The Assessment Committee
OPERATION
The Assessment Committee is composed of 10 qualified personalities, representative of SMILO themes of interest (Water, Energy, Waste, Terrestrial and Marine Ecosystems, Landscapes, Governance and Human Activities). These members, called Reporters, were approached by SMILO Administrative Council for their skills and experiences. Coming from all around the world, Reporters meet at least once a year in person to carry out the ongoing intermediate and final assessments. In this context, they issue a common opinion, after study of applications, which they transmit to the Administrative Council, the only decision-makers of Label granting. They are all independent, non-adherents to the NGO and sign a cooperation convention defining their role within SMILO NGO.
REPORTER'S ROLE
On the occasion of an intermediate or final Assessment, the Assessment Committee mobilizes one of its members (a Reporter) directly on the candidate island. The latter checks in situ the conformity of all labelling steps preceding the assessment. Available and open-minded, Reporter’s role goes beyond a simple review of required minima. He/She can advise and carry the island, via its Island Committee, to modifications of its project for more consistency with objectives of achieving Sustainable Island Label.
THE REPORTERS
Awatef Abiadh
Awatef Abiadh is a program coordinator for the LPO (Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux) and BirdLife France, in charge of developing conservation program in francophone countries. She is in charge of involving civil society organisation in conservation and capacity development at different level. Awatef has a PhD in Biology focusing on the evolution and taxonomy of genus Gerbillus. She started her professional career teaching in school, then at Universities in Tunisia. Passionate by photography and hiking, her first contact with islands was in 2007, and it has radically influenced her career. She was involved with the PIM Initiative NGO from 2007 to 2012 to coordinate control activities of invasive species (more precisely rats) on small North African islands. She also prepared feasibility plans for different small islands in the Mediterranean to reproduce these activities.
Habib Ben Moussa
Born in 1958 in Tunisia, Habib Ben Moussa is currently Special Adviser to the Tunisian Ministry of Local Affairs and Environment, and in charge of coastal issues and waste management. He joined IFREMER in 1984 to do his doctorate in small islands of Polynesia. Doctor in Marine Ecology, he began a career entirely dedicated to environment protection, more specifically coastal preservation. In nearly 30 years, this specialist of Mediterranean has coordinated many international projects, alongside Tunisian institutions such as the Agency for Coasts Protection and Development (APAL), or the National Agency for Environment Protection. Thus, he worked on multiple themes, like waste and hazardous waste management, protection of marine and coastal ecosystems, industrial pollution and climate change.
Eduardo Bueno Guimarães
Eduardo Bueno Guimarães is an engineer specialised in generation and transmission of electrical energy. He has a MSc in Power systems engineering. Eduardo has close relationships with the sea, being a Navy second lieutenant and reserve forces. This great sailor, amateur skipper, has more than 4000 nautical miles navigated. Now retired, Eduardo lives part time on an island (Ilha Grande), 170 km south of Rio de Janeiro, in the heart of a natural reserve of the Atlantic blue forest. He was also the Director of Engineering Union of Rio, and worked at PROCEL, the Brazilian programme of energy saving. His last professional experience was as CEO of Serra do Facão Energy SA, a private company responsible for the construction and operation of a 210 MW hydroelectric plant, with a 218km² reservoir. During this 7-year job experience, he managed the relation with the communities, preservation of environment and resources quality, relocation of houses, construction of new roads and distribution systems, water and sewage management and social investments in poor communities, as public schools and hospitals.
Pierre Carret
Pierre Carret is an agronomist and expert in biodiversity conservation. For the last twenty years he has worked on nature conservation programmes with several international organisations. His career began in the Congo Basin on European programmes for the protection of forests. He was then the first manager of the participatory science programme “Gardens & Butterflies” with the association Noé and the Museum of Natural History of Paris, before joining the environment/biodiversity team of the international cooperation directorate of the EU Commission. Since 2010, Pierre has worked for the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), first as an advisor to the Executive Director then, since 2014, as Grant Director. His missions have led him to meet and support many local associations working for the protection of nature, in more than thirty countries of the Caribbean, Africa, the Mediterranean region and the Indian Ocean. He is currently the CEPF grant director for the Mediterranean Basin hotspot, a position he holds from Sarthe, West of France, where he also manages a small-scale organic farm.
Muminatu Jaló
Muminatu Jaló is a PhD student in Sustainability Science at Universidade de Lisboa in Portugal. Her main research focuses on the dynamic relationship interactions between ecosystem services and society well-being, as it is influenced by biodiversity and ecosystem processes within the context of global climate change, land use change and on other socioeconomic elements. Muminatu has a MA Master of International Politics and Economics at Kingston University. She has worked for 4 years in PASSA-HRS project as Socio-Economist carrying out internal capacity business in social science through monitoring, training, improving rural productivity, employability and income earning opportunity, enhancing food security and promoting environmentally sustainability and livelihoods. With a 15+ year experience in Human Development, across seveal countries, she recently founded the Think Company, which took charge of all socioeconomic aspects of deploying drinking water and small electricity wattage to small villages in Guinea-Bissau. She’s the author of “The element of economic and political institution that impact the prosperity in ECOWAS development”, published in December 2013.
Pauline Malterre
Pauline Malterre is an independent consultant, leading the IEMI consult company. She is a marine biologist graduated in Integrated Coastal Zone Management, and specialised for 15 years in marine protected area (MPA) planning and management. She previously worked in a marine reserve, in a French oversea territory before joining several cooperation projects for providing technical assistance for biodiversity practitioners in different areas (Indian Ocean, Mediterranean…). She also worked for the IUCN French Committee and is still involved in two expert groups related to the Protected areas and Overseas programs.
Thomas Pavy
Thomas Pavy is a Coastal Ecosystems Management specialist. Since 2018, he works as an independent consultant in this domain. Born in the Alps, Thomas Pavy naturally started by focusing on mountains ecosystems. He crossed over to Coastal ecosystems sciences in 2009 while studying at the University of Edinburgh. In 2013, he then obtained a Master degree specialised on Expertise and Management of Coastal Environments in Britany, France. From 2015 to 2018, he was in charge of the environmental operations for the “Pangatalan Sustainable Island” in Palawan, Philippines, a project initiated in 2012 by the Sulubaaï Environmental Foundation. Thomas and the Foundation established in 2016 a 40ha Marine Protected Area surrounding the island. They also designed and developed the SRP (Sulu-Reef Prosthesis) in order to accelerate the resilience of the degraded coral reefs surrounding Pangatalan Island.
Ravaka Natacha Ranaivoson
Ravaka Natacha Ranaivoson is the Director of the Marine Conservation within the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) programme in Madagascar. She is in charge of the marine conservation strategic development, planning, finance and implementation. She ensures fundraising, sustainable financing mechanisms, and the development of partnerships. She supervises and supports marine and scientific staff of Madagascar in field activities. Ravaka is an economist with more than 20 years of experience in financing conservation, natural resources management and human development on the island, in the Indian Ocean and on the African continent. She previously worked for the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund regional office in Madagascar and Indian Ocean, and for the Tany Meva Foundation on renewable energies, reforestation, biodiversity, natural resources management, community livelihoods, etc. She served as the Executive Secretary of the African Fund for the Environment (CAFÉ) network, where she promoted innovative financial mechanisms for sustainable development, environmental conservation and management in Africa.
Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy
Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy works at the intersection of resilience, community and storytelling, primarily in urban, island and indigenous contexts, with a particular passion for all things water and ocean. Family connections to the Isle of Lismore in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland and Newfoundland catalysed his interest in island ecosystems and human geography early in life. Stewart is presently Director Global Strategic Partnerships and Development, and Senior Advisor North America, for the Resilient Cities Network. Stewart is also the founder of Precovery Labs, where creativity and community drive impact and awareness for clients like RISE-Resilience Innovations, Ocean Conservancy, Opportunity Finance Network, NDN Fund/Collective, and Conservatoire du Littoral, as well as a professional documentary and fine art photographer. He is also Senior Advisor for the Global Island Partnership, member of the advisory committee for SeaAhead, a fellow to Northeast Maritime Institute’s Center for Ocean Policy and Economy, and a member of Four Bands Community Fund’s board of directors.
Nenad Starc
Nenad Starc is a researcher and consultant in the field of regional economics specialised in island development, strategic plans and local development programmes. He holds a Master degree from the University of California Berkeley and a PH degree from the University of Zagreb. Nenad was a senior researcher (now emeritus) at the Institute of Economics of Zagreb, and Head of the Department of Regional Economics. His activities span from scientific researches, mentoring, preparation and evaluation of local and regional development strategies and programmes, advising ministries and government agencies to teach on a number of postgraduate studies at universities of Zagreb, Rijeka and Split in Croatia. In the 1990s he advised the Croatian Ministry of Development and Reconstruction and coordinated the preparation of the National Island Development Programme (1997), the Island Act (1999) and the new Island Act (2018). Between 2013 and 2015, he worked on Integrated Coastal Zone Management projects financed by the Regional Centre for the UNEP Priority Action Plans in the Mediterranean. He is active in a couple of Croatian NGO’s dealing with island development. He is also a member of the Executive board of the International Small Island Studies Association (ISISA).
Cristina Abreu
Cristina Abreu is a biologist and Adjunct Professor Specialist in Natural Sciences. She has a Master’s Degree in Sustainable Tourism and Territory Planning from the University of Lleida/Barcelona. She is currently a PhD student in Tourism Management at ISCTE-Lisbon. Teaching in Secondary Education and at University in Biology and Tourism, with the supervision of Master’s and Degree theses in Biology, on Nature Conservation and Sustainable Tourism. She is an environmental consultant and has been part of several teams for the application for UNESCO Biosphere Reserves in Portugal and abroad since 2010. Senior Auditor of Environmental Management Systems and Sustainable Tourism Certification since 2003. She has experience as a researcher and coordinator of scientific projects, namely LIFE and INTERREG Projects. She was Senior Advisor at the Regional Secretariat of Tourism and Culture – Madeira Island Government (2016-2017). She has published in national and international scientific journals, scientific articles, books and book chapters. She participates in scientific meetings, presenting posters and oral communications in her main areas of research: Nature Conservation, Environmental Management, Sustainable Tourism, Nature-based Tourism and Innovation in Tourism.