Paulo Moutinho is a Brazilian ecologist D.Sc. in Ecology from the State University of Campinas, Brazil. He is co-founder and former Executive Director of the Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (IPAM), Brazil, where he currently works as a senior scientist. He has worked in the Amazon for 20 years, and he is co-author of the compensated reduction of deforestation, a concept that contributed to the development of the mechanism known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. He participated actively in the establishment of the Amazon Fund and the Brazilian National Policy for Climate Change, and served as an Adjunct Associate Scientist at The Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC).

“The Amazon is the last largest tropical forest on the planet capable of protecting innumerable vulnerable peoples, maintains 20% of the planetary biodiversity and keeps the regional and global climate in balance”