Yolanda Kakabadse

Who is Yolanda Kakabadse?

Yolanda Kakabadse Navarro is a conservationist from Ecuador.

After studies in Educational psychology at the Catholic University of Quito, she became involved in environmental issues. She was a founder of the Fundación Natura in Quito and was its executive director from 1979 to 1990. At the Rio Earth Summit, she acted as NGO liaison. In 1993, she was a founder of the Fundación Futuro Latinoamericano and served until 2006 as the executive president of this NGO. From August 1998 to January 2000, she served as Minister of Environment in the government of Ecuador. From 1996 to 2004, she was president of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and since January 2010, she has been president of the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Kakabadse is also a trustee of the Ford Foundation and a board member of the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction since 2004.