Greenpeace International Board of Directors

Lalita Ramdas is an educator and activist, and the  founder-director of "ANKUR",a non-profit organization working for Alternatives in Education and also a founding member of the Board of Greenpeace India.  Her early career in formal primary school teaching and broadcasting has been followed by a career in development work through education with marginalized and minority communities, with a special focus on gender and women and within an overarching Human Rights, Peace and Justice framework.  She has a degree in English Language and Literature from Delhi University.

She is the founder-director of a non-profit organization working for Alternatives in Education.  She has been actively involved with the Asia South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education and with the International Council for Adult Education, of which she served as President for five years.  

Lalita has written extensively on issues pertaining to Literacy, Gender Justice, Education Policy, Education and Human Rights, Peace and Nuclear Issues, and has been published in a range of publications - national and international.  She has lectured widely in all continents (except Antarctica!).  She was one of the "1000 Peace Women" nominated collectively for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.  She has received other awards from her government and NGOs in recognition of her contribution to Community Education and to Women's Development.

Lalita currently co-ordinates a group which addresses access and equity issues in rural primary education with a special focus on indigenous and other minority groups.  She is very active in leading peace initiatives with students from both India and Pakistan and with the anti-nuclear and peace movement in India.  She recently served (September 2006) as a Judge on the People's Tribunal on Poverty and Debt held at the International People's Forum at Bataam, Indonesia (parallel event to the AGM of the World Bank and the IMF).

Lalita is a founding member of the Board of Greenpeace India and prior to being elected Chair of the Greenpeace International Board, was Board Chair and Trustee of Greenpeace India. She came to Greenpeace through her commitment to non-violence. As well she serves on a number of national Boards of NGOs.  Lalita's three-year term of office as GPI Board Chair began on January 1st, 2007.

Lalita lives in Maharashtra, India.

AYESHA IMAM 

Ayesha M. Imam, Ph.D. has worked extensively on research, advocacy and education to protect and extend women's human rights under customary, secular and religious laws, on human rights generally and on democracy and sustainable development.

She is a core group member of the international solidarity network Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) and a founding director of BAOBAB for Women's Human Rights in Nigeria, with which she received the John Humphrey Freedom Award in 2002.  Currently she is also on the Board of WEDO (Woman's Environment and Development Organisation).  She was a Board member of the Geneva-based International Council on Human Rights Policy. The co-initiator and director of the first Gender Institute in Africa, Dr. Imam has also served as the Gender Policy Advisor for the United Nations Institute for Economic Development and Planning in Senegal and the Head of the Department of Culture, Gender and Human Rights at the United Nations Fund for Development (UNFPA) in New York.  She was also the first Chair of the African Democracy Forum, a network of African democracy activists.  

Ayesha has lectured and carried out research at universities and research institutes in Nigeria, the U.K., Canada and Senegal.  She has published widely for both academic and activist uses.  She has written and/or edited numerous journal articles, books and program reviews, including 'Green Revolution in Nigeria?', 'Engendering African Social Sciences' and two special issues of 'Africa Development': Re-Visiting Gender I and II.

She continues to advocate for, research and write on, and to train in human rights - including women's human rights, gender awareness and mainstreaming, gender and development, evaluation and research for activists in NGOs, planners and functionaries in government, and for researchers.  

Ayesha currently lives in Dakar, Senegal.

DIMITRIOS VASSILAKIS

Dimitrios Vassilakis has had a long career in Human Resources, Governance and small ship construction and operation.

He studied Administration and Personnel Management in Greece and Sweden from 1966 to 1973.

From 1973 until 1983 he was Human Resources Manager in two different international companies.

Since 1989 he has been Managing Partner and Board Chair of Pan Yachting S.A. involved in small (sail) ship environmental and historical cruises.

Since 2003 he has been Board Chair of the Greek Charter Yacht Owners Association. He is also editor of  SEA & YACHTING magazine.

From 2003 he was an active member of Greenpeace Greece assisting the Greek Board & Organisation in various actions. Among them have been work against genetically modified products, fundraising through direct dialog, auto payment methods, communication and major donors.

Dimitris Vassilakis lives in Athens.

FABIO FELDMANN (Brazilian)

Born in São Paulo, Brazil, on May 14th, 1955, Fabio Feldmann was elected as a federal legislator from the state of São Paulo for three consecutive terms (1986 - 1998) and was also appointed Secretary for the Environment of the State of São Paulo from January 1995 until 1998. Throughout his mandates in Congress he worked to promote awareness as well as to establish consistent policies and rules in all fields of sustainable development and human rights protection. One of his major legislative contributions is the creation of one of the world's most advanced constitutional texts with respect to environmental protection and the rights of indigenous people.

It was his remarkable expertise and his commitment to the cause of sustainable development that lead Brazilian Former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, to appoint him the Executive Secretary on the Brazilian Forum on Climate Change in 2000, and soon after selected him once again to a key post, as the Presidential adviser for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. In 2005 he helped to create the Paulista Forum on Global Climate Change and Biodiversity, of which he is the Executive Secretary. For that he is active in promoting capacity building in the area of climate change, as well contributing to the drafting of a Brazilian Political Strategy for Climate Change so as to allow Brazil to achieve its objectives, thus, complying with its commitments under the United Nations Climate Change Convention and the Kyoto Protocol.

As an active environmentalist at Law School, he became one of the founding members of many of Brazil's main environmental organizations, such as OIKOS, the S.O.S. Mata Atlântica Foundation (of which he was the first president), Funatura, and Biodiversitas, making him an exemplary leader for the environmental cause. In addition, he assisted International NGOs such as Greenpeace to establish a base in Brazil. In addition, provided counsel to many International NGOs such as Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, LEAD International, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Ecological Footprint, the IAG board of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), The Rainforest Foundation and Friends of the Earth - Brazilian Amazon. In many cases he also served as a board member of these important organizations.

In addition, Mr. Feldmann has organised, written and sponsored several innovative publications on sustainable development issues, as an environmentalist, member of Congress, Secretary for the Environment of São Paulo, the head of the Brazilian Climate Change Forum and special advisor to President Cardoso on sustainable development issues. As an active participant in both Brazilian and Global Sustainable Development Issues, his statement was included in the Brundtland Commission's final report. He has also lectured at various prestigious academic institutions, as well as places including the World Bank and has lectured once at the United States Congress. In recognition of all his work, he received the United Nations' Global 500 Award in June 1990.

Currently, Mr. Feldmann directs Fabio Feldmann Consultores, a consulting firm that is specialised in sustainable development and environmental issues.

LIEVEN DENYS 

Lieven Denys lives and works in Brussels (Belgium) where he is practising as an independent lawyer in the areas of public interest, human rights and international tax law.  He is member of the department for legal aid of the Brussels Bar.

Until 1999, Lieven served for 20 years as the managing partner of a leading international tax law firm associated with a large, international accounting firm.  

He is a professor of Belgian, European and International Tax Law at the Law School of the University of Brussels and member of the Governing Council of the Law School.  He has published extensively on subjects of international tax law and co-authored an international draft treaty on Global Currency Transactions Tax (Tobin Tax), presented at the World and European Social Forum. He drafted the Belgian Law on the Currency Transaction Tax that was approved by Parliament in 2004 and debated that pilot project with parliamentary committees in several European countries.

He was delegated by Alter Globalisation Movements to participate in UN and International meetings on the development of new international taxes for the financing of the Millennium Development Goals. In his academic capacity, he has also advised subsequent government coalitions on matters such as, for example, environmental tax policy and the fight against tax avoidance. In September 2006, he was appointed member of the "Conseil Supérieur de Finances", upon the proposal by the Minister of the Budget. This body gives independent advise to the government on tax policy matter. As Board Chair of Avocats sans Frontieres, he is involved in structural North - South development projects on sustainable international legal aid and the redress of justice in situations of massive human rights violations. He is active for Amnesty International in a network on Business and Human Rights.

In 1994, he became member of the Board of Greenpeace Belgium where he was active in the supervision of organisational, financial and legal matters and functioned as vice chairperson for 2.5 years.  

Lieven was elected to the SGC Board in May 2003. He speaks and/or understands English, French, German and Dutch (mother tongue).

He lives in Belgium.