Nations family, multilateral and intergovernmental organizations and directly with more than 70 countries in supporting scientific-technical and policy advice for developing policies and capacities in landscape fire management. The GFMC is coordinator the Global Wildland Fire Network (GWFN) and a Voluntary Commitment for the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. At regional European level, the GMFC is serving as a Specialized Euro-Mediterranean Center under the European and Mediterranean Major Hazards Agreement and supports the Wildfire Disaster Risk Reduction agenda of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). As GWFN coordinator, he has established eight Regional Fire Monitoring / Fire Management Resource Centers throughout the continents. The mission of the GWFN and their regional centers is to provide advisory support to countries and international organizations towards developing policies and capacities in Integrated Landscape Fire Management. GFMC is also serving as Secretariat of the International Fire Aviation Working Group (IFAWG). Goldammer has attended and supported all International Wildland Fire Conferences since 1989.

David Nugent is the Director Fire, Emergency and Enforcement with Parks Victoria, having worked in various public land management roles in Victoria for over 30 years. As the manager of over 4 million hectares of parks and reserves, Parks Victoria has a significant role in protection of visitors, communities and assets from bushfire. Fire is a critical part of ecosystems in south-east Australia and David plays a key role in managing its impact on natural and cultural values, working in partnership with Traditional Owners as a priority. David has over 20 years experience as a Certified Incident Controller across bushfire, floods and other emergencies, including through Victoria’s Black Saturday fires in 2009. His extensive experience spans fire deployments to North America, and conferences in Iran and South Africa. David is a board member of the Australasian Fire and Emergency Service Authorities Council (AFAC), the current Chair of the Australasian Interagency Incident Management System (AIIMS) Steering Group. He has been awarded the Australian Fire Service Medal, the National Emergency Medal and the National Service Medal. David is a member of the Champions of Change Coalition for more women in roles across fire and emergency. Their mission is to step up beside women to help achieve gender equality and a significant and sustainable increase in the representation of women in leadership.

Forestry engineer. Service manager at the Wildfire Management Service of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge of Spain since 2009. Responsible for national prevention, preparedness and suppression strategies and actions along with international affairs and relationships. At national level, she leads the National Preparedness Program, aiming at improving the coordination among experts and agencies involved in wildfire management in Spain, through joint field exercises, exchanges of experts and the Forest Fire Assessment and Advisory Team (FAST). She also coordinates the Incident Management System and Training Certification national working group, and the Integral Prevention Teams (EPRIF) and the Prevention and Analysis Teams (EPAIF), which support regional governments on the territory. At international level, she is in charge of the coordination of Silva Mediterranea working group on forest fires (FAO), and participates actively, in the European Commission´s expert groups on forest fires (DG ENV-JRC; DG ECHO) and the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM), along with other international groups and initiatives such as the Global Wildland Fire Network, its Wildland Fire Advisory Group and the Fire Aviation Working Group (UNISDR). She is a member of the International Liaison Committee (ILC) for the International Wildfire Conferences (WILDFIRE).