ENVIRONMENTAL/NATURE CONSERVATION NGOS

PRINCIPAL BOARD MEMBER

Name Of Organisation: WWF International
Membership Number: 600110800000
Name Of Nominee: Kamal Prakash Seth
Position In The Organisation: Global Palm Oil Lead


Summary of Nominee Profile
Kamal is the Global Palm Oil Lead for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) based in Singapore. His expertise lies in providing strategic direction for mainstreaming sustainable palm oil production, trade and consumption and for organisations to take the necessary actions for UN SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production and UN SDG 13 - Climate Action amongst many others. Kamal has been managing global partnerships and programmes with key stakeholders like companies, financial institutions, civil society organisations, sustainability standards and governments to halt deforestation and to improve the livelihood of smallholders connected to commodities like palm oil. He co-chairs Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil’s (RSPO) ‘Assurance Standing Committee’ and ‘Shared Responsibility Working Group’ and is a member of the ‘Standards Review Steering Group’.

Previously as the Global Deputy Director, Market Transformation and Head of India for the RSPO, he supported the formation of I-SPOC - Sustainable Palm Oil Coalition for India and scaled up RSPO’s growth and impact in India, China and Asia Pacific. To engage consumers for sustainable consumption, Kamal led the #KnowYourPalm campaign and built partnerships with Youth for Sustainability (YfS) India Clubs and the YfS India Alliance as a founding and steering committee member. He has also been a member of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) ‘Expert Review Panel’ and COP26’s Forest, Agriculture and Commodity Trade – FACT Dialogue Global Multistakeholder Taskforce. He loves to stay updated with the latest developments in the world of market transformation and completed the ‘System Thinking’ programme from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2021.

More Details: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kamalsetspan/



Summary of Organisation Profile

WWF is an independent conservation organisation, with over 30 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the Earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption.

WWF's Global Palm Oil team is based in Singapore and it drives high level strategies and projects to mainstream the production, trade and consumption of sustainable palm oil. The global team is supported by the 'Palm Oil Working Group' comprising of commodities and subject matter experts operating in more than 30 countries. WWF runs one of the largest sustainable palm oil programmes called 'Asia Sustainable Palm Oil Links' to drive market transformation and policy advocacy in key Asian markets like India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
Links:

https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/food_practice/sustainable_production/palm_oil/asia_programme/
https://wwf.panda.org/discover/our_focus/food_practice/sustainable_production/palm_oil/

Visit www.panda.org/news for the latest news and media resources.

ALTERNATE BOARD MEMBER

Name Of Organisation: HUTAN Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Programme
Membership Number: 600251300000
Name Of Nominee: Harjinder Kler
Position In The Organisation: Sustainability Engagement Lead


Summary of Nominee Profile
Harjinder Kler is with HUTAN – Kinabatangan Orang-utan Conservation Programme (KOCP), which is a community-based research and conservation Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO); based in the village of Sukau, along the Kinabatangan river in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.

Within his capacity at HUTAN, Harjinder engages with Government agencies, NGOs, universities, funders and the oil palm sector (primarily via the Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil). He did his undergraduate degree in Parks & Recreation at Lincoln University in New Zealand and prior to working with HUTAN – KOCP, Harjinder was journalist based in Sabah before joining the NGOs fraternity with WWF-Malaysia.

Harjinder believes that we can all help do better for communities and the environment while still being economically progressive.

Summary of Organisation Profile
HUTAN is a grassroots non-profit organisation working to conserve orang-utan and other wildlife populations in the forests of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. In 1998, HUTAN set up the Kinabatangan Orang-Utan Conservation Programme in collaboration with the Sabah Wildlife Department. We work with a wide range of partners - local communities, research institutions, government agencies and the private sector - to find realistic solutions where the sustainable use of natural resources and durable socio-economic development can be compatible with, and even support, the conservation of wildlife and their habitat.

Through KOCP, HUTAN has developed an integrated approach combining scientific research, protection and management of orang-utan habitat, capacity building, awareness campaigns, and community outreach and development projects. Over the past two decades, HUTAN has encountered many challenges but our efforts have resulted in many successes: discoveries are being made on the ecology of the orang-utan, new protected areas are created - such as the Lower Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary -, sound policies for the conservation of orang-utan and other wildlife are established in Sabah, solutions are implemented that reduce the levels of conflicts between human activities, and wildlife and pioneering initiatives by local communities are leading to tangible economic and conservation gains.

Since the start of our work, we placed a high priority on the intensive training of our local staff to conduct high quality research and conservation activities. Today, our team is composed of 80 highly skilled staff hailing from the native community, working with immense dedication.

In 2013, HUTAN joined RSPO as an Environmental Non Government Organisation to have a suitable platform to engage with the palm oil industry and has been a member of the Biodiversity & High Conservation Values Working Group in 2014 (and Co-Chair since 2018), Market Development Standing Committee in 2019 and Shared Responsibility Working Group in 2020.