HIFOR is a new nature finance initiative, bridging the gap between climate and biodiversity.
These large areas of intact tropical forests provide climate, biodiversity, and socio-economic benefits and are critical for a healthy planet. But our global economies do not pay for those benefits, valuing instead the products of their destruction. HIFOR provides a step away from a world in which global economic systems are a “free-rider” on the services that nature provides – a step toward a world in which our economies pay to maintain essential natural infrastructure we all depend on, beginning with the most complex ecosystems on Earth.
HIFOR units represent one hectare of well maintained, high integrity tropical forest located within a large well-conserved landscape. Investments in HIFOR directly support tropical forest conservation and help maintain the critical biodiversity and ecosystem services that they provide.
A single investment, with multiple benefits:
Daniel Zarin is the inaugural Executive Director for Forests and Climate Change at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Within the context of WCS’ mission of saving wildlife and wild places in 60 countries worldwide, Dan leads a growing global team focused on the role of forests in solving the climate crisis by protecting intact forest ecosystems, preventing the expansion of deforestation and forest degradation frontiers, restoring forests in high-priority landscapes, and enhancing resilience of forests to climate change.
Prior to joining WCS in 2021, Dan served as Senior Director of Programs of the Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA) since its inception in 2010.
Felipe Camacho is a geoscientist and spatial analyst supporting the Forests and Climate Change team at WCS. With dual MSc degrees in Cartography and Geoinformatics from the Erasmus Mundus Copernicus Master in Digital Earth program, he brings robust technical expertise in GIS, remote sensing, and web mapping. At WCS, he co-leads spatial analyses for HIFOR projects using Google Earth Engine, developing decision-support tools and maps to prioritize forest and peatland conservation areas. Before joining WCS, Felipe worked with organizations such as Esri and Audubon and contributed to emergency mapping efforts for Médecins Sans Frontières. He has created interactive applications in Google Earth Engine to monitor forest change, as well as web mapping dashboards and 3D visualizations to support conservation decision-making. Felipe is passionate about leveraging geospatial technologies to address climate change and support high-integrity conservation.
Connor Horton is an experienced program manager addressing critical challenges at the intersection of biodiversity loss, climate change, and sustainable development. As the operations lead for HIFOR at WCS, Connor oversees project management, process design, knowledge management, and the integration of HIFOR’s global operations and strategy—ensuring efficiency and impact at scale.
Previously, Connor built and led The Nature Conservancy in Maine’s business engagement program, partnering with private and public sector leaders to advance sustainable economies through collaborative research, technology enablement, entrepreneurship, and targeted funding.
Earlier in his career, Connor served in the U.S. Army as an Arabic linguist and intelligence professional, where he acted as a cultural liaison and led the development of a social media exploitation program in Northern Syria. He holds an MBA and MS in Business Analytics from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, and a BA in Middle Eastern Studies from American Military University.
Isabela Barragan is a biologist currently completing a Master’s degree in Environmental Management and Sustainable Development. She is currently leading the implementation of the HIFOR standard in Colombia. Isabela has a strong track record in the design and implementation of conservation projects, including Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) mechanisms and REDD+ projects.
With over five years of experience working in strategic ecosystems alongside Indigenous and rural communities, Isabela has led the development of technical documents, as well as environmental monitoring and environmental and socio-economic impact assessments. Her approach combines fieldwork with technical analysis to support effective and context-sensitive conservation efforts.
Ashley L. Camhi’s career and educational passion have centered on the economic incentives for conservation. She has spent much of her career at multilateral banks supporting conservation projects in Latin America and the Caribbean before completing her Ph.D. in Biology and Society at Arizona State University. Her research focused on farmer decision making to enroll land into conservation programs and the subsequent impact on water quality. Most recently Ashley spent two years in the private sector focused on forest carbon and how to utilize jurisdictional REDD+ to halt tropical deforestation. Ashley also founded and led a sustainability nonprofit where she enabled impact driven projects to address natural resource issues such as urban forestry and food security for low-income communities. In addition, Ashley has a Master of Arts in International Environmental Policy from Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies from Vassar College.
Katie is the Climate Change Communications Officer for WCS and manages the communications strategy across WCS’s Forest and Climate Change team. She develops marketing strategies, marketing metrics and target audience-driven communications tactics to ensure successful delivery of FCC’s programmatic priorities.
Katie has served in a number of communications-related roles, namely stakeholder outreach for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Public Engagement and digital marketing for Busboys and Poets and National Association of Home Builders’ Green Building and Sustainability Department. Katie has a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Notre Dame and an M.S. in Environmental Science from State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF).
Andre Nahur is the Forest and Climate Regional Director for the Andes Amazon Orinoco Region. Andre brings extensive expertise as a climate change, forest, biodiversity and sustainable development specialist, backed by a strong scientific background. He holds a BA in Biology, a Master’s in Biodiversity Management and Conservation, another Master’s in Environmental Economics, and an MBA in Project Management.
Previously, he served as the Sustainable Development National Officer at UNDP Brasil and has amassed over 15 years of experience in local NGOs, research institutes, and organizations such as GIZ, WWF, and CI. Throughout his career, Andre has successfully developed and implemented policies, programs, and funds, leveraging partnerships with the private sector to drive large scale sustainable development. He possesses skills in public policy, media relations, and has a proven track record of impactful collaborations with social and environmental organizations. with management, monitoring and evaluation expertise, innovative tools, and experience working with multilateral organizations, national banks, and foundations.
Carlos Rittl holds a bachelor’s degree in public administration from the São Paulo Business School of the Getulio Vargas Foundation and a master’s and Ph.D. in Biological Sciences/Ecology from the National Institute for Amazonian Research in Brazil. For most of his career, he has led the climate agenda of major organizations in Brazil, having served as Executive Secretary of the Brazilian Climate Observatory, as head of WWF Brazil’s Climate and Energy Program, and of Greenpeace Brazil’s climate campaign, all with a strong focus on public policies and multilateral processes.
He lived in the Amazon for 14 years during his master’s and Ph.D. studies and in the early years of his career as an environmentalist. He lived in Germany for 3 years, having been a senior fellow at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam and an international policy advisor to the Rainforest Foundation in Norway. Carlos is a board member of two Brazilian organizations (Uma Gota no Oceano, Amigos da Terra – Amazônia Brasileira), a founding member of two others (Centro Brasil no Clima and Laboratório Observatório do Clima), and a member of the Club de Madrid’s Working Group on the Social Dimensions of Climate Change.
Ekena Rangel Pinage has a bachelor’s degree in Geography and a master’s degree in Forest Sciences from the University of Brasilia, and a PhD degree in Sciences from the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. She worked for the government and non-profit sectors in Brazil, at institutions such as the Brazilian Forest Service, EMBRAPA and WWF-Brasil. Her last appointment prior to joining WCS was with Oregon State University as a post-doctoral scholar. Ekena has experience with spatial conservation planning and monitoring of forest cover, structure, and function with a range of geospatial technologies.
Louis Bernard Cheteu holds a Master of Philosophy (M.phil.) in Geography, Environment and Natural Resource Management; a Diploma in Water, Forest and Wildlife Engineering (Dipl.-Ing.) as well as several other training certificates obtained in turn in Africa, Europe, United States of America and the United Nations system. He has over 20 years’ professional experience in the fields of forest, Climate Change, Green Economy, Natural Resources and Protected Areas Management.
Before joining the WCS in 2023 as Senior Climate and Biodiversity Policy Advisor, Republic of Congo, Louis Bernard Cheteu has held the positions of: – Specialist in Climate Change and Green Economy for UNDP DRC; – Project Manager of the Kabobo Luama Landscape Conservation Project for UNDP DRC; – International Coordinator of the TRI (Tree Restoration Initiative) project for FAO in CAR; – Chief Technical Advisor of the Gallery Forest Preservation Project for UNDP Benin; – Representative of TEREA Cameroon; – International Expert in Project Management of PRODEVIM for UNDP Mali; -Mentor for the REDD+ and adaptation COBAM pilot projects at CIFOR Cameroon; – Cameroon coordinator of ITTO’s REDDES project N° RED-PA 056/11 Rev.1 (F); – Project Manager of PEFOGRN-Congo Basin for RIFFEAC Cameroon; – Technical Director of the Communal Forest Technical Centre in Cameroon for GIZ/FFEM; – Researcher at IRAD Cameroon.
He has successfully completed several consultancy assignments in the fields of environment, climate change and natural resource management for UNDP Mauritania, UNDP Kenya, UNDP Congo, UNDP DRC, FAO Rome, FAO Gabon, FAO Côte d’Ivoire, BRL I France, COMIFAC Cameroon, IUCN/TRAFFIC Cameroon, WWF Cameroon, FODDEC Cameroon, R Pallisco /CIFM Cameroon, PSRF Cameroon. Louis Bernard Cheteu is a member of several professional organizations (FORENET-ACP, FORNESSA, CoForTips, CoForSet, CoForChange) and author of several publications.
With a MSc in Rural and Tropical Forestry Sophie has worked over 16 years on Central Africa forest related projects. She has joined the WCS regional office in 2021 and supports the country programs in their projects related to forest management and land use planning. As such she is involved in the different HIFOR regional and national initiatives.
Thomas is the primary WCS attorney supporting the Markets and Forests/Climate Change teams. He leverages his extensive corporate and business legal experience as well as his passion for conservation to structure, negotiate and oversee innovative projects and investments, including REDD+, sustainable commodities and other conservation finance projects. Before joining WCS, Thomas worked in several U.S. national law firms on international transactions and at Iveric Bio, a biotechnology company. He has a B.A. in Health & Societies from the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.
Dr. Tom Evans is Senior Director for Forest Conservation in the Forests and Climate Change team. He has worked with WCS for nearly 20 years, both in the field and in global policy and science roles. He has a particular interest in mobilizing climate finance, policy ambition and on-the-ground action to secure the world’s remaining high integrity forests. In this context, he coordinates the Forests for Life partnership and plays a key role in developing an innovative financing mechanism called HIFOR. He was instrumental in establishing a major voluntary market REDD+ project in Cambodia and supporting one of the first Indigenous communities in that country to obtain a collective land title.
Tom holds a PhD from the University of Oxford, UK, where he studied the ecology and economics of non-timber forest product use in Lao PDR.
