Dr GARO BATMANIAN

Global Lead for Forests, Landscape, Biodiversity , World Bank

Global Lead for Forests, Landscape and Biodiversity responsible for coordinating the implementation of the integrated green agenda. Garo manages the Global Partnership for Sustainable and Resilient Landscapes (PROGREEN), and the Forest Investment Program (FIP);  is the World Bank's focal point on the International Consortium to Combat Wildlife Crime (ICCWC), Convention on Biological Diversity, the Collaborative Partnership on Forest (CPF), and chairs the Finance Task Force of the UN Decade for Ecosystem Restoration Initiative. He has previously worked in the World Bank offices in Brazil and China. Earlier in his career, he was the LAC Program Director of WWF-USA, and the first CEO of (WWF-Brazil. Garo is also the founder and first chairman of FSC-Brazil and led the process of developing national standards for natural forest management in the Amazon and for plantations. Garo holds a Ph.D. in Ecology from the University of Georgia, USA.