Hi there! My name is Sabina DM and I am very excited about participating in the Global Landscapes Forum (GLF)! At the moment I am not too far from Paris. I am doing my 2nd year of Masters study in Europe. I was born and raised in Brazil, and I am enjoying an international atmosphere at home, being in a Brazilian and French family.
For most of my life, I have walked on the path of science and research, dealing with practical and real-life issues as much as possible. That’s why I’m very happy to be able to exchange knowledge and experiences with others at GLF (forest/rural dwellers; project developers/managers; creative people; maybe business people?).
The landscape approach is relatively new to me, but since I found it I have been working deeply with it. At Wageningen University and Center for Development Innovation (NL), I worked with amazing professionals on projects about landscape research, participation in governance and assessment of landscape restoration projects, where I learned a lot about the subject.
Before that, I had the opportunity to do internships in Brazil with Empraba agriculture research center, mapping the land use cover and carbon sequestration of a landscape in the South of the country. Another important experience was with The Nature Conservancy, with a landscape program regarding water resources around São Paulo (protection and regulation services from forested buffer zones).
Specific landscape topics that interest me are connected to social aspects, like participation, governance and community mapping; GIS, such as generating spatial information and maps; and ecosystem services.
The picture illustrates that landscape is integrated and has different ways to be looked at. The image is related to some experience I had with landscapes, which show a little bit the complexity, multitude and beauty of this approach.
At the GLF, I see the possibility of learning even more, meeting brilliant people, different perspectives and young energy, finding solutions and develop my leadership skills. Looking forward to GLF 2015!
Sabina Dessartre Mendonça is one of the 10 young champions who will work on the “ Measuring success ” Landscape challenge with Youth program’s partner: UNEP-DHI.
Learn more about the Global Landscapes Forum’s Youth program, meet our 50 youth champions and discover the 5 Landscapes challenges they will take up, in December, in Paris.
