Kerry ten Kate

Kerry ten Kate "is Director of Forest Trends' Business and Biodiversity Offset Program, a new partnership of over 30 companies, government agencies and conservation experts. Formerly a practicing barrister, Kerry joined the Secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (the "Earth Summit") in 1990. Since then, she has conducted research and offered policy advice to governments, industry, investors and the UN on issues ranging from conservation and sustainable development strategies to trade and environment policies. Her focus since 1994 has been on biodiversity, including access to genetic resources and benefit-sharing, on which she has written extensively. At the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, she led the team developing and implementing genetic resources policy and establishing Kew as a centre of expertise on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Subsequently, as Policy Adviser to Kew's Director, she advised the UK and other governments on the CBD and sustainable development strategies. From 1999 to 2002, she was a member of the UK delegation to the negotiation of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and negotiating sessions of the CBD. From November 2002 to September 2006, Kerry was Director of Investor Responsibility at Insight Investment, engaging with the multinational companies in which Insight's £89 billion fund is invested to encourage them to adopt best practice on environmental, social and ethical issues and working with Insight's fund managers and analysts to take these issues into consideration in investment decisions. She writes, broadcasts occasionally for BBC Radio 4, is Senior Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies of the UN University, a member of IUCN's Species Survival Commission and on the Steering Committee of the Global Biodiversity Forum. She is also a member of the UK Government's Darwin Advisory Committee."


 * Director, Business and Biodiversity Offset Program
 * Advisory Committee, Ecosystem Marketplace