With a career spanning across academia, consultancy, and NGOs, Dr. Helen Ding brings a unique perspective to her role as Senior Economist Lead for Inclusive Development at the Global Economics Center of WRI, where she also heads the Equitable Economics Innovation Team in WRI Europe's regional office in The Hague. In this capacity, Helen leads the development of a compelling inclusive growth strategy to support and accelerate crucial human system transitions including food, land, water, oceans, energy, and cities that will promote human and planetary health while ensuring equitable benefit-sharing and investment towards the vulnerable and marginalized groups.  

Dr. Ding is a seasoned environmental economist with over 16 years of extensive research experience in applied economic research, of which over 10 years are in project and team management positions. She is specialized in natural capital accounting, economic valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services, public and private financing mechanisms for nature conversation and restoration, circular economy, integrated macro-&micro economic analysis, and development of decision support tools. Her research emphasizes on systematic approaches to protect and restore natural resources in the context of climate change, while developing financing mechanisms that promote equitable resource allocation towards the most vulnerable and marginalized groups. During her tenure with WRI, she led or participated in economic research for global initiatives and coalitions, including for example, The Global Restoration Initiative, the High-Level Panel for A Sustainable Ocean Economy, the Food and Land Use Coalition, and the Global Commission on Adaptation, amongst others. She is a leading expert in the field of Economics and Finance of Ecosystem Restoration, and a co-founder of The Economics of Ecosystem Restoration (TEER) Initiative, a multi-partner initiative led by FAO to collect standardized costs and benefits of ecosystem restoration worldwide. Her project experience extends a wide range of geographies, including the Africa region, Amazonia, China, European Union, India, and the Pacific Islands. 

  Prior to WRI, Dr. Ding was a senior economist with Deloitte Sustainability Service in Paris and the deputy leader of Deloitte’s Natural Capital Community of Practice for Europe and Asia, where she represented Deloitte at the Expert Review Panel for the Natural Capital Protocol. Prior to that, she held various research positions in the Fondazione Enri Enrico Mattie, Ca ’Foscari University of Venice and Venice international University in Italy and Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium. 

Born and resident in Tarragona, Spain, Puri Canals has a PhD in Biology from the University of Barcelona. From 1994 to 2010 she was the President of the League for the Defence of Natural Heritage in Catalonia. From 2000 to 2008 she served at IUCN’s Council as Regional Councillor for West Europe and also as Vice President from 2005 to 2008. Puri has also been the Chair of the Preparatory Committee for the IUCN 4th World Conservation Congress in 2008. Since participating in the Earth Summit in 1992, she has participated actively in many international conferences. Puri was directly involved in promoting the creation of the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation. She’s a member of the Scientific Council of the “Conservatoire du Littoral” in France; the Advisory Council for Sustainable Development of the Government of Catalonia and the Advisory Council of the Biodiversity Foundation of Spanish Government. She’s a member of the World Commission on Protected Areas and the Commission on Ecosystem Management of IUCN. Since 2010, she is the President of MedPAN. From 2016 to 2019 she has leading the EU Transatlantic MPA Network Project. Since 2020, she’s leading the EU Ocean Governance project.

Director of the Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

Marine ecologist, specialised in marine biodiversity and climate change effects on marine ecosystems.

Field worker, over 50 months in polar and marine expeditions, to the  Arctic from Russia, to Svalbard, Greenland and Canada. 

Author of over 150 peer reviewed papers and leader of the EU MARBEFES project on marine biodiversity and ecosystem services. 

Member of Polish Scientific Committees for Polar and Marine Research. 

bio Tundi

Ana C. Costa holds a Degree in Faunistic Resources and Environment from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon in Portugal and a PhD in Marine Sciences (Marine Ecology) from the University of the Azores in Portugal. She is currently the local head in the Azores of the Research Center in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources and a Professor at the Biology Department of the University of the Azores. With over 20 years of experience in environmental monitoring and marine and freshwater research, she is currently focusing her research on marine protected areas, shallow water marine ecosystems environmental and biodiversity assessments and monitoring in particular concerning marine non-indigenous species, ecosystem services, maritime spatial planning for MPAs, mostly for the Azores.