Coordination
Team

Adriana Moreira
Senior Environmental Specialist
World Bank

Adriana leads a series of large projects in Latin America, focusing on Brazil, Colombia and Mexico and is the coordinator of Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Program. Biologist with a PhD in Ecology from the University of Harvard (USA), Adriana is an expert in environment and sustainable development, with over 20-year experience in natural resources management, rural development and climate change. Author and co-author of four books and dozens of scientific publications, she was a founder and the first president of the Institute for Amazonian Research (IPAM) and founder and board member of the Brazilian Women Leaders Network for Sustainability, which involves leaders from private sector, government and civil society. She has received the Chico Mendes Florestania Prize and the Pirelli International Award for her work on conservation and sustainable development of the Brazilian Amazon.

Ana Maria Gonzalez Velosa
Senior Environmental Specialist
World Bank

Ana Maria is a Colombian national who has worked since 2008 at the World Bank in conservation and sustainable development projects in Africa and Latin America. She is currently the co-manager of the Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Program. Before, she worked at The Nature Conservancy, and in her home country in multiple research, public and civil society organizations. Ana Maria is an economist with masters in Environmental and Natural Resources Economics from Universidad de los Andes , and in International Development from George Washington University. She is also the mother of two boys.

Tanya Yudelman
Environmental and Natural Resources Management Consultant, World Bank

Tanya is a biologist with over 25 years of experience working at the interface of environmental and social aspects of sustainable development in Africa and Latin America. Currently a member of the World Bank’s Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Program core team, she supports the Regional Coordination and Brazil projects. Her particular areas of focus are biodiversity conservation and financing, natural resource management, community driven development and integrated coastal zone management. Tanya’s fascination with the environment started at an early age, exploring the weird and wonderful fauna and flora in South Africa, England and Portugal.

Sandra Berman
Consultant
World Bank

Sandra Berman is an agricultural engineer from AgroParisTech (France) with a Master in Ecology (EBE, France) and a LLM in Environmental Law and Policies from the University of Kent in Canterbury (UK). She lives in Brazil since almost three years and is working as a consultant for the World Bank on the Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Project funded by the GEF, on topics related to improving management of protected areas, reducing deforestation, encouraging sustainable value chains for standing forests, forest restoration and coordination of international donors. She participates in the implementation of the Regional project of ASL1 and preparation of the Amazon Regional TA for ASL2; as well as in the implementation of the Brazil ASL1 project and preparation of the Brazil ASL2 project.

Berenice Sanchez
Communications
World Bank

Berenice, a Mexican national, assists with the implementation of the Communications Strategy of the Sustainable Landscapes of the Amazon Program. Before joining the World Bank, she worked at the Embassy of Mexico to the United States and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. Berenice studied Advertising and Public Relations at the University of Veracruz (Mexico) and Photography at Boston University (USA). She holds a master's degree in Cultural Management from Carlos III University (Spain).

Christel Moller
Program Assistant
World Bank

Christel is originally from Guatemala. She graduated from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid with a bachelor in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage. She holds a Masters in Cultural Management from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Shortly after finishing her studies, she moved to Australia to work in Cultural Affairs at the Spanish Embassy and, since October 2019, I am part of the Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Team at the World Bank. She is passionate about traveling, discovering different places and meeting new people.

Daniel Sumalavia Casuso
Consultant
World Bank

Daniel, a Peruvian national, has been a consultant for the World Bank in the Sustainable Landscapes of the Amazon Program since 2019, he has worked for more than 10 years on issues of environmental law and indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples in Latin America, both at the level of international organizations, government and civil society. Previously, he worked at the Organization of American States (OAS), the Rights and Resources Initiative, and the Ministry of Culture of his country. Daniel is a lawyer from PUCP (Peru) with a master's degree in International Legal Studies with a specialization in Environmental Law from the American University (USA).

Hasita Bhammar
Environmental Specialist
World Bank

Hasita is an Environmental Specialist with the Amazon Sustainable Landscapes program in the World Bank’s Environment, Natural Resources, and Blue Economy global practice. She supports the knowledge management and communications between the global project and the national projects. Prior to joining the program, she worked as a project coordinator at the 2041 Foundation, an organization whose mission is to inspire youth to preserve Antarctica. She began her career in wildlife conservation at the age of 21 by setting up a tiger conservation program in the Pench Tiger Reserve in India. Hasita holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. An Indian national, Hasita has also worked on conservation issues in Nepal and Kenya.

Johannes Zimmermann
Consultant
World Bank

Johannes joined the ASL team in summer 2019 and built the ASL communities on our knowledge platform Collaboration for Development (C4D). He is the Community Manager for the online groups, keeps the news section and other content up-to-date and supports all members in publishing content and other issues. Johannes also maintains the ASL pages on worldbank.org.

Johannes holds a degree as computer scientist in Digital Media as well as an MBA in General Management. He has previously worked for Siemens, UNDP, and Novartis in business development, knowledge management, and marketing. Johannes lives with his wife and son in Germany. When not online, he’s probably riding his mountain bike through the Jurassic of the Swabian Alb.

Rafael Gomez Rodriguez
Consultant
World Bank

Economist with more than 25 years of experience as an advisor to multilateral and bilateral development institutions as well as to private entities in results-oriented management, sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. His expertise is focused on planning, monitoring and evaluation, budgeting for results and knowledge management. He has led different projects on a national and local scale in Colombia, Mexico and other Latin American countries, in areas ranging from sustainable management in territories of high biodiversity, to the design and implementation of sectoral and national policies. He also has a master's in Sustainable Tourism Management. He is currently a consultant for the World Bank in the design and execution of projects for the Global Environment Facility (GEF).

Sunny Kaplan
Communications Consultant
World Bank

Sunny has worked as a communications specialist with the World Bank since 2012 and has provided communications support to the ASL since 2018. She also supports the Bank-led Global Wildlife Program, the Infrastructure finance, Public-Private Partnerships and Guarantees group, and the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP). Prior to joining the Bank, Sunny worked as a journalist for several news outlets specializing in investigative reporting and special projects, including the Los Angeles Times. She served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Niger in a region with the last herd of giraffes in West Africa. Sunny has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the University of Colorado, and a Master’s in Public Affairs Reporting from the University of Maryland.

Manali Baruah
Consultant
World Bank

Manali Baruah is a member of the ASL World Bank team with more than 12 years of combined experience in conservation, rural development, and climate change. She has worked on field-based projects spanning multiple aspects of forest and landscape governance in India, Ghana, South Africa, and Laos, providing design and implementation support. Previously she has worked with GEF-STAP, University of South Carolina, World Wildlife Fund and Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa. Manali holds a Ph.D. in Geography from the University of South Carolina and an M.A. from the Delhi School of Economics.

Humberto “Tito” Cabrera
Consultant
World Bank

Tito is a biologist and ecologist with more than 20 years of experience in biodiversity conservation and over 17 years of experience with environmental funds and biodiversity conservation and climate change programmes and projects. A member of the ASL Coordination team, he co-facilitates the ASL protected sustainable finance working group. Tito lives in Lima with his family and heads out to nature at every opportunity.

Natalie Hoover El Rashidy
Consultant
World Bank

Natalie has worked as a consultant to conduct a study on donor funding for conservation in the Amazon basin. She also serves as the Program Director for Climate Policy Initiative in Brazil (CPIA). Prior to joining CPI, Natalie co-founded Scite Advisors LLC, a consulting firm focused on joining higher education and philanthropy in innovative partnerships to support large-scale research initiatives and directed a multi-institutional research initiative on financial systems and poverty at the University of Chicago. Natalie has worked across diverse fields to launch entrepreneurial social and academic programs in Egypt, the US, Thailand and Brazil. Natalie received the Cram-Dalton International Women’s Rights scholarship and holds a Master’s in Public Policy with a specialization in Economic Development from the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota.