To ensure equitable distribution of benefits, it is important to involve women, girls, and marginalized communities - those most affected by climate change - in the design and implementation of climate response actions.
At COP27, UNDP’s Climate and Forests Programme launched a digital tool, PLANT, based on a comprehensive dataset from over 56 forest countries. Countries can use this tool to track their commitments under the Paris Agreement.
Today, we celebrate the women who are championing the advancement of transformative technology for climate action by shining the spotlight on the 5 women behind this innovative tool:
Leticia Guimarães
Leticia is a climate change specialist with a specialty in the land use, land-use change and forestry sector. For the past 15 years, Leticia’s expertise has led to the structuring of performance-based finance mechanisms to incentivize tropical forest conservation and climate change mitigation in developing countries.
She currently supports developing countries from Latin America, Africa, and Asia Pacific on their carbon market readiness efforts for the forest sector and with the development of diversified financial strategies for the implementation of their climate targets.
Recognizing that high-integrity forest data is key to tackle the climate crisis, Leticia developed the initial idea of PLANT and curated an all-women team to bring it into life.
“Having worked with several REDD+ countries over the past 17 years I recognize that even though the data exists, it is very challenging for countries to find the information and make sense of it. While putting together a team to work on this tool, I have prioritized getting women involved, with the idea of demystifying their engagement in a data driven processes. It has been a true pleasure to work with these dedicated professionals."
Thelma Krug
Thelma is a former researcher at the Earth Observation Coordination at the National Institute for Space Research in Brazil, and was elected Vice-Chair of the IPCC for the Sixth Cycle of Panel.
For more than 15 years she represented Brazil in the negotiations at the UNFCCC, with particular focus on issues related to land use, land-use change and forestry. Her main areas of interest are climate change and the role of deforestation, forest degradation and land-use change; REDD+; and national greenhouse gas inventories.
Thelma worked as the technical expert who reviewed and audited all the data that went into PLANT.
Simone Souza Santos
Simone is a sustainability and information management specialist, with an expertise in carbon accounting. Her talents range from leading strategic sustainability initiatives to measuring and reporting emissions.
With a truly intersectional lens in combining technology, data innovation and sustainability, Simone created the digital framework and system in which PLANT now lives, using a tool called PowerBI.
"It is a great pleasure to work alongside these highly qualified and strong women who made this tool possible and an important source of information for countries on their decision-making journey towards their climate goals and Paris Agreement implementation."
Amanda Ribeiro
Amanda is a sustainability expert, working on Nature-Based Solutions to mitigate climate change, including avoided deforestation, restoration, and agricultural solutions. She has been working on the Jurisdictional REDD+ agenda, assessing the feasibility of using carbon market standards by countries and provinces around the globe.
Amanda was instrumental in coordinating the collection of data for PLANT and conducted the tool development in the PowerBI, liasing with several subcontractors in a mainly male-dominated environment.
“PLANT sheds light on complex issues of the Paris Agreement. It compiles strategic information to help countries plan and make decisions about carbon in the forestry sector, showing opportunities for achieving climate goals.”
“We women are leading the fight against climate change on several fronts, from activism and local conservation leadership to data-driven processes, an area that used to be mostly male.
Kimberly Todd
Kim is a global technical specialist supporting countries on carbon accounting and greenhouse gas measurement, reporting and verification in the context of UNFCCC reporting, REDD+ results-based finance and carbon markets.
She has more than 15 years of experience in climate change policy and technical analysis, with a focus on forests.
Kim has supported the development of PLANT, providing technical inputs into the design and content, based on her experience with UNFCCC GHG inventory data, technical assessment and analysis of REDD+ submissions, and carbon market standards.
"Being involved in the development of PLANT -a digital solution that allows us to provide better support to countries - has been really exciting and interesting work, and the fact that I’ve had the chance to work alongside such brilliant, collaborative women on this has been an incredible bonus"
To learn more about PLANT:
Read the latest Quarterly Global Assessment Report here:
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