Suzana Padua

Suzana M. Padua is a Brazilian environmental educator with a doctoral degree from the University of Brasilia and a Master’s from the University of Florida. She is the president of IPÊ - Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas (Institute for Ecological Research), a Brazilian organization that works for the conservation of biodiversity and sustainable development. Her conservation education programmes are broad, as they reach students, mid-career professionals and decision makers. She founded the Brazilian Center for Conservation Biology, an education center linked to IPÊ, where short-term courses are offered to conservationists from Brazil and from other Latin American countries. This initiative has expanded to a Master’s programme recognized by the Ministry of Education. Suzana has published widely in many countries and has been able to contribute to several governmental and non-governmental projects related to environmental education. She is a member of the Wildlife Trust Alliance, an Ashoka fellow and an AVINA leader. She has received a number of awards: Woman of the Year (Claudia magazine finalist of 2002), in the USA, the Conde Nast Traveler Environmental Award (2003), the Most Influential Women of Brazil (Forbes, Gazeta Mercantil and Jornal do Brasil - 2005) and the Ford Motor Company and Conservation International Environmental Award (2006). She received the Schwab award together with her husband, Claudio as entrepreneurs of 2009. She has recently been appointed as IUCN representative for South America for the Commission on Education and Communication.