GLF 2015 » Pecha Kucha-style Night: Stories of the Landscape

Pecha Kucha-style Night: Stories of the Landscape

Turning initiatives into stories: Pecha Kucha-style Night

For the first time, the Global Landscapes Forum hosted a Pecha Kucha-style Night on the evening of the 5th of December, giving individuals and organizations the chance to present about landscapes in a dynamic and concise way.

What is a Pecha Kucha-style presentation?

It is a simple presentation format where 20 images are shown for 20 seconds each, which advance automatically as you talk. Each presentation has an exact duration of 6:40 minutes.

Seven speakers have been selected for their inspiring ideas and initiatives, ranging from research and innovative projects to eye-opening life experiences and music — all related to landscapes and their pressing challenges.


1. Xiuhtezcatl Martinez


We are all Indigenous to the Earth


Xiuhtezcatl– deeply rooted in the Aztec tradition– shares his indigenous wisdom and the importance of staying connected to our cultures. He shows how indigenous cultures around the world are being impacted through their loss of land, languages and ancient teachings that could be important guides for turning the tides in the global challenges we now face.


Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, (his first name pronounced ‘Shoe-Tez-Caht’) is a 15-year-old indigenous environmental activist, hip-hop artist and public speaker from Colorado. He has spoken at over 100 events around the world. He is also the youth director of Earth Guardians, a International youth based environmental non-profit organization that is committed to protecting the water, air, earth, and atmosphere. At the early age of 6, Xiuhtezcatl began speaking to crowds at conferences from the Rio+20 UN Summit to the UN in New York. Locally, he has worked on successful campaigns to get pesticides out of parks, regulate coal ash and help achieve bans and moratoria on fracking in Colorado cities. He has traveled across all the U.S. and to many parts of the world, educating his generation about the state of the planet they are inheriting, and inspiring them into action to protect their future. His work has been featured on PBS, Showtime, National Geographic, Rolling Stones, HBO, etc..He received also the 2013 Community Service Award from the President Obama and was the youngest of 24 change-makers chosen to serve on the President's Youth Council. He is the 2015 recipient of the Peace 1st Prize and the 1st Nickelodeon Halo Award. Bill Mckibben of 350.org calls Xiuhtezcatl "an impressive spokesman for a viewpoint the world needs to hear”.

2. Andrea Vasquez


Who defines development? Consequences of non place- and cultural-based definitions


In her presentation, Andrea aims to answer the question “Who defines development?” by drawing on examples from the Amazon that unpack the assumptions underlying various definitions of development.

 Video  Presentation


Andrea is from Peru and earned her B.Sc. in Forest Engineering in the Agrarian University of La Molina and her M.Sc. in the sociopolitical aspects of Forestry in the University of British Columbia. She is also an active member of IFSA (the International Forestry Students’ Association). Currently, she is pursuing a PhD in UBC and in collaboration with Amazonian indigenous people, continuing to investigate their systems of self-government and mechanisms of self-determination using indigenous theories and methodologies.

3. Sayed Azam-Ali


How to feed a hotter world


In December 2015, world leaders meet in Paris with a goal to limit CO2 emissions to keep global temperatures within 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Even if they succeed in this goal, a warming planet will challenge food production at a time when burgeoning population requires unprecedented amounts of food, water and energy. By 2030, we will need 50% more food and energy and 30% more fresh water. How will we feed in a hotter world?

 Video  Presentation


Prof. Sayed Azam-Ali has been the Chief Executive Officer of Crops For the Future (CFF) since August 2011.  After his first degree in Plant Biology at the University of Wales, Prof. Azam-Ali completed his PhD in Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), India, returning to Environmental Physics at the University of Nottingham in 1983. He then worked as a plant physiologist at the International Crops Research Nottingham where he became Professor of Tropical Agronomy in 2006. At Nottingham, Prof. Azam-Ali coordinated three major EU-funded Programmes on Bambara groundnut and was a principal partner in two other EU programmes. He was also Principal Investigator for six UK DFiD projects. In 2008, Prof. Azam-Ali was appointed as Vice-Provost (Research and Internationalisation) at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus where he successfully secured the European Union funded MYEULINK programme that links major research universities in Malaysia with counterparts in Europe. He also coordinated the successful bid by the University of Nottingham to co-host the global CFF organisation against stiff international competition. Prof. Azam-Ali was instrumental in the establishment of the CFF research centre in 2011 as the world’s first centre research on underutilised plants for food and non-food uses. He is also the Chair in Global Food Security at the University of Nottingham.

4. Houria Djoudi


Once, there was a lake


Any change that happens in natural landscapes also affects and transforms social and cultural norms, and power and gender relations. This message is illustrated in the form of a story about Houria’s findings while working in Northern Mali; where the daily livelihoods of a community drastically changed to adapt to a new landscape.

 Video  Presentation


Houria Djoudi works for the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), with a background in socio-ecological systems analysis. Her main focus lies on management of natural resources and climate change adaptation. She has worked mainly in Northern and West Africa. Houria has been with CIFOR since 2008, and is based in Bogor, Indonesia.

5. Michael Taylor


A common vision: the 10-65 challenge


This presentation consider the urgency of closing the gap between the 65% of land claimed by local communities and Indigenous Peoples, and the 10% that governments actually recognize as belonging to local communities. It considers the lose-lose scenarios that can easily arise when such rights are ignored, and the win-win possibilities for local communities when their land rights are recognised.

 Video  Presentation


Michael Taylor is the Director of the secretariat of the International Land Coalition at IFAD. The International Land Coalition is a global alliance of 207  multilateral and civil society organizations working together to put people at the centre of land governance. Michael is a citizen of Botswana, with a PhD in Social Anthropology. He has worked for 25 years on community-based natural resource management and community land rights in Africa and globally.

6. Tristan Lecomte


Insetting via Agroforestry at landscape level


Offsetting the socio-environmental footprint of an organization via Agroforestry within its own supply chain could benefit 500 million people and generate 5 billion additional Euros yearly by 2025. The question is: how to scale up?

 Video  Presentation


Tristan Lecomte founded PUR Projet in January 2008 with the ambition of assisting companies in regenerating the ecosystems they depend upon, through reforestation and forest conservation. Since 2008, PUR Projet has developed 35 large-scale forestry projects in 30 countries worldwide in collaboration with small-scale farmers’ organizations.

Prior to PUR Projet, Tristan founded Alter Eco in November 1998 and managed it for 13 years (sold back to the leading organic European company Wessanen). Alter Eco is now the leading organic and fair trade company on the French market, present in the US and Australia. At Alter Eco, Tristan developed most of the supply chains in partnership with 40 farmers groups in 35 countries: cocoa, coffee, rice, sugar, fruit juices organic and fair trade supply chains.

He is the author of six books on Fair Trade and Sustainability published in France: « Le pari du Commerce Equitable » (2003), « Le Commerce Equitable » (2004), « Oui ! Au Commerce Equitable », (2007), « Le Commerce sera Equitable » (2007), « Comment je suis devenu plus humain » (2011), « Et si on remontait dans l'arbre ? » (2015), and the author and producer of a series of documentaries for the French TV Channel France 5, on supply chains sustainability issues (cocoa in Peru, sugar in the Philippines, rice in Thailand,..).

Tristan was appointed as "Young Global Leader" by the World Economic Forum in 2008 and Ashoka Fellow in 2009, and nominated as one of the Time Magazine 100 "Most influential people in the World" in 2010. In 2013, he was nominated Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2013 by the Schwab Foundation.

Tristan graduated from HEC Paris in 1996.

7. Nienke Stam


Production and protection; Business initiative for sustainable landscapes


This presentation introduces production-protection compacts, agreements to investments to achieve both forest conservation and development goals, and addresses governance challenges in the balance between agriculture, forest and people through a multi-stakeholder approach. This will be explained through an example of the IDH Initiative for Sustainable Landscapes in Kenya.

 Video  Presentation


Nienke Stam is Senior Learning Manager for Landscapes and Deforestation at IDH Sustainable Trade Initiative. She initiates and supports innovative public private partnerships and learning on deforestation free supply chains and landscape approaches across the IDH sector programs and the IDH Initiative for Sustainable Landscapes (ISLA).

Prior to this, she was Technical Team Lead in consultancy firm Triodos Facet /  Enclude. In this role, she mobilized private sector investment and partnerships to accelerate innovations in agricultural and clean energy supply chains. Before that, she worked in the private sector as marketing manager for various companies targeting markets in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and as an entrepreneur imported sundried organic fruits from Africa. Mrs. Stam holds a Master’s degree from Wageningen University graduate, with a specialization in rural supply chain development.

8. Nolan Hunter


Traditional Fire Management: Indigenous People Leading Climate Mitigation


Indigenous people in north-western Australia use traditional fire burning practices to mitigate the effects of climate change and create sustainable livelihoods in the country. Nolan Hunter, CEO of the Kimberley Land Council, explains how.

 Video  Presentation


Nolan Hunter is the CEO of the Kimberley Land Council- a non-profit organisation that assists Aboriginal people to secure land rights. He is also the Chairman of the National Native Title Council and a member of the Western Australian State Government Kimberley Regional Planning Committee.

Mr Hunter is a Bardi man with strong links to his people and culture across saltwater country in northern Western Australia. In keeping with Aboriginal traditions, Mr Hunter has been taught by his senior elders the stories of, and knowledge about his people, language, law and culture. His expertise in traditional knowledge has been further advanced in his role as CEO of the KLC, which represents and brings together about 25 different Aboriginal tribal groups from across the region.

Mr. Hunter has a professional background in strategic management and staffing operations and has more than 23 years of experience in this field. He spent 14 years with different Commonwealth agencies specialising in Indigenous Affairs and has worked extensively with Indigenous communities in Australia. Mr. Hunter has worked with the Australian Consulate in Manchester, focusing on immigration and humanitarian programs as well as the Australian Embassy in Vienna, Moscow, Edinburgh and Dublin. On returning to Australia, he has worked as the Director of several indigenous organisations.

Through his role with the Kimberley Land Council, Mr. Hunter is an active campaigner for Indigenous native title rights. He strongly supports the development of sustainable business enterprises based on Aboriginal cultural values as a way to generate wealth in remote communities, ignite social change and create positive futures for Kimberley Traditional Owners. He has recently presented at a number of International conferences on the development of environmental and cultural enterprises and the KLC’s work to connect indigenous land managers from across the world. He has presented at both the Thirteenth and Fourteenth United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the World Parks Congress, the Wild10! Conference and the World Indigenous Network Conference.