Mirian Vilela

Mirian Vilela is Executive Director of the Earth Charter International and the Center for Education for Sustainable Development at UPEACE. Mirian has been working with the Earth Charter Initiative since early 1996. She coordinates the UNESCO Chair on Education for Sustainable Development with the Earth Charter and served as a member of the UNESCO Expert Reference Group for the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD). She is also a professor at the University for Peace in Costa Rica. Over the years she has led and facilitated numerous international workshops, courses and seminars on values and principles for sustainability. Mirian holds a PhD. in Education from LaSalle University and a Master´s Degree in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she was an Edward Mason Fellow. She is originally from Brazil.

Meet Mirian Vilela in the plenary on Monday.

Lewis Akenji

Lewis Akenji is the Executive Director of the Hot or Cool Institute. He is a political economist with an interest in institutions and policies, and the fair allocation of resources and opportunities for collective wellbeing within ecological limits. Lewis served as Executive Director of SEED, a UN partnership founded at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development to promote entrepreneurship for sustainable development. Prior to that, he was Director for Sustainable Consumption and Production at the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies in Japan. He has consulted with organizations including United Nations agencies, the Asian and African Development Banks, the European Commission, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and has served as technical or science-policy adviser to several national government delegations, including Finland, Japan, Sweden, Indonesia and Hungary. Lewis is a Full Member of the Club of Rome, co-chair of the Materials and Consumption Taskforce and a Transformational Economics Commissioner with the Earth4All project, he is also a Board member of several organizations. Lewis has an M.Sc. Sustainable Resource Management (Technical University Munich, Germany) and a Ph.D. Political Economy (University of Helsinki, Finland).

Meet Lewis Akenji in the plenary on Tuesday.

Eileen Fugelsnes

Eileen Fugelsnes is the Norwegian Minister of Research and Higher Education (Representing the Labour Party).

The Minister of Research and Higher Education is responsible for research policy, Higher education, tertiary vocational education, educational loans and grants and adult education and skills.

Meet Eileen Fugelsnes in the plenary on Monday.

Åsmund Aukrust

Åsmund Aukrust is the Norwegian Minister of International Development (Representing the Labour Party).

Meet Åsmund Aukrust in the plenary on Tuesday.