Biography

Francisco Souza is a member of the Apurinã Indigenous People from the Brazilian Amazon. With over 30 years of experience on areas related to forest and biodiversity conservation, climate finance, community-led development, Indigenous Peoples rights in 40+ countries led by, for, and together with Indigenous Peoples and local communities worldwide. He is member of the governing board of the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (IC-VCM), and the Senior Vice President for the Global Indigenous Peoples and Local Center with Conservation International. He has worked and support the rights, self-development, and grantmaking actions in a territory of 1.2 billion hectares of community managed landscape in the planet. He is a former Managing Director of the FSC Indigenous Foundation and also collaborated with different international organizations including Hivos, WWF, Rainforest Alliance, IADB, IDRC, private foundations, and governments. Francisco served as member of the IPLC Advisory Panel with Emergent for the LEAF Coalition. He is an economist with Ph.D. in Environmental Science and master’s degree in Tropical Conservation and Development.