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Updated: September 14, 2009, 6:20 pm	Share    Print    Email

Yolanda Kakabadse Navarro will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25, in Stony Brook Southampton's Avram Theater. Image courtesy of Stony Brook Southampton

Southampton - Yolanda Kakabadse Navarro, the former minister of the environment of Ecuador and the incoming president of the International World Wildlife Fund, will present a lecture on her most recent environmental achievement at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25, in Stony Brook Southampton's Duke Lecture Hall.

The talk is part of the Dean's Distinguished Lecture Series hosted by Stony Brook Southampton Dean and Vice President Mary Pearl. It is also a part of the campus' celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. For further information, call 631-632-5028.

Navarro recently negotiated a new form of carbon sequestration credit that allows Ecuador to build its alternative energy sector by issuing certificates based on the country's pledge not to exploit the estimated 850 million barrels of oil under the Yasuni National Park.

Kakabadse Navarro is General Counsel and former Executive President of Fundación Futuro Latinoamericano in Ecuador, and former President of the IUCN.

In May 2009 WWF International announced that Kakabadse Navarro would become its next President in January 2010, replacing outgoing President Chief Emeka Anyaoku who steps down at the end of 2009 after eight years in the position.

She has achieved pioneering work at grassroots level towards sustainable development and was also Chair of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the Global Environment Facility (STAP/GEF) 2005-2008.

Kakabadse Navarro studied educational psychology at the Catholic University of Quito, Ecuador.

She was a member of the Board of the World Resources Institute, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ford Foundation. She was the Joint-Coordinator of the United Nations Millennium Project Task Force on Environmental Sustainability. The Task Force focused on identifying ways in which the principles of sustainable development can be integrated into country policies and programs and reverse the loss of environmental resources.