Ionuț Sorin Banciu
Ionuț Sorin Banciu was appointed Secretary of State for European Affairs and International Relations within the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests in March 2021.
In this role he coordinates the development of Romania’s positions within the EU on all policy dossiers related to Green Deal under the responsibility of the Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests. He is actively involved, among others, in forest, biodiversity and climate related policy dossiers at European and Global level.
Between 2017 and 2020, he was the regional leader for forest programs at WWF Central and Eastern Europe (formerly the Carpathian Danube Program).
He has been involved in negotiations of Romania National Recovery and Resilience Plan, and has a particular interest in improving quality life in big cities.
Pippa Hackett
Senator Pippa Hackett is Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with special responsibility for Land Use and Biodiversity. She was appointed to this role in June 2020.
Pippa was elected to the Agricultural Panel of Seanad Éireann in a by-election on 1 November 2019 and re-elected in 2020.
Pippa holds a BSc in Agriculture from the University of Essex, a postgraduate diploma from University College Dublin, and a PhD from the University of Limerick.
She is a former member of Offaly County Council.
Janez Potočnik
Janez Potočnik is the current ThinkForest president. He is also Co-Chair of the International Resource Panel and Partner at SYSTEMIQ. He is an economist and former politician from Slovenia. He worked in the Government of the Republic of Slovenia as the Head of Negotiating Team for Accession of the Republic of Slovenia to the European Union and then as Minister without portfolio responsible for European Affairs. Mr. Potočnik was a Member of the European Commission from 2004 to 2014, initially responsible for the Science and Research and later responsible for the Environment. He was appointed as a Co-Chair of the IRP hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme in 2014. In 2013, he received the United Nations Champions of the Earth Award.
Eeva Primmer
Professor Eeva Primmer is the Research Director of the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE). As a researcher, she has studied policy instruments and implementation, institutions and governance of ecosystem services, biodiversity, forests, natural resources, energy and sustainable development. Her research work has been carried out in projects ranging from short evaluations to multi-year large collaborations, financed by the European Union, the Academy of Finland and Finnish ministries. She is a member of the United Nations International Resources Panel (UN-IRP) and the Finnish Forest Council.
Photo by Kai Widell
Helga Pülzl
Helga Pülzl is Assistant Director for Policy Support of the European Forest Institute and responsible for the Policy Support Facility and its Trust Fund. Her main research interests are in European and international forest governance and policy change, bioeconomy perceptions and sustainability indicators development. She coordinates the IUFRO Working Party 9.05.01 on bioeconomy policy and holds a Phd and master’s degree in political science from the University of Vienna.