Jo Tyndall is Director of the Environment Directorate at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) where she oversees the implementation of the Directorate’s programme of work, covering a broad range of environmental issues, including: green growth; climate change; biodiversity; quality of ecosystems; eco-innovation; circular economy; and, resource productivity. She was, most recently, New Zealand High Commissioner (Ambassador) to Singapore from February 2019 to September 2022. Prior to that, Jo served as New Zealand’s Climate Change Ambassador, commencing this role in June 2010. From 2016 to December 2018, she also co-chaired the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) Ad Hoc Working Group on the Paris Agreement (APA). As Climate Change Ambassador, she was head of delegation to the United Nations climate negotiations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Prior to her role as Climate Change Ambassador, Ms Tyndall was Director of the Broadcasting Unit in the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. From 1999 to 2006, she was Chief Executive of the public broadcasting funding body, NZ On Air. She has also served as Chief Executive of two screen industry organisations - the Screen Production and Development Association (SPADA) and Project Blue Sky (1994 to 1999). Ms Tyndall began her career as a multilateral trade policy specialist with the then Department of Trade and Industry and subsequently the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Ana Abrunhosa is Minister of Territorial Cohesion in Portugal. She was Chair of the Central Regional Coordination and Development Committee from 2014 to 2019, as well as Chair of the Steering Committee of the Central Regional Operational Programme since 2014. She has served as Chair of the Investment Committee for the Financial Instrument for Urban Rehabilitation and Renewal (IFRRU 2020) since 2016 and chaired of the General Board of the Debt & Guarantee Fund of the Financial Development Institution (IFD) from 2017 to 2018. In addition, she is Chair of the General Board of the IFD Capital & Quasi-Capital Funds since January 2019, and has chaired the EUROACE Labour Community (Centre, Alentejo and Extremadura) and the Euroregion since 2018. She was executive board member of the Steering Committee of the Central Regional Operational Programme - Mais Centro – from 2010 to 2014. She was Vice-Chair of the Central Regional Coordination and Development Committee and was charged with Regional Development, Legal Counsel and Administrative and Financial Management from 2008 to 2010. She began her career path at Ernst & Young in auditing, where she worked from 1994 to 1995. She has a PhD in Economics from Coimbra University Faculty of Economics. She has been a lecturer at Coimbra University Faculty of Economics since 1995. She published several articles in national and international reviews and books, essentially on regional development and innovation management and economics.

Christos Stylianides is Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection of Greece, since September 2021. From 2014 to 2019, he served as European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management. During the same period, he was EU Ebola Coordinator after his appointment by the European Council. Christos Stylianides was also elected Member of European Parliament of the Democratic Rally-European People’s Party (2014) of Cyprus. He served as Government Spokesperson of the Republic of Cyprus from 2013 to 2014 and from 1998 to 1999. Between 2006 and 2013, he was a Member of the House of Representatives of the Republic of Cyprus. During his tenure, he served as Vice-Chair of the Committee on Foreign and European Affairs (2011-2013) and member of the Committee on European Affairs, the Committee of Internal Affairs and the Committee of Employment and Social Affairs (2006-2011). From 2006 to 2011 he was also a member of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and was elected a Member of its Bureau in 2012. In May 2021, he was appointed EU Special Envoy for Freedom or Religion or Belief. He was also Visiting Professor at the Department of Health Policy at the London School of Economics (LSE), Member of the Academic Staff at the Medical School of the University of Nicosia-Cyprus and Visiting Professor at the Ruhr Universität Research School of Germany.

Walid Oueslati is acting as head of the Climate, Biodiversity and Water Division at the OCED. Before taking this role, he was working as a senior economist at the OECD Environment Directorate. He was previously a full professor of Environmental Economics at Agrocampus, University of Angers (France) and a visiting professor at Newcastle University (UK). Walid Oueslati holds a PhD degree in economics from the University of Paris - Nanterre (France). He has extensive research and research management experience across a number of fields in environmental policy and economics, ranging from pure academic to policy supporting research. He published over fifty scientific articles in refereed journals, policy reports, textbooks and several conferences.

Catherine Gamper leads the OECD’s work on Climate Change Adaptation, including the 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 and 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.

Julienne is the Director of Wildland Fire Research, with the Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). Julienne supports strategic policy, research, and program development nationally and internationally. She represents NRCan on various national fire management committees. She oversees a team of researchers with expertise in fire ecology, fire risk, fire weather and Indigenous Fire Stewardship. Her team is also responsible for development and operation of the Canadian Wildfire Information System. Julienne joined the Government of Canada in 2017, as Director of Climate Change Research and held a national role in the Canadian Forest Service’s Sustainable Forest Management Research Program. Prior to joining the federal public service, Julienne spent 15 years in boreal forest conservation and working closely with the forest sector to develop best management practices. In 2014 she completed a PhD at the University of Alberta that examined impact of human disturbance on boreal wetland birds. Julienne began her career in ecology while completing an MSc. and studying effects of fire and post-fire salvage logging on boreal bird communities.

Florian Rudolf-Miklau is Director of the Department for Alpine Natural Hazards and Protective Forests in the Austrian Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Regions and Water Management in Vienna; in this function, he is responsible for the strategic and governance issues of forest fire management in Austria. He is lecturer in the field of natural risk management at the University Vienna and the University for Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences. Furthermore, he is author of numerous technical books and scientific publications. He is vice-president of international research society INTERPRAEVENT and chairs several working parties on natural hazard management in the framework of FAO, the EGU and the Alpine Convention.

Stefan Doerr is Professor of Wildland Fire Science at Swansea University (UK), Director of its Centre for Wildfire Research and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Wildland Fire. He has investigated wildfires over three decades across all fire-affected continents and has held collaborative research positions in Australia, Spain and the USA, working closely with scientists, resource managers and firefighters. His work focuses on fire impacts and their mitigation (landscape carbon dynamics, soils, erosion, water quality and ecosystem services), as well as global fire patterns, climate feedbacks, trends, fire behaviour and social perceptions of fire.