My name is João Luis Bittencourt Guimarães, I am a forest engineer with a master’s degree in nature conservation. I live in the south of Brazil, in Curitiba, with my wife and two children. I was born in France, where I lived until I was two years old, when my parents decided to return to their homeland, Brazil. 

 I have been working for over 20 years on the themes of biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and water resources. I have accumulated experience both in the private sector (in companies and as a consultant) and in the non-profit sector(environmental organizations). In recent years, I have worked extensively on the themes of Ecosystem Services (benefits of natural processes for society) and Nature-Based Solutions(NbS).

Since 2016, I work as a senior consultant on the development of strategic studies on NbS, Payment for Ecosystem Services, Ecosystem Services assessment and modellingand providing training related to these themes. 

I have worked in different work sectors, such as a consulting firm (Montgomey Watson, 2000-2001), within the environmental departament of a large mining company (Vale SA, 2001-2003), and three non-profit nature conservation organizations (Boticário Group Foundation, The Nature Conservancy and Fauna & Flora International, 2003-2016). 

I really enjoy developing team solutions, I have a collaborative and adaptive spirit, I am open to the fruitful differences of  opinion, I seek to establish approaches that embrace different points of view. I am used to responding to multiple requests and managing correctly their turnaround time.  I am used to writing proposals and reports on the analyses I carry out, in technical and clear language.

I have accumulated extensive professional experience in the modelling of ecosystem services (related to water, soil, carbon, agricultural production, etc.) via the InVEST tool (Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (https ://naturalcapitalproject.stanford.edu/software/invest ). I have used the InVEST tool extensively in several strategic analyses, mainly aimed at quantifying and mapping the impact of hypothetical development or conservation scenarios on the supply of ecosystem services.