FERN - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Finance, Administration and Mentoring Officer
Aislin supports Fern's partners to meet donor requirements such as financial reporting. She has a background in development and public health and has worked with both European and international NGOs in project coordination and managerial roles.
Job Titles:
- Forest Governance Campaigner
Alexandra is Fern's Forest Governance Campaigner with a focus on forestry and forest peoples in Liberia and Ghana. She started working in forestry in 2010, and since then has partnered with governments, civil society organisations, and private businesses to conduct forestry and conservation projects in Liberia, Ghana, India and the USA.
Job Titles:
- Finance
- Human Resources Officer
Bertrand helps to ensure Fern's overall finances are clear and accountable and leads on Belgian administrative issues. He studied accountancy, audit and finance and has previously worked as an auditor and finance manager in other public and not-for-profit organisations.
Job Titles:
- Partner and General Finance Officer
Cristina's background in Political Science and Development led her to work in Latin America and Africa with civil society organisations and the Spanish Development Agency. After settling down in Brussels, she discovered the ability to work with spreadsheets and since 2015 has supported organisations to manage their finances.
Job Titles:
- Coordinator of the International Affairs
- Netherlands
Coordinator of the International Affairs team, at the Department for European and International Affairs of the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. Specialist in international and EU relations and has experience of working on FLEGT.
Author and journalist who has reported on environment and development issues from 89 countries. His books have been translated into 27 languages and won a number of prizes. Specialist in communications and environment, science, and development issues.
Hannah Mowat has 15 years experience campaigning for stronger energy, climate and forest policies in European NGOs and think tanks, facilitating networks and has published numerous reports and articles on finance and land rights, carbon trading, biodiversity offsetting, LULUCF and negative emissions. She previously worked at Friends of the Earth and the Munden Project, and lives in Paris. She is currently working part time, while studying the role that conflict resolution and mediation practices can help in facilitating the environmental and social transition.
Job Titles:
- Forest Governance Campaigner
Indra is a former member of the Bar of Brussels with 23 years' NGO-experience in the field of migration, business, human rights and social and environmental justice with an emphasis on Africa. Her present focus is improving forest governance in Cameroon and she took many of the photographs used on Fern's website.
Johnson Sirleaf has promised villagers who travelled to see her that a palm oil company won't be allowed to expand its plantation on their land
Job Titles:
- Forests and Agriculture Campaigner
Julia Christian is a lawyer trained in the UK and US who has been working with Fern since 2014. She specialises in climate and development issues, and has worked on forest policy in West and Central Africa, Central America and Europe. Her current focus is on EU forest and climate policy, community forests, and cocoa production in West Africa.
Job Titles:
- Forest and Climate Campaigner ( on Maternity Leave )
Kelsey has worked on land-use and transport issues in European and international climate negotiations, looking specifically at problems linked to international aviation. At Fern she focuses on EU forest and climate policies, the negative emissions debate, and all things linked to Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry.
Lucía is an independent consultant and human rights practitioner with a focus on gender issues. She leads the Financial Innovation and Resilience programme at Spring Strategies, supporting hundreds of organizations and networks around the world in building greater mission-aligned financial strength. She has helped corporate foundations inform their philanthropic strategies in East and Southeast Asia, and was the Director of Programmes at the Prospera - International Network of Women's Funds, working with dozens of women's funds worldwide. Lucía holds a Masters in International Law and Gender from the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.
Has over 20 years' experience in illegal logging and forest governance issues. She coordinated Indonesian civil society groups working in FLEGT issues and has been actively involved in developing and improving Indonesian Timber Legality Assurance System (TLAS). She is the former national coordinator of Indonesia's forestry monitor network. Since 2016, she has been actively involved in the initiative to reform Indonesia's palm oil sector.
Job Titles:
- Senior Advisor on Learning and Knowledge
Margareta is a Senior Advisor on Learning and Knowledge Development at the International Land and Forest Tenure Facility. She is a specialist in rights-based forestry, natural resource management and land governance with over 20 years' experience in international development cooperation in Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Balkans. She maintains a deep interest in ways of communicating and is a trained artist and printmaker.
Mark has decades of experience as a journalist. Today, he advises Fern's campaigners in how to tell the stories that show the people behind their campaigns.
Job Titles:
- Forest and Climate Campaigner
Martin is a researcher and campaigner who has spent 15 years investigating corporate power. He focused on EU water, agriculture and research decisions, also helping to document and defend just and resilient alternatives. At Fern, he focuses on EU forest and climate policies such as bioenergy, aiming to ensure EU decisions are based on science and rights, so as to protect forests and the people who depend on them (all of us!)
Mireille is a founder of Terra Mucho, an organisation which empowers women and makes their efforts to improve social and environmental justice more visible. She specialises in strengthening civil society capacity and leadership development. She has 10 years' experience in the Congo Basin and maintains a deep interest in decolonising partnerships and improving localisation.
Job Titles:
- Sustainable Consumption and Production Campaigner
Nicole has over 20 years experience in development and environmental cooperation, notably with the United Nations Development and Environmental Programmes, the European Commission and Parliament, research institutes and think tanks. Her present focus is on reducing EU consumption of products that harm forests and communities globally.
Penny has worked for the Climate and Land Use Alliance, the Ford Foundation and the UK Department for International Development. She has lived and worked in diverse geographic locations across Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and North America. She is passionate about partnering with people, especially in the global South.
Job Titles:
- Trade and Forest Campaigner
Perrine is a trade and forest campaigner at Fern. She has ten years' experience working on issues such as forest governance and how EU policies affect the global South. Her present focus is on how EU trade affects forests, in particular in Brazil, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Job Titles:
- Strategic Communications Adviser
Pierre-Jean is a graduate in political science with experience communicating and campaigning for the climate and environment. He helps Fern's campaigners devise and deliver strong communications strategies and products. Prior to joining Fern, he has worked for other European NGOs as well as a parliamentary assistant in the European Parliament.
Job Titles:
- Finance and Administration Manager
Raphael is a CIPFA (CCAB) qualified accountant with wide-ranging experience in not-for-profit financial accounting in the conservation sector. He is Fern's financial manager and also takes a keen interest in the management of the campaigns.
Job Titles:
- Communications and Change Coordinator
Richard focuses on helping campaigns achieve their communications objectives and on developing and improving Fern's co-management objectives. He is on the steering committee of the International Environmental Paper Network and was Fern's communications manager from 2007 until 2021.
Job Titles:
- Founder and Adviser
- Founder and Former Campaign Coordinator
Saskia Ozinga is Fern's founder and former campaign coordinator. She has facilitated NGO coalitions to protect forests and strengthen community rights and written and published numerous books, articles and reports on forest governance, forest certification, trade and forests, effective advocacy and forests and climate. She is currently a Board member of Corporate Europe Observatory, Earthworm Foundation, Earthsight, and Ecocare.
Job Titles:
- European Forest Campaigner
Since he was a child, Siim has been inspired by forests and the people who understand and protect them. He worked for a national Estonian NGO from 2004 to 2023. At Fern he focuses on the governance, management and monitoring of European forests as well as accounting in climate policy and restoration.
Job Titles:
- European Forest Campaigner
Before joining Fern, Sydney researched the impacts of mechanisation on forest ecology in France. At Fern, she works on European forest and climate policies, focusing on forest resilience, monitoring and communities. She is replacing Kelsey during her maternity leave.
Job Titles:
- Forest Governance Campaigner
Tyala is a Forest Governance campaigner at Fern. Trained in environmental policy and governance, she has a rich background advocating for gender, racial and climate justice. Her present focus in on forest protection and local communities' rights in Central and Western Africa (more specifically the Republic of Congo and the cocoa sector in Côte d'Ivoire).