2020: Aligning biodiversity with climate action

Thirty years ago, Josef Aschbacher began his career at the European Space Agency (ESA) where he was seconded as the ESA Representative to Southeast Asia at the Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok. Later, he joined the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, Italy, where he served as scientific assistant to the Director of the Space Applications Institute. Upon his return to ESA headquarters in Paris, he was tasked with advancing Copernicus activities within ESA, going on to become head of the Copernicus Space Office, where he led all activities for Copernicus within the Agency and with external partners, in particular the European Commission. Before taking office as the ESA’s Director General, Aschbacher was entrusted with planning the ESA’s Earth Observation Programme, as well as formulating and implementing programmatic and strategic decisions across the Directorate.

Joanna Drake has been in charge of coordinating resource-efficiency policies and other legal instruments within the Directorate-General for the Environment since 2016. She also chairs a cross-cutting Task Force spearheading strategic positions for her Directorate on the post-2020 Commission financial framework negotiations, Brexit coordination, the urban agenda and the future-proofing of the EU’s environmental acquis. Prior to this, Drake was director for SMEs and Entrepreneurship in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. During her tenure in DG GROW, she led the Commission’s Task Force on the Collaborative Economy, New Business Models and SMEs.

Radhika Murti, a Fijian national, leads the IUCN’s global work on ecosystem management. She is responsible for monitoring and assessing the status of ecosystems – including the upscaling and application of the Red List of Ecosystems, which measures biodiversity risk. With over 15 years of experience on environment and development issues, Murti is passionate about participatory approaches to conservation that empowers people to have more control of their environments. She initially led the development of the Islands Initiative, and subsequently worked closely with the Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM) on the development and promotion of ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction, both as a nature-based solution (NBS) concept and as an operational framework.

Ville Niinistö is a Member of the European Parliament. He coordinates the work of the Greens/EFA Group in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) and is a member of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI). In Finland, he also serves as a member of the City Council of Turku. Niinistö was Finland’s Minister of the Environment from 2011 to 2014 and has also been the leader of the Green Party of Finland. Before his election to the Finnish Parliament, Niinistö worked as a doctoral student in political history at the University of Turku.