FP Virtual Dialogue: The Future of Conservation

Paulo Gomes has over 30 years’ experience in sovereign and corporate advisory. He advises on strategy, structural projects and initiatives on the African continent. After 8 years as Executive Director at the World Bank, representing 25 African countries, Paulo co-founded New Capital African Partners, investing in growing sectors across Africa. He is one of the founding team members of the African Finance Corporation and the Green Climate Fund. Paulo is the founder of the Orango Investment Corporation, a strategic investment company through which the full potential of the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement is realised. He is also an active board member of the African Union Covid-19 Response Fund. Paulo is the co-chair of the AfroChampion Initiative. He is the President of the Bioguinee Foundation in Guinea-Bissau and the Chairman of the Africa South East Asia Chamber of Commerce, based in Singapore. He was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow of the Government of Singapore and NTU – SBF Centre for African Studies.Paulo holds and MPA/Master’s degree with Honours in Economic Policy and Management from Harvard University and holds a BA in Economics and International Trade from Sciences Po and ILERI.

Monica P. Medina was confirmed as Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs on September 28, 2021.

Previously, Assistant Secretary Medina was an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. She was also a Senior Associate on the Stephenson Ocean Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Co-Founder and Publisher of Our Daily Planet, an e-newsletter on conservation and the environment.

A former Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, she served as General Counsel of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Special Assistant to the Secretary of Defense. Earlier in her career, Assistant Secretary Medina served as the Senior Counsel to former Senator Max Baucus on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, as the Senior Director for Ocean Policy at the National Geographic Society, as the ocean lead at the Walton Family Foundation, and in senior roles in other environmental organizations.

She attended college on an Army R.O.T.C. scholarship and began her career on active duty in the Army General Counsel’s Office. She received the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service and the Army Meritorious Service Medal. She has a Bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.

Carol Pineau is an award-winning filmmaker and journalist with nearly 20 years experience reporting on Africa. Her groundbreaking film, Africa Open for Business, and the advocacy campaign accompanying the film, helped change the coverage in major media on Africa. Additional film credits include Africa Investment Horizons and Kenya Stories. Ms. Pineau recently hosted and produced a pilot for a new current affairs program, Africa-USA Now, and she was the host and producer of a 10-part current events talk show, Africa and the Trump Administration. Ms. Pineau has reported and produced numerous television news stories for major international media and is passionate about telling a true, multi-faceted story of Africa today. Ms. Pineau’s first documentary, Africa Open for Business, was voted BBC Documentary of the Year and won several other awards. The film was broadcast on BBC and PBS, covered by major media throughout the world, and screened at the Cannes Film Festival where she was presented the “Africa Vision Award,” the World Economic Forum where she was a plenary speaker, United Nations, US State Department, US Congress, and several other high level venues. Her second film, Africa Investment Horizons, premiered at the New York Stock Exchange, won several awards, and aired on PBS. In 2009, Ms. Pineau began a two-year project with the World Bank’s World Development Report 2011: Conflict, Security and Development, to create a global conversation on conflict via social media and other means. Piloting the first-ever survey via text messaging, the project garnered more than one million responses from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), one of the most remote war-torn regions in the world. It is believed this is the largest survey ever conducted, and helped launch GeoPoll, the first global mobile surveying platform. In 2013, Ms. Pineau began working with GeoPoll to build strategic partnerships and increase community-based feedback in order to create an opportunity for grassroots communities to have a better say in their future. As a journalist, throughout two postings in Africa as well as several assignments worldwide, Ms. Pineau has interviewed Heads of State, rebel leaders, and numerous other newsmakers. She has reported from many of the world’s major hot spots. From the battlefields of the Eritrean/Ethiopian war, she reported live for CNN on what was at the time the world’s biggest war. From Belgrade, she covered the NATO bombings, and from East Timor she reported on the newly independent country’s first elections. Ms. Pineau reported live on the first-ever genocide conviction at the UN Tribunal for Rwanda, did exclusive reports from a secret military base in rebel-held Eastern Sudan, and was one of the first journalists into Nigeria after the fall of the military dictator. Ms. Pineau has reported extensively on the changing face of Africa. While living in Paris in the 1990’s, she hosted RFI’s (Radio France Internationale) Crossroads, a half-hour worldwide radio show that reported on Africa, for Africa. She also presented African and international news for the French overseas television RFO (Radio-Television de France Outre-Mer). Ms. Pineau is the author of numerous articles as well as a book. Her writing on Africa has appeared in major publications throughout the world.

Kaddu Kiwe Sebunya took over as Chief Executive Officer of the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) in January 2019, after serving as the AWF President since January 2016. With over 20 years’ experience in conservation at grassroots, national and regional levels in the USA, Africa, and Europe, his current role entails spearheading the vision of a modern Africa where human development includes thriving wildlife and wildlands as a cultural and economic asset for Africa’s future generations. Under his leadership, Kaddu has been able to amplify the voice of African conservation on both a continental and global scale. Through multi-sectoral engagements with African governments and private sector players, there has been a significant shift towards conservation priority across the continent. In order to elevate the influence of African conservation on wider scale, AWF has been involved in key African government engagements. Working with leaders in business, politics, civil society, policy, international development, and education as well as the youth, Kaddu is building a global coalition for conservation to protect Africa’s natural capital for posterity. He sees conservation as a social, economic, security and health question requiring new partnerships and multi-sectoral strategies for the people and wildlife to benefit.

Dr. Andrew Steer is the President and CEO of the Bezos Earth Fund, a $10 billion fund to address the pressing issues of climate change and nature in this decisive decade. Dr. Steer joined the Bezos Earth Fund from the World Resources Institute, where he served as President & CEO for over eight years. Prior to this, Andrew served as the World Bank’s Special Envoy for Climate Change from 2010 - 2012. From 2007 to 2010, he served as Director General at the UK Department of International Development. This followed 10 years in East Asia, where he was Head of the World Bank in Vietnam and Indonesia. Dr. Steer is a Global Agenda Trustee for the World Economic Forum, a Commissioner of the Energy Transitions Commission, a member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), co-chair of the Greening the Belt and Road Coalition, and member of the Advisory Committees of the Asian Development Bank and Bank of America. Andrew was educated at St Andrews University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Cambridge University. He has a PhD in international economics and finance. He is married to Dr. Liesbet Steer and is the father of Charlotte and Benjamin.

Edwin is a conservation practitioner with more than 12 years’ cumulative experience in strategic analysis, business and tourism planning, program development and project management, and monitoring and evaluation. As the African Wildlife Foundation's Director, Global Leadership, Edwin works alongside multilateral organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank, as well as the U.S. and Canadian governments, to influence sound conservation policies and encourage development financing that supports nature conservation in Africa. Edwin joined AWF in 2013 as part of the Conservation Leadership Management Program. Following the program, he joined the staff as a Conservation Planner, helping shape land-use, tourism, and business plans for protected areas and critical biodiversity hotspots across the continent. He was put in charge of developing the first management plan for any national park in South Sudan. He also helped develop management plans for Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe and tourism plans for Campo Maan and Mt. Cameroon parks. He has since risen through the ranks to his current position where he has been making inroads in changing the narrative of African conservation in U.S. policy circles. Whether he is working with legislators, development leaders, conservation partners, private sector players, or the general public, he wants to help elevate the African conservation agenda in international discussions and decisions. Maintaining AWF’s long-standing partnerships with African governments, conservation partners, and communities is key in engagements with U.S. audiences. Sharing stories, challenges, success, and insights from the ground with policymakers on the Hill ensures African voices and perspectives are heard. Edwin attributes this to learning fast and building relationships as the chief currencies for engaging and influencing for better policy outcomes. He uses every opportunity to connect and work closely with U.S. legislators keen on international conservation and those who believe in espousing sustainable use of natural resources across the continent. Growing up in Zimbabwe, he experienced the value of nature, saw first-hand the deterioration of wildlife habitats and was inspired to pursue a career in conservation.