Team

Ludwig Liagre is a Development Cooperation professional, specialist in Rio conventions (UNFCCC, CBD, UNCCD) implementation. Between 2009 and 2014 Ludwig operated as forest policy and finance advisor for the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) in Middle East North Africa and Latin America, implementing impactful projects at the interface of the three Rio conventions. From 2014 to 2017 he advised public and private organizations as international consultant. Ludwig worked with development cooperation agencies such as GIZ, UNDP and FAO. More recently he operated as Climate Change Specialist at the European Investment Bank (EIB) and as Programme Officer at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), where he supervised work on Land Degradation Neutrality Transformative Projects and Programmes. He holds MScs in Agricultural Sciences & Environmental Economics from AgroParisTech, France and a MBA from Le Collège des Ingénieurs, France-Germany. He is currently enrolled as PhD candidate on National Forest Funds at the University of Padova, Italy.

Ludwig speaks: French (mother tongue), English, Spanish, German.

Pilar Valbuena holds a MSc in Forestry Engineering and has more than 18 years of experience in the field of forestry. In the last ten years she has specialized in knowledge management and communications. She works as an International Forest Communications consultant and event photographer for international entities such as FAO, CIFOR, GIZ, IUCN, UNDP, INIA (Spain), iuFOR (Spain), etc. Pilar supports its partners on communications strategy development and implementation and can address all communications dimensions related to an initiative or project. For example she has been working on the development of the communications strategy for the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol in Algeria in the framework of a UNDP/GEF project in partnership with the General Directorate of Forests of Algeria. She works on governance and landscape approaches, including in the context of Model Forests, from implementation to evaluation. She has participated on the development of several Model Forests in the Mediterranean Region and has been evaluator of forest initiatives in Europe and North Africa. She is conducting her PhD on forest governance and landscape level approaches in collaboration with the Instituto Universitario de Investigación en Gestión Forestal Sostenible (iuFOR) at the University of Valladolid.

Pilar speaks: Spanish (mother tongue), English, French.

Laura Atondeh joined Rio Impact as a climate finance advisor. She supports the design of national strategies and mechanisms to increase financing resources for climate action.

Laura is currently pursuing an “Advanced Master” (one-year course leading to a post-Master’s degree) in Environmental Public Policies and Strategies at AgroParisTech (Institute of Technology for Life, Food and Environmental Sciences).

After graduating from Kedge Business School’s Master in Management with a specialisation in Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility, she worked as a Responsible Investment Analyst for a private asset manager, from 2016 to 2020. She could analyse the environmental, social and governance impacts of several companies belonging to the extractive industries and the banking and financial sectors. She also worked more specifically on climate change issues.

In 2020, to completement her environmental expertise in the private sector and in sustainable finance, she decided to further her education at AgroParisTech to acquire knowledge and skills in environmental public policies at both the national and international levels.

Laura speaks: French (mother tongue), English

Eva Lafont is an agronomist (AgroParisTech) specialized in the fields of environmental and biodiversity management, and holds a Master 2 in Environmental Economics and Sustainable Development (Master EEET, Paris Saclay University). After graduating, Eva quickly engaged in the development of strategic solutions and financing to combat climate change.

Indeed, as a Consultant in Adaptation to Climate Change as part of her end-of-study internship, she had the opportunity to accompany public and private actors at the different stages of their action in the field of climate policies and climate change adaptation strategies (diagnosis of the impacts of climate change, definition of strategies and action plans).

In addition, Eva contributed to the feasibility study of a national climate fund with Rio Impact, and she now supports more particularly the development of national financing strategies for forests, among other missions on financing mechanisms for nature-based solutions.

Eva speaks : French (mother tongue), English, Spanish