Swedish, 44 years old. Construction engineer.
Studied in Sweden/Australia. Since 2009 I´ve been working with municipality planning and WH-management in Vega kommune. A WH-site based on a complex cultural landscape. With a profound interest in history and culture, but with no formal background from cultural heritage, I`ve spent the last 13 years dealing with the challenge between sustainable development and preservation of OUV.
Daniela Cox
Third-generation Galapaguenian and Conscious Business Consultant.
Actively engaged with her local community in decision-making processes under the frameworks of the Galapagos Organic Special Law (LOREG) and the Galapagos National Park Management Plan. At age 22, she became the youngest woman elected politician as Alternate Congresswoman representative of Galapagos at the National Assembly of Ecuador.
Based in Denmark since 2019, she runs PLURA Consulting. She has a Master in Sustainable Business from Griffith University in Australia and was trained as Nordic B Leader and Regenerative facilitator. She measures the impact across stakeholders, applying holistic assessment tools to create conscious business opportunities. Her contribution to Sustainability and Diversity in Denmark is mentioned in articles by Forbes Ecuador (2022).
Through her strong sense of belonging to The Galapagos Islands and coming from a family of first settlers and community leaders/organizers, this 2023 she will advocate initiatives across the 4 regions of Ecuador - supporting the balance between land and marine ecosystems interconnected with our human wellbeing.
Einar A.E. Sæmundsen
Director Thingvellir national park Iceland. Chair of the Nordic World Heritage Association
Einar has an B.Sc. as a geographer from the University of Iceland and a Masters of Landscape Architecture from the University of Minnesota in the USA. He has been with the national park since 2001 working on different subjects, park ranger, interpretation, construction management and planning. He has worked on the World Heritage nomination of Thingvellir in 2004 and management plans that have followed. He has been the director of Thingvellir national park since 2017 and is currently the chair of the Nordic World Heritage Association.
Dr. Eleanor Haine
Eleanor is the Program Officer for Natural Sciences at the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. She works to promote UNESCO values, priorities and programs within the natural sciences sector in Canada and to ensure that Canadian voices are represented on the international stage. She has a background in ecology research and education and enthusiastically advocates for the roles of women and girls in science.
Hans Harmsen, PhD
National Heritage Resources Manager, Greenland National Museum and Archives
Hans Harmsen is the National Heritage Resources Manager for the Greenland National Museum and Archives and a Researcher in the Activating Arctic Heritage project. Hans has worked for several years to help conserve and protect cultural resources in Greenland's UNESCO World Heritage properties and other protected areas. His focus areas include heritage conservation, climate change, and sustainable tourism in the North.
Helga Hvanndal Björnsdóttir
Nature Conservationist / National Park Ranger/ Youth Representative
I'm Helga from Reykjavík, Iceland. I have a bachelor degree in philosophy where I focused on environmental ethics. I am currently finishing a master degree in environment and natural resources at the University of Iceland. I have been working as a national park ranger in various national parks and protected areas in Iceland, most recently in the northern highlands of Vatnajökull National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2019. I love being outdoors and I am passionate about protecting the wilderness of Iceland. I am also an active member of the Young Environmentalists of Iceland and the Nordic Youth Biodiversity Network.
Jógvan D. Hansen
MA in Philosophy from University of Southern Denmark. Lecturer in Philosophy University at the Univedrsity of Faroe Islands. Member of the Faroese council of ethics.
Jóhan Pauli Helgason
Development manager, Visit Faroe Islands
With a Master's degree in political science, Jóhan Pauli has worked for various departments in the Faroese government since 2009. From 2014 to 2018, he worked as an Advisor in the Ministry of Industry and Foreign Affairs, where he, among other things, led the work in formulating a new government tourism strategy for the Faroe Islands, which was published in 2017.
In April 2018, Jóhan Pauli was appointed Development Manager at the newly-established Development Department at Visit Faroe Islands. Since then, he has worked on defining the new department's role and function in Faroese tourism, using the goals and objectives outlined in the Preservolution strategy as a guideline, which at its core is about using tourism as a tool to preserve Faroese culture and nature, while evolving as a community.
Kristina Djurhuus Christiansen
Curator and Focal Point of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage 2003. Faroe Islands National Museum.
Kristina has a MSc in Social Anthropology from Lund University, Sweden. After finishing her degree, she moved to Copenhagen and worked in the National Museum of Denmark. One project she worked with, was the Serampore Initiative, which aimed at restoring historic Danish heritage buildings in the West Bengali town Serampore in India. Also, she worked for a Danish travel agency as a freelance tour leader in the Himalaya region. After living abroad for several years, with frequent trips to Asia, she moved back and settled in the Faroe Islands. Now she works in the National Museum, and her main responsibility is implementing the UNESCO Convention for ICH in the Faroe Islands.