Food systems in the circular bioeconomy: Lessons from Latin America

Luisa Santiago has been leading the foundation's work in Latin America since the establishment of its regional office in 2015. She is recognised as one of the main leaders in the circular economy on the continent and has a key role in its uptake by governments and businesses. She sits in the steering board of the Latin American and Caribbean Circular Economy Coalition, and is a board member of some NGOs and cities. Prior to joining the Ellen MacArthur Foundation she spent nearly 10 years in strategy and sustainability consultancy with large corporations and governments. She holds a master’s in sustainable development practices, a degree in environmental management, and a bachelor's in social communication.

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Juan Carlos Castro Vargas was nominated to his current role in February 2023. He is a biologist graduated from the National University of Trujillo, with a master's in environmental management from the University Santiago Antúnez de Mayolo. With more than 20 years’ experience, he is the former chief of the National Water Authority (ANA) and held management positions in different institutions of the public sector in Peru, such as the National Institute of Natural Resources (INRENA); the Environmental Evaluation and Oversight Agency (OEFA); the Ministry of Housing, Construction and Sanitation (MVCS); and the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation (MIDAGRI). His experience covers water resources management, watersheds, environmental assessment and public management.

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Cynthia Córdoba is an expert in environmental economics and the circular economy. She has led public sector work in Costa Rica as well as regionally in Latin America and the Caribbean. Córdoba has helped cross-sectoral cooperation in government and led the implementation of the OECD road map on circular economy recommendations. She holds a master’s in economic policy with a major in ecological economics and sustainable development from the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica.

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Jerome leads the circular economy and resource efficiency unit at UNIDO. The unit supports industries, and in particular SMEs, in member states in just transitions towards more resource-efficient and circular business models and practices. Working for UNIDO since 2010, Jerome designed and managed environmental interventions ranging from eco-industrial parks and large industrial mercury emitters to artisanal gold mining. Prior to joining UNIDO, he worked for an environmental consultancy in Switzerland providing expertise to industries facing environmental legacies. Jerome holds an MSc in earth sciences from the University of Lausanne and an MAS in hydrogeology from the University of Neuchatel, both in Switzerland.

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Beatrice Cyiza is a committed environmental expert with over 15 years’ experience in environment management. She coordinates the ministry’s policy development and stakeholder engagement and steers the development of strategies and plans while ensuring the mainstreaming and compliance with key policy actions. In her role, she promotes research and studies that are instrumental in advancing policy implementation and facilitating the sharing of best practices. As an administrative coordinator for academic affairs, extension and applied research at the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture from 2018 to 2021, she contributed to the development of institutional policies, action plans and faculty development strategies. As an environmental audit and monitoring officer and the Nagoya protocol focal point at the Rwanda Environment Management Authority, she developed a number of audit check lists for key sectors and developed environmental audit reporting tools. Beatrice has dual master's degrees in biodiversity conservation and in disaster risk management and climate change governance.

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Nelson Pereira dos Reis leads the sustainable development department of FIESP and the Center of Industries of the State of São Paulo (CIESP). He is also the president of the Union of Chemical Products for Industrial Purposes and Petrochemicals of the State of São Paulo. In his journey as an executive working to conciliate the competitiveness of the industry with the improvement of environmental quality and social well-being, he presided over Copebrás and Anglo American's operations in Brazil and was executive president of the Brazilian Chemical Industry Association.

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Daniel Lodetti is a diplomat and part of the team leading the G20 Initiative on the Bioeconomy (GIB), one of the innovations announced by the Brazilian Presidency for the G20 in 2024. Daniel was also the Brazilian negotiator for the circular economy at the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) in 2024 and board member of the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns (10YFP). He was part of the Brazilian delegations to many international fora, including the United Nations High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), the G20 Development Working Group and the Latin American and Caribbean Forum on Sustainable Development at ECLAC. He worked at the Brazilian Embassy in Bogotá Daniel graduated in economics from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC).

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