Hinrich Thoelken studied medicine in Germany and United Kingdom and holds a Medical Degree (M.D.) of the University of Heidelberg. After two years as a researcher and medical officer in Heidelberg he joined the German Foreign Service in 1989. He collected first political experiences during the German reunification process as a member of the parliamentary team of the Foreign Office. His foreign postings include Namibia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United States and France. In the Foreign Office during his most recent assignment from 2010 to 2015 he lead Germany’s initiatives on the implications of Climate Change and enhanced competition for Natural Resources  on Foreign and Security Policy. His main activities comprised the initiation of a UN-SC debate on Climate Change and Conflict in 2011, a regional project on transboundary water cooperation in the Aral Sea Basin and creating awareness for the loss of Biodiversity as a foreign policy challenge with a series of conferences in the margins of UN-GA. In 2015 he was appointed Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany to the UN Organizations in Rome. 

Andy Jarvis is the Director of the Decision and Policy Analysis Area in the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and is a Flagship Leader on the CGIAR Research Program for Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), based in Cali, Colombia.  Dr. Jarvis has 10 years experience of scientific research in developing countries to support the goals of alleviating poverty, adapting to climate change and protecting the environment.  His work is focuses on data-driven policy analysis for agrobiodiversity conservation to climate impacts and adaptation.  Over the past ten years Dr. Jarvis has published over 75 articles, book chapters or books, with over 30 of these in peer-reviewed articles published in international journals. 

Born in Naples on April 23, 1960, Amb. Trombetta is married and has two children. He graduated in Political Science from the University of Naples on February 28, 1983, and received a Masters in European Studies from the London School of Economics in 1994.

His diplomatic career began on February 1, 1985. On January 1 of the following year he was named Secretary of Legation, serving in the XIV Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department for Cooperation and Development.

Starting on July 6, 1987 he was Second Trade Secretary in Bogotá, and then, as of August 1, 1989, First Secretary of Legation. On February 1, 1990 he took on the role of First Trade Secretary in the same embassy.

On December 8, 1990 he became Consul in London.

On January 9, 1995 he moved on to the Secretariat of the Directorate General for Economic Affairs, becoming the Head of the Secretariat as of February 22 of that year.

On May 1, 1995 he was named Legation Counselor; with this rank, as of September 29, 1995 he worked in the Minister of Foreign Affairs’ Cabinet. On September 18, 1997 he became Head of the Secretariat of the Farnesina Secretary General.

On December 14, 1998 he assumed the role of Counselor to the Permanent Representative of Italy to the European Union, in Brussels, where he then became Embassy Counselor as of July 2, 2000. On October 26, 2000 he assumed the role of First Counselor, at the same embassy.

On August 10, 2002 Amb. Trombetta was named Deputy Chief of Mission in Beijing. On July 3, 2006 he became Head of the Secretariat of the Undersecretary of State.

While in this role, on January 2, 2007, he was named Plenipotentiary Minister. On April 17, 2008 he became Deputy Director General for Asia, Oceania, the Pacific and the Antarctic. On the following September 1 he was assigned the role of Deputy Director General for European Integration. From January 1 to December 15, 2010 he was Regent for that Directorate General.

On December 16, 2010, following the reform of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he became both Deputy Director General for the European Union and Central Director for European Integration.

On January 7, 2013 he became the Italian Ambassador to Brazil. He was awarded the Commendatore dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica in 2011.

As of April 1, 2015 he also took over the Embassy in Paramaribo (Suriname).

On January 1, 2016 he was formally promoted to the role of Ambassador.

In June 2016, Amb. Trombetta was named Chief of Cabinet for the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Paolo Gentiloni and in 2017 he was named Italy’s Sherpa for the Italian G7 Presidency and G20 Sherpa.

Ameenah Gurib-Fakim has been, prior to joining the State House, the Managing Director of the Centre International de Développement Pharmaceutique (CIDP) Research and Innovation as well as Professor of Organic Chemistry with an endowed chair at the University of Mauritius. Since 2001, she has served successively as Dean of the Faculty of Science and Pro Vice Chancellor (2004-2010). She has also worked at the Mauritius Research Council as Manager for Research (1995-1997).

Ms Gurib-Fakim earned a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Surrey (1983) and a PhD from the University of Exeter, UK (1987).

During her academic journey, she has participated in several consultation meetings on environmental issues organized by international organizations. Between 2011-2013, she was elected and served as Chairperson of the International Council for Scientific Union –Regional Office for Africa, and served as an Independent Director on the Board of Barclays Bank of Mauritius Ltd between (2012-2015).

As a Founding Member of the Pan African Association of African Medicinal Plants, she co-authored the first ever African Herbal Pharmacopoeia. She has authored and co-edited 28 books, several book chapters and scientific articles in the field of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. She has lectured extensively across the world; is a Member of the Editorial Boards of major journals, has served on Technical and national committees in various capacities.

Elected Fellow of several academies and societies, Ms Gurib-Fakim received several international prizes including the 2007 l’Oreal-UNESCO Prize for Women in Science, the African Union Commission Award for Women in Science, 2009 as well as the lifelong achievement award of the United States Pharmacopoeia-CePat Award in 2017.

Elevated to the Order of the Commander of the Star and Key by the Government of Mauritius in 2008, she has been admitted to the Order of the Chevalier dans L’Ordre des Palmes Academiques by the Government of France in 2010 and is the recipient of 4 DSc (s). On 05 June 2015, she was sworn in as the 6th President and the First Female President of the Republic of Mauritius. She was elevated to the Order of GCSK by the Government of Mauritius, admitted to the Order of Francois 1er des Deux Siciles by Prince Charles of Bourbon and received the Legion d’Honneur from the Government of France in 2016.

In June 2016, she was in the Forbes List for the ‘Most Powerful women in the world’.

STEPHANIE HOCHSTETTER has a long international career that led her to be appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Guatemala to the Republic of Italy In May 2013, and Permanent Representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), acting as Governor for Guatemala on IFAD’s Board.

In 2013 she was appointed Commissioner General for Guatemala to the ExpoMilano 2015 to lead and coordinate Guatemala’s participation in the World’s Fair.

Particularly noteworthy is the broad knowledge she has acquired in specific areas of multilateral work, for example in relation to the functioning of the seat of UNESCO, in Paris, and the functioning of the main international agencies in Geneva. She acquired a broad knowledge of human rights and indigenous peoples' issues and relations with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner in Geneva.

Born in Calcinate (BG) on the 9th of September 1978.

He is married with two children.

After the High School Diploma at the Agricultural Technical Institute of Bergamo, he graduated in Political Science.

In 1999 he was elected City Councilman and served until 2004.

In the same year he was elected Secretary of the Province of Bergamo, following his political activism within the youth organization of the Left Democrats.

In 2006 he was Regional Secretary of the Left Democrats in Lombardy.
In 2007 he was one of the founders of the Democratic Party and after the  primary elections, he was elected First Secretary of this Party in Lombardy.

In 2009, always through primary elections, he was reconfirmed his leading on the Democratic Party of Lombardy. In 2010 he was elected Regional Councilman of Lombardy; the elections of February 2013 reconfirmed him in this role.

During the mandates as Regional Councilman of Lombardy, he was member of the Commission of Institutional Affairs and the Commission for Productive Activities.

On May 2013 he was appointed as Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Agricultural Food and Forestry Policies of the Letta Cabinet and was subsequently designed to chair the Commission of coordination for the activities related to EXPO 'Milan 2015.

On the 22th of February 2014 he was sworn in as Minister of Agricultural Food and Forestry Policies of the Renzi Cabinet.

Mr Frydenlund joined the MFA in 1986 and has served in Chile, at the Norwegian Missions to the European Union, and the United Nations and as Norwegian Representative to the Palestinian Authority. He has thirteen years of experience from conflict resolution in Africa. 

Mirna Cunningham is indigenous Miskita from Nicaragua, a worldwide known indigenous rights activist, former chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and current President of the Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Autonomy and Development in Nicaragua. In 2014, Mirna Cunningham was nominated as Special Advisor to the President of the United Nations General Assembly to advice on the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples. She serves as Member of the Steering Committee of the Indigenous Peoples’ Forum at IFAD, and as Board Member of the Indigenous Peoples’ Assistance Facility. In addition to moderating the panel discussion at the Governing Council,  Cunningham will field questions directly from the audience on-site and from viewers of the webcast via social media.

Joan Carling, from Philippines, has been working on indigenous issues at all levels for more than 20 years. She was appointed by the UN Economic and Social Council as an indigenous expert of The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII)  form 2014 – 2016, and she is the former Secretary General of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP). She is a member of the Advisory Council of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, and serves as a Member of the Steering Committee of the Indigenous Peoples Forum at IFAD.

Maria Teresa Zapeta Mendoza, from Guatemala, is the programme manager of the International Indigenous Women Forum (FIMI), IFAD's implementing partner for the Indigenous Peoples Assistance Facility, and a member of the Advisory Council of the Indigenous Women’s Fund. 

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz belongs to the Kankanaey Igorot people of the Cordillera Region in the Philippines. Tauli-Corpuz is the founder and executive director of Tebtebba Foundation - the Indigenous Peoples' International Centre for Policy Research and Education - and former chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), actively engaged in drafting and adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in 2007. She has been supporting IFAD in its engagement with indigenous peoples for the past 15 years. 

Attorney and Executive Director of the Association for Law and Advocacy for Pastoralists from the United Republic of Tanzania.

The Association for Law and Advocacy for Pastoralists is a non-profit organization providing legal assistance and protecting human rights of pastoralists and hunter gatherers in Tanzania. Elifuraha Laltaika was recently nominated Member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII).

Jorge Alberto Jiménez has been responsible for leading the policy dialogue with Indigenous Peoples in El Salvador in 2016 on behalf of the government. A process supported by IFAD and International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), in cooperation with the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the UN Country Team. This policy engagement led to the development of the very first national action plan with indigenous peoples following the outcome document of the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples.