Florian brings 15 years experience in responsible investment and sustainable landscape planning to the Lab.
 
 
Before joining the team, Florian worked with leading environmental organisations and consultancies, such as the Global Green Growth Institute and Daemeter, to facilitate green investment at landscape level. He notably facilitated the development of the Environmental and Social Action Plan for the first Green Landscape Bond in Southeast Asia. He is passionate about rural development in eastern Indonesia and has assisted numerous social enterprises to build equitable market linkages for local communities in Sulawesi, Maluku, and Papua.
 
 
Florian graduated from the Copenhagen Business School in 2005, with a Masters Degree in Development Economics. He was a member of the Danish University Consortium for Environment and Development.
 
 
At the Lab, Florian brings his expertise in landscape planning, responsible sourcing and business incubation to support landscape teams exploring private sector engagement and sustainable sourcing opportunities. His role is to facilitate the integration of green investment into long-term landscape planning.

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Florian Vernaz

Paul Chatterton is the Founder and Lead of the Landscape Finance Lab. A specialist in the fields of sustainability, climate change, land use and biodiversity, he set up the Lab, initially through WWF, to support a global community innovating on landscape solutions.
 
 
During an extensive career with WWF, Paul has catalysed results including the first provincial scale forest and climate (REDD+) program in Africa, Europe's longest river protected area and the largest rainforest reserve in the Pacific. 
 
 
Paul holds a Masters Degree with merit in Anthropology / Development Studies from Sydney University and a Diploma in Management from IMD Business School in Switzerland.
 
 
He co-authored the Little Sustainable Landscape Book and is co-initiator of Meridia (www.meridia.land), a mobile app to provide affordable land tenure to rural communities.
 
 
Paul is or has been an advisor to the Climate Bonds Initiative, Gold Standard, World Economic Forum, Australian Futures Project and Forest Stewardship Council among others.

Paul Chatterton

Erik has spent almost two decades in the corporate world and the outdoor industry where he developed a wide experience in operations management including finance, sales, supply chain and project. A passionate surfer and photographer, he landed in Malaysia 3 years ago with his wife and the strong desire to give their two boys another point of view on the world. It was an opportunity to dive into entrepreneurship and test his business acumen with the co-creation of a start-up in the audio identity area. 
 
 
For him, the Lab is a unique opportunity to get involved in something that matters and to support a true innovative initiative that will definitely help make a difference for the future.
 
 
Erik shares his background to help the Lab scale up operations and build efficient systems and processes to support the team.

Erik Dexperts-Lestapis

Deesha is passionate about helping people and diverse sectors collaborate, increasing community engagement and igniting social innovation. She has over 10 years experience in a multi-sector environment, developing and managing communities.
 
 
Deesha brings her experience in program design for start ups to the Lab and managed the Fellowship for Longer Lives programme (an acceleration program for early stage start-ups focusing on impacting the Ageing population in the UK), at Impact Hub King’s Cross. She has recently published a free and living resource (crowdsourcing4impact.org) for charities and non-profits who want to use crowdsourcing to engage and innovate with their communities and partners.
 
 
Deesha oversees the Lab’s Learning portfolio which includes co-designing learning experiences with partners, curating content, guiding members through the Lab’s incubation platform and leading on the Learning strategy.

Deesha Chandra

Sarah is an experienced process designer, facilitator and Sustainability Consultant. She has worked with systems change and complexity issues for over nine years in a widely international setting. She has a passion for systemic transformation that works on all levels of the I, we and it, and is a strong advocate for interventions that address not only the cognitive realm, but also that of the somatic and the spiritual. She has worked as an independent consultant, providing contextually crafted support for organisations working in both social and environmental justice and has a particular interest when working with groups where both the social and the environmental intersect. 
 
 
Sarah is a passionate facilitator and a strong believer for co-creative, participatory methods that build capacity amongst the participants. She has been working in Lab design for the past five years and deeply believes in the Landscape Lab approach as a way of creating long-term ecological and social resilience across the whole system. 
 
 
Sarah is from the UK, but lives in Bahia, Brazil with her partner.

Sarah Forrester-Wilson

Rolf is a senior international sustainability professional with a 20 year track record of working with business, NGOs and government organisations to develop practical solutions for nature and people. He has experience in global biodiversity policy, sustainability certification and managing landscape-level projects across Africa, Americas, Asia, Russia/CIS and Europe.
 
 
A trained zoologist and social anthropologist, he combines scientific rigour with an ability to work across sectors to promote consensus and partnerships that are central to working at landscape level. 
 
 
He brings his broad understanding of biodiversity, supply chain certification, bioenergy and landscape approaches to the Lab where he is currently project managing the Lab’s involvement in the WaterLANDs project and work to establish Peatland Finance Ireland.

Rolf Hogan

Aditi combines over 9 years of research and consulting experience on a range of subjects, including themes such as WASH, environment, sanitation, youth, and sustainable environmental solutions. She specialises in programmes that are based on innovative solutions for low-income markets.
 
 
At the lab, Aditi leads and supports operations, landscape projects and programs.

Aditi Chawla

Kevin previously had a 30 year career in Finance, of which the last 20 years was based in Asia, latterly as Chief Investment Officer for a large Fund Manager in Singapore. He led the organisations pivot towards responsible investing and the integration of ESG into the investment process. Kevin then completed a Masters in Environmental Management at the National University of Singapore before joining the Lab in July 2022. 
 
 
Kevin represents the Lab in the Flow Country Green Finance Initiative for the North East of Scotland as it transitions to a charity to oversee the restoration of degraded peatland in this environmentally significant area.

Kevin Gibson

Hester has been working with funding and innovation for landscapes and forestry since 2017; transferring her experience from roles in corporate risk, economics, and mergers and acquisitions within an international energy company. 
 
 
Hester is working on several landscape-scale projects, bringing together multiple stakeholders to understand the economic, social and environmental opportunities, and to develop funding structures to realise these. 
 
 
At the other end of the scale Hester has been getting her boots very muddy, managing a small woodland and forestry creation project. She is passionate about the role of small-scale local businesses and the importance of communities for healthy landscapes.

Hester Robertson

Lucy is the Landscape Lead at the Landscape Finance Lab, and heads the Lab’s work in the 4 Returns Partnership with Wetlands International and Commonland. She has extensive experience in natural resource research and developing finance mechanisms to support forest and landscape restoration at scale.
 
 
Before joining the Lab, Lucy worked for UN agencies (UN FAO, UNEP), INGOs, government scientific bodies and consultancies conducting research for policy application on: ecosystem services valuation, impacts of payments for ecosystem services, trade in CITES plant species, and the role of restoration and sustainable landscape approaches to support climate change action. In these roles, she has worked across the Pacific Islands, Southeast, South and East Asia, Eastern Africa, Latin America and Europe. 
 
 
At the Lab, Lucy brings her experience in project development to support delivery of the 4 Returns Partnership. Her role is to facilitate landscape teams to develop innovative finance mechanisms to deliver 4 Returns (natural, social, financial and inspirational) over the long-term.
 
 
Lucy holds a PhD in Conservation and International Development from the University of East Anglia, a MSc DIC in Environmental Technology (Ecological Management) from Imperial College London and a first class BSc (Hons.) in Biodiversity Conservation Management from the University of Kent, UK.

Lucy Garrett

Stephanie is the Project Manager at the Landscape Finance Lab. She holds a PhD from the University of Edinburgh in Geography and International Development, an MSc from the University of Oxford in African Studies and has considerable experience working domestically and internationally on water-related socio-environmental issues. Stephanie’s doctoral research was an innovative, mixed methods deep dive into the management of water and sanitation infrastructure in Kampala, Uganda. Since leaving academia, Stephanie has worked in commercial management consultancy, and subsequently co-founded and managed Clean Water Wave, a social enterprise dedicated to sustainable nature-based solutions for water treatment. This work saw Stephanie working across southern Africa and South Asia on a number of different water-related projects, where community partnerships and a socially inclusive, economically sustainable approach were at the heart of business development.
 
 
She has a passion for the environment and a particular interest in the Circular Economy and ensuring sustainability and equality. 
 
 
Stephanie is experienced in strategy, ESG, and circular economy. She brings a very clear ‘people focus’ to any project she’s involved in and is adept at helping teams navigate communication between technical and non-technical partners.
Stephanie has won Scottish EDGE, Unlocking Ambition, and Climate KIC business awards, and is a Fellow of the RSA.

Stephanie Terreni Brown, PhD

Originally from a politics and public relations background, Sabrina has over 15 years’ experience helping individuals and organisations of all sizes to communicate simply, effectively and beautifully.
 
 
She holds an MA in Politics from Edinburgh University, MSc Political Communications from the London School of Economics (LSE) and Diploma in Graphic Design from the London College of Communication.
 
 
Sabrina loves painting, printmaking and growing her own food (organic and peat-free!)
 
 
At the Lab, Sabrina sits within the Learning team and leads on all Lab communications and design.

Sabrina Russo

Zachi is a curious linguist with an eye for design and a community-driven approach to  communications. She helps organisations foster meaningful engagement with their communities, inspire action and practice care for others and our planet. 
 
 
Alongside her communications work, she is also a social justice facilitator, working across movements to design and lead workshops and training on a range of areas including LGBTQ+ mental health, Reproductive Justice, abortion care and intersectional justice spaces.
 
 
After six years of advocacy and work in the reproductive health and rights sector, she is moving closer to my ‘career roots’ (food, agriculture and land) and joined the Lab in July 2023 to support the team and our Landscapes with their communication efforts.

Zachi Brewster

Sam is a Technical Advisor for the Lab. He has a PhD in Tropical Forest Biodiversity from the University of Leeds in 1996 and subsequent fieldwork experience in Peru, Indonesia and Chile. After a three year period of working in International Development for VSO, Sam moved to Dorset and for 15 years was Manager for the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. During this period he also founded the UK's national association of World Heritage Sites - World Heritage UK - and became the inaugural CEO of the Jurassic Coast Trust, an organisation he took a lead role in spinning out of Dorset Council.
 
 
Since 2019, Sam has achieved a distinction in a MA in Photography at the Arts University Bournemouth, and has established himself as a freelance nature consultant, photographer and podcaster, aiming to merge the three disciplines wherever possible. He hss currently helped found and is the Executive Director of a small rewilding charity in Dorset, West Dorset Wilding, and is also working on peatland conservation in the Flow Country and landscape finance with the Lab in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. Sam is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and is the very proud recipient of the Geographical Award.

Sam Rose

Gustavo studied Economic Science at the University of São Paulo and was awarded a scholarship for an exchange program at Maastricht University. He initiated his academic and professional journey with a focus on inequality and public policy, and soon recognised his passion for socio-environmental projects. He has over 12 years exploring sustainable development studies and practices in Brazil and around the world – ranging from agroforestry practices to courses like the Gaia Education program Design for Sustainability.
 
 
In 2021, Gustavo co-founded Floré Cacau, an enterprise that collaborates with a network of local farmers to produce high-quality organic chocolate in Southern Bahia. The local cocoa production system - called “cabruca”, contributes to the preservation of the native Atlantic Forest, as cocoa is cultivated under the shade of native forest trees.
 
 
At the Landscape Finance Lab, Gustavo works as the Research Coordinator, contributing to the 1000 Landscapes project. The team is developing a curriculum to train landscape leaders worldwide in Integrated Landscape Management (ILM). He is deeply enthusiastic about combining his technical and analytical skills with on the ground field practices, implementing sustainable methodologies and cultivating deeper connections with local communities.

Gustavo Mentlik

Roopal is Strategic Finance Advisor to the Landscape Finance Lab. Having held several senior roles within corporate credit risk, loan trading, corporate derivatives sales and structuring over a decade at Citibank (in London and Sydney), since 2019 Roopal has embarked on a journey as an independent consultant. Her work aims to leverage the strong technical skillset built during her time in banking by taking on roles at organisations that positively contribute towards the UN SDGs – she predominantly focuses on bringing thought processes and instruments used in traditional institutional finance to the sustainable and impact investment space to enable capital to flow at scale. In addition to her work with the Lab, she has also carried out advisory work for a number of clients in various sectors, including but not limited to: not-for-profits, asset managers, start-ups, corporates, impact investors and impact measurement.  
Roopal spends her time between Blantyre (Malawi), where she is originally from, and London (United Kingdom) – she graduated from the University of Warwick in 2008 with a first class degree in Computer and Management Sciences.

Roopal Kanabar

Elisabeth has specialised in environmental sustainability, climate change and indigenous land issues for almost her entire career. Starting out as a journalist in Australia, she found her calling when asked to take up a Sydney newspaper’s environment round. This led to her working for environment NGOs – based in London, Australia and the South Pacific. She later spent 17 years with the World Bank in Washington DC where, among other things, she worked to reform the institution’s fossil fuel lending policies and grow its portfolio of climate resilience
and biodiversity protection projects. She was an advisor to the World Bank team at the forefront of natural capital accounting and a lead advisor at multiple climate COPs.
 
 
Elisabeth holds a Master of Arts, International Communications from Macquarie University in Sydney. She brings her experience from a large international financial institution and a broad understanding of the landscape approach, biodiversity, and climate change to her work on the Lab’s exciting projects in Australia.

Elisabeth Mealey

TEAM

Team

ADVISERS

Advisory Group

United by a shared passion for landscapes, we have a multidisciplinary team from the worlds of finance, conservation, activism, business and academia.

Team & Advisors