Fabiola Zerbini

Activist, Artist, Connector, Doctor, Environmentalist, Lawyer, Parent, Photographer, Scientist

Fabiola Zerbini is the Executive Director of Conexsus – Instituto Conexões Sustentáveis. A lawyer with a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Politics from the University of São Paulo (PROCAM/USP), she has over 20 years of experience in public policy, forests, land use, and sustainable development. From 2023 to 2025, she served as Director of the Department of Forests at Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change. She previously held leadership roles at organizations such as WRI Brasil (Director of Forests, Land Use and Agriculture), the Tropical Forest Alliance (Latin America Director), and FSC Brazil (Executive Director), with a strong focus on zero-deforestation supply chains and sustainable production. Earlier in her career, she worked on solidarity economy and fair trade with organizations such as FACES do Brasil and Instituto Kairós.

Passionate about people, collaborative work, and critical yet constructive thinking. I believe in politics with a capital "P"—the kind that takes shape in government corridors and in the collective governance of civil society. And when it’s connected to art, even better.

Strengthening economic and territorial governance—both at the South-South scale and globally—is essential for advancing a bold vision of land-use intelligence and inclusive development models that ensure food, climate, and water security for current and future generations. We have extraordinary human, technological, political, and cultural capital to shape this agenda. What we need now are stronger, more optimized investment flows and coordinated political decisions to unlock its full potential. LETS DO IT TOGETHER!

Biodiversity, Bioeconomy, Climate emergency, Forest conservation, Poverty Reduction, Restoration, Rural development

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