FSC Amazon Business Encounter

Daniela Teixeira Vilela, Director FSC Brazil

Daniela Vilela, Executive Director of FSC Brasil. Degree in Forestry Engineering from the University of São Paulo (ESALQ/USP), specialization in Quality Management from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) and specialization in Environment and Sustainability from Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV). She has worked for 13 years with FSC certification, in the most different areas, in a company in the cellulose sector, auditor for Chain of Custody and representation of companies in the plantation sector in FSC governance in technical working groups. At FSC Brasil, she works to promote certification and responsible forest management, advocacy actions, project management and implementation, and with the organization's norms and standards. 

André Aquino, Director of Forestry Development at the Brazilian Forest Service

André Aquino is Director of Forestry Development at the Brazilian Forestry Service of the Brazilian Ministry of Environment and Climate. Previously, André worked for 18 years at the World Bank. His last position was as program leader in sustainable development for Indonesia and East Timor, covering agriculture, environment, water management, urban management and social inclusion. André coordinated the World Bank's largest environmental program, including forest, ocean and climate change management, in Indonesia. André managed several large-scale investment operations in Asia, Africa and South America, led technical assistance to governments at national and subnational levels and studies that served as inputs for public policies. André has a Master's degree in Environmental Economics from the University of Maryland (USA), a Diploma from the Executive Program in Forestry from the University of Yale (USA), a postgraduate degree in Environmental Law from the University of Pará (Brazil) and a bachelor's degree from the Pontifical University Catholic Church of Minas Gerais (Brazil). 

Gao Ya, Value Chain Development Manager at FSC International

Gao ya is a recognized forest industry expert with extensive international experience. She has specialized knowledge about wood-based industries as well as policy and technical standards in China and in multiple Southeast Asian, European and African countries. She has specialized knowledge about global softwood, hardwood, tropical hardwood and furniture markets and trade. She is also informed on the international wooden construction industry, associated policy development, markets and standardization. Today, Gao Ya works for FSC International where she leverages her knowledge and experience to support the development of sustainable timber value chains.

Cesar Gonçalves, Policy manager at FSC International  

César Gonçalves has been a Policy Manager at FSC International for the past year, working in the Chain of Custody and Controlled Wood team. He holds a master’s degree in forestry engineering, specializing in wood technology. Originally from Portugal, he started his career in forest inventory and biomass assessment in Brazil; has worked as a forestry engineer in the logging sector in Portugal, developing forestry investment projects and managing chain of custody certifications. He later worked in a certification body as a technical manager and business developer, for forest-based products and services in Portugal and Spain. During this time, he was an FSC lead auditor. In the past few years, he has been an invited speaker addressing emerging topics on forestry, forest-based products, and chain of custody certification.

Paulo Roberto de Faria Pinto, Technical Analyst at FSC Brasil 

Graduated from the Federal University of Amazonas in Forestry Engineering with more than 20 years of experience, most of it working in the area of corporate forestry management in the Amazon. Worked at ProManejo UFAM/Gethal Amazonas as a field engineer, Manager of the Forestry Department at the company Gethal Amazonas (AM), Forestry Operations Coordinator at AMATA S.A (RO). Experience in forestry concessions, Head of the Wood Department at the Sustainable Development Agency do Amazonas – ADS, Socio-environmental Analyst at UHE Belo Monte in Pará.

Daniel Bentes, Executive Director at Confloresta - Forestry Concessionaires Association 

Graduated in Environmental Engineering from UEPA (2009). Master’s in applied Ecology from USP (2012). Specialist in Business Management from SENAC (2017). From 2011- 2014 Worked as Engineer at Ferro Carajás (Project at VALE S/A)  and as a professor at UEPA (2014). Between 2015 and 2018, he worked with Strategic Planning, Project Management and Public Policies at the Government of the State of Pará, having led the project management office of the Pará 2030 Program.  

He works as an Environmental Consultant, having carried out work for private sector companies, the State Government and the World Bank, participating in licensing and environmental management of industrial enterprises (transformation and extractive), infrastructure and tourism.   

He has knowledge and experience in the area of Physical Environment Monitoring, Licensing and Environmental Management, Business Management, Project Management, Institutional Relations and Public Management .

Tijmen Hennekes, Project Manager Tropical Timber at FSC Netherlands

Tijmen Hennekes works for FSC Netherlands where his main focus is on improving the business case for responsible forest management. He does this by working together with different actors from across the tropical timber value chain to grow the demand for certified tropical timber in European markets, with special attention for timber diversity and the use of lesser-known timber species. 

Tijmen has a background in Forest Management, with a specialization in International Timber Trade.