Amine Ahlafi
An architect by profession, Amine AHLAFI has over 22 years of experience in the fields of environmental and sustainable development. He is the founder of 2 companies of architecture and SD consultancies and serves on boards of national and international NGOs. Since becoming a FEE Board member in 2012, Amine has drawn on his Moroccan multicultural context and its inspiring mix of Mediterranean, Arabic, and African cultures to contribute to FEE’s strategic development. Amine is actually mentoring projects of tourism and handicraft.
Christopher Slaney
Christopher Slaney is a freelance journalist and television news producer with thirty-five years of experience, much of it in the Middle East and Africa. He started out as a television news cameraman when stations shot film which needed processing in a lab, editing was a skill involving scissors and glue, and getting stories on air when satellites were still a novelty often meant finding airline crew who would carry a spool of film to London or Paris. In 1990 he covered the release of Nelson Mandela from prison as a live transmission and thus began a new career producing live coverage of major news events. Notable credits include the handover of Hong Kong to Chinese rule, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat returning to Gaza, US presidential elections and the funeral of Pope John Paul II. Since 1998 he has worked mainly for the Associated Press, the world's global news agency but still welcomes the chance to use a camera and was recently in northern Iraq for PBS filming a report on the Yazidi and Kurdish communities.
Erik van Dijk
Erik van Dijk is a professional expert in the tourism area, with many years of working experience. He began working in consultant tourism, recreation, and hospitality in 1989. Afterward, he worked as a project manager for the Netherlands Board of Tourism for 13 years. Since 2008, He has been working as Managing Director for Foundation KMVK till now. Currently, Erik is the national operator of the Green Key programme in the Netherlands and the Blue Flag programme in the Netherlands. Besides work, Erik was a member of Junior Chamber International from 1990 to 2001. Now he is a member of the Lions Club and Yacht Club, and meanwhile a sailor.
Grace McCatty
Grace McCatty is a development professional passionate about seeing young people succeed and reach their full potential, particularly those from a challenging background. Currently working for Prince’s Trust International, Grace manages their programmes and delivery across East Africa, focusing on supporting young people into education, employment and enterprise. Alongside her employment, Grace is studying a PhD part-time at Durham University focused on sport as a tool for development in Africa, a research project which has stemmed from her passion for international development. Outside of work, Grace is a keen sportswoman, currently competing for Sunderland AFC Ladies in the Barclays FA Women’s Championship.
Isabel Lissner
With a master's degree in tourism and regional development and having worked in sustainable tourism and education for sustainable development for 8 years, Isabel is a dedicated changemaker with a passion for challenging the status quo of the tourism industry and helping to futureproof it. Before joining Considerate Group in 2022, she previously worked for the Foundation for Environmental Education, coordinating the implementation and development of the Green Key ecolabel on the international level. Having worked with both hospitality clients and major stakeholders in the tourism industry such as the UNWTO, Isabel is responsible for the successful delivery of Considerate Group’s products, services and major strategic projects (predominantly) in the DACH region.
Laura Hickey
Laura Hickey began working at the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) in 1986, and has been an elected board director for the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) since 2014 with political responsibility for the FEE Eco-Schools’ programme worldwide. The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is the largest conservation education non-governmental organization in the United States with over 5 million members and supporters. During her 31+ year tenure at NWF, Laura had increasing responsibility for conservation education, publishing, printing, and sustainable procurement. Laura was instrumental in the development of the national Eco-Schools USA programme (part of FEE’s international Eco-Schools programme) launched in the U.S. in November 2009 and currently reaching over 5,000 schools, and the Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) programme. She was responsible for climate change education programs in conjunction with NWF’s grassroots outreach efforts, as well as the NWF Schoolyard Wildlife Habitats™ program, the nation’s largest school garden program. She has over forty years of project management experience in both for-profit and non-profit organizations. Laura has had budget responsibility in excess of $8 million per year, and has extensive fundraising, grant implementation and reporting experience. Her experience at NWF ranged from Director of Purchasing to Educational Publishing and new programme development to heading up NWF’s K-12 Education programs, culminating as the Associate Vice President, Education Programs. She retired from NWF in January 2018, but is an active volunteer with the organization and has support from NWF to represent them as a FEE member. As a volunteer for NWF, Laura worked on a plastics pollution report for NWF, with a specific focus on the impacts on wildlife and marine life. Over the last two years, she was also a key member of the FEE Strategy Team along with Nikos Petrou, Lesley Jones, Daniel Schaffer, and the FEE staff, working together on the GAIA:2030 Strategic Plan. Laura also served on the Steering Committee for the Environmental Paper Network for ten years, a coalition of over 150 environmental non-governmental organizations worldwide who focus on transforming the pulp and paper industry. She attended California State University at Bakersfield and San Diego State University, with a major in Biology and a minor in Chemistry.
Madhavi Joshi
Madhavi Joshi is an Environmental and Sustainability Education professional with over 30 years of experience at the Centre for Environment Education. She has been involved in designing, implementing and leading education and communication programs in the area of sustainable development, mainly working with youth, and in the urban space. As coordinator for the youth programs, Madhavi initiated the South Asia Youth Environment Network with UNEP’s support, facilitating youth-led citizen action, building leadership, and documenting youth initiatives. She has been the National Operator for the YRE and Eco-Schools programs in India working with the team for meaningful engagement of youth in environmental action through these programs. She worked in social and communications research at the Space Applications Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation for 5 years, before joining CEE in 1993. She has led major national programs and campaigns in partnership with UN agencies, National Ministries, and other partners. She has authored a number of papers and contributed to publications in the area of communication and education for sustainable development. Madhavi has a master’s in Social Work.
Mark Terry
Mark Terry is the Executive Director of the Youth Climate Report, a partner program of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and this year’s winner of a Sustainable Development Action Award.
Mark teaches in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University in Toronto, Canada, and is a Research Fellow at the Dahdeleh Institute for Global Health Research at York where he leads an environmental filmmaking workshop called the Planetary Health Film Lab. As an Associate to the UNESCO Chair in Reorienting Education towards Sustainability, Mark continues to develop new experiential education programs aimed at incorporating the Sustainable Development Goals into curricula and extra-curricular activities such as the Plastic Pick-up Challenge.
Mark is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the country’s highest academy. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and The Explorers Club. He has spent much of his career documenting scientific research in the field as a filmmaker and is perhaps best known for his trilogy of polar documentaries The Antarctica Challenge: A Global Warning (2009), The Polar Explorer (2010), and The Changing Face of Iceland (2021).
His work with the United Nations has been recognized with decorations from Queen Elizabeth II (Diamond Jubilee Medal for international humanitarian service), The Explorers’ Club (Stefansson Medal, the Canadian chapter’s highest honor), and the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television (Gemini Humanitarian Award).
Rebecca á Rogvi-Hansen
Rebecca has a B.Sc. in Business, Asian Language & Culture and a M.Sc. in International Marketing & Management, both from Copenhagen Business School. She started her career in in the corporate world in Northern Europe, but after five years moved to Rwanda in East Africa and has since been involved in programmes designed to serve young people in the fields of entrepreneurship, employment, and education with the Prince’s Trust International. Rebecca has had the opportunity to act as a mentor for students at her previous university as well as consult on mentoring strategies for other organisations, and has had the pleasure of learning about sustainability and green business through volunteering.
Riccardo Zennaro
Riccardo oversees the wastewater portfolio (project and programme management and the coordination of the Global Wastewater Initiative) at UNEP in Nairobi, Kenya. He is passionate about wastewater management and sanitation and has experience working on environmental and water-related programmes and projects in Africa, South-Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. He holds a master's degree in environmental technology and international affairs, a diploma in freelance and feature writing and loves nature (especially the sea!). He also enjoys traveling, photography, writing, and sports.