People
Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias
Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias is Associate Professor at the University of Brasilia’s Department of Ecology (initially at Forestry Department since 1981), where he has supervised MSc and PhD students and coordinated research on biogeography, fire ecology, insect ecology and conservation of the Brazilian Cerrado Biome, the largest savanna in the Americas and the richest savanna in the world. He was Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity from February 2012 to February 2017 and was National Secretary for Biodiversity and Forests in Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment from September 2010 to January 2012, and previously held various positions in the Ministry of the Environment since 1991, including Research Director of the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA) from 1991 to 1993 and Director for Biodiversity Conservation from 1999 to 2002. Braulio was also Research Leader and Division Chief of the Ecological Research Station of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), where he worked since 1978. Outside of the government he has been a member and president of the NGO Pro-Nature Foundation (FUNATURA, based in Brasilia) and has coordinated the establishment of the Brazilian Fund for Biodiversity – FUNBIO (based in Rio de Janeiro), where he later represented the Ministry of the Environment in its Governing Council.
A graduate of the University of Brasilia with a PhD in Zoology from Edinburgh University (1981), Braulio has published extensively and has been an active member of several national committees and councils dealing with biodiversity, most notably the Brazilian National Biodiversity Committee (CONABIO) which he coordinated from 2003 to 2011, the Brazilian National Council for Genetic Resources Administration (CGEN), which he established and coordinated in 2002 and again in 2010-2011, the Brazilian National Technical Committee for Biosafety (CTNBio), where he represented the Ministry of the Environment from 1999 to 2001, and was a member of the Governing Council of the National Environment Fund (FNMA). Since 1994 he has coordinated the Brazilian National Biodiversity Program, the National Biodiversity Projects – PROBIO I & II (with GEF/World Bank support), the Brazilian National Biodiversity Strategy Project (with GEF/UNDP support), and the elaboration of the first four Brazilian National Biological Diversity Reports to the CBD.
Braulio has been strongly involved with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) since its negotiations. Since 1994 he has been the Brazilian National Focal Point for the Subsidiary Body for Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA), having been a member of its Steering Bureau from 1994 to 1996. From 1996 to 2002 he was the Brazilian National Focal Point for the Clearing-House Mechanism (CHM) of the CBD. He has taken active leadership in the development of CBD’s Clearing-House Mechanism, the Agricultural Biological Diversity Work Program, the International Initiative for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Pollinators, the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, the Global Framework of Targets and Indicators for 2010, the Business and the 2010 Biodiversity Challenge initiative and the Biodiversity for Food and Nutrition initiative. He has been a member of Liaison Groups and Ad Hoc Technical Expert Groups established by the CBD Secretariat on biodiversity indicators, on forest biodiversity and on climate change and biodiversity relationships.
Braulio has also been involved in other global biodiversity initiatives such as the Global Biodiversity Assessment (GBA/UNEP), as a member of its Editorial Committee, a past member of the Advisory Committee of the DIVERSITAS Program, a past vice-president of the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS), a past member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel - STAP/UNEP of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Braulio currently is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Future Earth research program, a vice-chair of Bioversity International, a member of the global council of Birdlife International, a member of the council of SAVE Brasil (a Brazilian bird conservation NGO based in São Paulo), of the Life Institute (a Brazilian biodiversity certification organization based in Curitiba), a member of the advisory committee of the Amazonas Sustainability Foundation – FAS (based in Manaus) and a member of the Scientific Committee of the Iwokrama Institute in Guyana. Since March 2017 Braulio has been an advisor to the Biodiversity Secretariat of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment on public policies on biodiversity.