National Selection Committee
The National Selection Committee consists of nationally renowned nature conservationists. Out of all applicants Future For Nature receives annually, the National Selection Committee selects six to ten nominees.
Hans de Iongh has been a member of the Board of the Netherlands Committee for IUCN since 1987 and has been a Chair of the Committee between 1990 and 20 [...]
Hans de Iongh has been a member of the Board of the Netherlands Committee for IUCN since 1987 and has been a Chair of the Committee between 1990 and 2000 and a Vice Chair from 2000 until 2003. Since 2003, he has been a member of the Supervisory Board of IUCN NL and Biodiversity Advisor to the daily board. During 2008 and 2012 Hans was a IUCN Regional Councillor for West Europe in the IUCN Council. Hans has been a member of the Steering Committee of the IUCN Species Survival Commission during 2008 to 2016, and still is an active member of the Sustainable Use Specialist Group, the Sirenia Specialist Group and the Cat Specialist Group. He is also an active member of the African Lion Working Group, which is affiliated with the Cat Specialist Group, and he has contributed to the Ecosystem Management Group for several years. Hans has been a member of the Netherlands CITES Commission, Chair of the Van Tienhoven Foundation and he is still a member of an Advisory Group to the Ministry of LNV on Red Lists in the Netherlands. He currently is Chairman of the Leo foundation.
Director of Scomber Consultancy for international sustainable fisheries and healthy oceans.
Director of Scomber Consultancy for international sustainable fisheries and healthy oceans.
Dr. Pita Verweij is an associate professor at Utrecht University. Her specialties are: vegetation ecology, tropical ecology, ecological modelling, envi [...]
Dr. Pita Verweij is an associate professor at Utrecht University. Her specialties are: vegetation ecology, tropical ecology, ecological modelling, environmental valuation, business & biodiversity, natural resources management, bioenergy, GIS, remote sensing. Dr. Pita Verweij worked in a wide range of tropical ecosystems, from lowland forests to mountain grasslands, and from semi-arid to extremely humid.
Gabriella is a conservation biologist who has mainly been working in South East Asia for the past 25+ years. She finalized her PhD on the effects of El [...]
Gabriella is a conservation biologist who has mainly been working in South East Asia for the past 25+ years. She finalized her PhD on the effects of El Niño and forest fires on the ecology of sun bears. Gabriella is still actively working on habitat conservation in Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo, has pioneered the development of an innovative conservation education center in East Kalimantan, and is further interested in wildlife surveys, monitoring techniques, and training/capacity building of local conservation NGOs and students. Gabriella is co-chair of the Sun Bear Expert Team of the IUCN/SSC Bear Specialist Group and a guest lecturer at the University of Edinburgh.
Jan van der Ploeg is an environmental anthropologist working on community-based conservation, environmental crime and ecological restoration. Over the [...]
Jan van der Ploeg is an environmental anthropologist working on community-based conservation, environmental crime and ecological restoration. Over the past 20 years, he worked in insular Southeast Asia, the Pacific, and the Caribbean on the intersection of science, policy, and conservation. In 2003 he co-founded the Mabuwaya Foundation, an organization dedicated to the in-situ conservation of the critically endangered Philippine crocodile. In the Solomon Islands, Jan supported rural communities to create a network of locally managed marine areas. From 2020 to 2023, Jan served as director of STINAPA, the national parks authority on Bonaire. Jan holds a PhD degree from Leiden University and is currently leading a research group on inclusive conservation at the Van Hall University of Applied Sciences in Velp.