UBHub's Regional Lead Teams serve as anchor points and hubs-within-the-hub for collaboration. UBHub also offers regional coordination via the regional teams to assist with coordination among IUCN Commissions and IUCN Urban Alliance via regular regional briefings (image of Beirut below by Sarah Jaroush).

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Ricardo Zamudio, Regions Director

Ricardo is a collaborative, analytical and solution-oriented biologist with a focus on systems change, strategy development, and measuring impacts across organizations’ work. He collaborated with the Duni Group to provide recommendations for integrating biodiversity by.interpreting the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and international policy. Moreover, he identified potential impacts, dependencies, risks and opportunities in Duni Group's value chain related to biodiversity and nature. Before that, he did an internship with the Initiative on Climate Action Transparency at the United Nations Office for Project Services on measuring the impacts across ICAT’s national and regional projects on climate action transparency. In 2020, he collaborated with the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas in Mexico to support implementation of the Ramsar Convention. He holds a Master’s in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science from Lund University, a Master’s in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability from Blekinge Institute of Technology and a degree in Biology from UNAM. He now coordinates all the regional leads in their activities.

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AFRICA REGION​

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Eric Hubbard (he/him), Africa Region co-Lead
Eric serves as the Africa Regional Lead at the Urban Biodiversity Hub, Member of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM) and Africa Co-Lead of the IUCN-CEM Urban Ecosystems Specialist Working Group (SWG). He also serves as co-Lead of the NATURA network Africa Regional team for the development of the Urban NBS Global Roadmap.   He is based in Sierra Leone and South Africa. He also serves as Consultant / Senior Advisor to the Mayor of Freetown and Technical Advisor for the #FreetownTheTreeTown campaign to plant and grow one million trees in the city of Freetown, Sierra Leone. Eric was co-lead of the Mayor’s team on Environment and Climate Action where he supported the co-design of the first Freetown Climate Action Plan (CAP) – 2022-2030 and coordinated Freetown's ecosystem-based adaptation strategy while serving as Technical Advisor to the Mayor and Council and Director of the #FreetownTheTreeTownCampaign under the Transform Freetown Agenda (2019-22) which is now elaborated in the CAP and linked to the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and National Adaptation Plan (NAP). In a recent research project through the African Center for Cities at the University of Cape Town, Eric worked with Slum Dwellers International (SDI) Sierra Leone to co-design and co-create community climate adaptation action plans.  Eric completed a bachelor's degree in Global Studies from the New School, a Masters in Conflict Transformation from SIT Graduate Institute and he is currently completing an MPhil in Southern Urbanism at the University of Cape Town - African Center for Cities and will upgrade to the PhD in Sustainable Urban Futures in the Fall of 2025.

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Julie Goodness, Africa Region co-Lead

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Frantz Zebaze Nguetsy (he/him), Africa Region Young Professional

Frantz has over 13 years of experience in education, research, and social entrepreneurship, particularly in natural resource management and community development. Born in Bafoussam, Cameroon, Frantz’s early work focused on biodiversity and environmental education at the Dja Biosphere Reserve. He has a bachelor’s in human geography, a teaching diploma, and a master’s in biogeography from the University of Yaoundé I. He is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Marien Ngouabi in Brazzaville. Frantz has been involved in initiatives that address land degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate adaptation in urban and peri-urban areas, advocating for urban conservation and community-based solutions. He is fluent in English, French, and Yemba.

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ASIA REGION

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Anushri Tiwari, South Asia Region Lead

Anushri  is an urban ecologist with expertise in Nature-based Solutions (NBS) and urban adaptation, focusing on advancing urban biodiversity and resilience. She has worked extensively across cities in South Asia and Southeast Asia through her role at the Urban Biodiversity Hub (UBHub), where she has contributed to integrating biodiversity into urban planning and policy. Anushri collaborates with global organizations, including IUCN, to drive ecological restoration and develop frameworks for sustainable urban development. She is currently engaged in the Science-based Targets for Nature for Cities project with Metabolic and SBTN, shaping future urban strategies. Recently, Anushri has also contributed to the C40 Adaptation Finance Academy, focusing on driving investment towards climate adaptation in cities. Her work highlights the intersection of ecology, urban development, and climate adaptation, aiming to create sustainable and resilient cities across rapidly urbanizing regions.

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Mika Tan (she/her), East and Southeast Asia Region Lead

Mika has dedicated over 14 years to empowering youth for environmental action, particularly in the areas of urban biodiversity, capacity building, and systems thinking. As the Co-Founder and East and Southeast Asia Regional Lead of UBHub, she leads the development of tools and reports to help cities plan with nature. Mika's background includes designing the ASEAN Youth Biodiversity Programme and mentoring youth across Southeast Asia. Mika holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies (Conservation Biology) from Middlebury College, USA, and is an inaugural Middlebury Social Entrepreneurship Fellow and a Loke Cheng-Kim Scholar.

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EUROPE REGION

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Joeri Morpurgo (he/him), Europe Region co-Lead

Universiteit Leiden, Institute of Environmental Sciences, Environmental Biology, Leiden, The Netherlands.

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Stefania Romano (she/her), Europe Region co-Lead

Stefania, based in Rome, Italy, works at UNECE/FAO Forestry and Timber Section Forests, Land and Housing Division. She previously served as the Global Coordinator of CitiesWithNature & RegionsWithNature for ICLEI Africa. She holds a 2007 - 2009 Master of Arts in Public Policy: International Public Policy Stream in Public Policy @ Central European University. She is also the CEO and founder of the Hearth Platform, where Art & Environment meet.

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Eline Remortel (she/her), Europe Region Young Professional

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LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN REGION

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Tatiana Gadda (she/her), Latin America Region co-Lead

Tatiana is an expert in urban planning and environmental science, holding a PhD from Chiba University in Japan. She is a professor at UTFPR in Brazil, where she coordinates research on urban biodiversity. Tatiana has held roles at UNU-IAS and is a member of both the IPBES and the Brazilian Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Her work focuses on urbanization and global environmental change, making her a leading voice in Latin America on urban biodiversity issues.

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Franco L. Souza (he/him), Latin America Region co-Lead

Franco is a full-time professor at the Mato Grosso do Sul Federal University in Brazil and a contributor to the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group. He is also a member of the IUCN Ecosystem Management Group and the GEOBON Ecosystem Service Working Group. Franco's work focuses on biodiversity conservation, human-dominated ecosystems, and ecosystem services. He is deeply engaged in creating strategies for fostering dialogue between various societal actors and promoting biodiversity-friendly environments. His extensive experience in national and international partnerships makes him a key figure in advancing initiatives that integrate human well-being with ecological health. Franco has published widely in leading journals and is an active participant in education and knowledge exchange.

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Mateo VIllegas (he/him), Latin America Region Young Professional

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NORTH AMERICA REGION

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Laura Costadone (she/her), North America Regional Lead

Laura is an urban ecologist with a PhD in Earth, Environment, and Society from Portland State University. She specializes in ecosystem services, human-environment interactions, and data science, with experience in research roles in Finland and the USA. Her work focuses on building resilience in urban and coastal areas through nature-based solutions. Laura is also an Assistant Research Professor at Old Dominion University and plays a critical role in co-creating pathways for urban sustainability with municipalities and decision-makers.

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OCEANIA REGION

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Dr Dave Kendal (he/him), Regional co-Lead, Oceania
Dave is an internationally recognized expert on social-ecological systems and the interaction between people and nature. He has gained a strong reputation for his work in nature-based solutions, urban greening, biodiversity conservation, and climate adaptation. Dave has a background in academic roles at the University of Tasmania, the University of Melbourne, and the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. He has served on Australia’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee and is currently a member of the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council. Dave is dedicated to supporting community-led conservation efforts, particularly focusing on local communities and First Nations peoples. In 2022, he founded Future in Nature, a platform aimed at advancing nature-related policy and programs to create a sustainable future for all species.

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Evariste Rutebuka (he/him), Regional co-Lead, Oceania

Evariste is an international consultant specialising in the Nature-Based Solutions Investment portfolio and has worked on various investment projects across multiple countries and regions. Over the past six years, he assisted different reporting frameworks integrating biodiversity and ecosystem services, such as the Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR), the Country Environment Analysis Report, and Ecosystem Accounting Reports for the World Bank and the United Nations Statistics Division. In his PhD work on urban biodiversity indicators for monitoring and Cross-Scale policy reporting from the University of Melbourne, he recently provided critical insights that could bridge local and global policy scales. With his expertise in ecological modelling and biodiversity and his PhD work, Evariste supports the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) at the World Bank in developing a Biodiversity module. This module complements the Heat, Flood, and Recreation modules, ensuring a more comprehensive Cities Nature-Based Solutions Opportunity Scan tool (NBSOS). Evariste is also one of the global experts who contributed to developing the Ecosystem Accounting Guideline Tool, supporting the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA). He is part of the Green Infrastructure Research Group (GIRG)at the University of Melbourne, where he focuses on developing urban biodiversity indicators and exploring the science-policy interface to improve city biodiversity monitoring. He is also an  Associate researcher at the Center of Excellence in Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management at the University of Rwanda. He is dedicated to creating biodiversity indicators well-suited to diverse urban contexts and integrating practitioners’ perspectives, helping narrow the science-policy gap and enabling cities to better measure their contributions to halting biodiversity loss.