The PANORAMA Ambassadors Programme 2025

2025 PANORAMA Ambassadors at Abu Dhabi Congress
2025 PANORAMA Ambassadors at the IUCN Congress
IUCN/Marcus Rose/Workers Photos

The PANORAMA Ambassadors Programme is a flagship initiative of PANORAMA – Solutions for a Healthy Planet, designed to advance knowledge exchange and champion scalable Solutions for biodiversity conservation, climate resilience, and sustainable development.

Building on the momentum of previous cohorts, the 2025 programme introduces an inclusive and sustainable model with active youth leadership (with the introduction of a youth arm of this cohort) and aligned with the PANORAMA 2030 Strategy and the Knowledge Management Strategy of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). The programme cultivates a global network of practitioners, policy influencers, youth, and academics who act as champions of the PANORAMA approach, bridging local action with global biodiversity and development goals.

The PANORAMA initiative is co-led by GIZ and IUCN and supported by a broad alliance of organizations including UNEP, UNDP, ICCROM, ICOMOS, GRID-Arendal, IFOAM Organics International, and the World Bank, with IKI, GEF, and the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment, as development partners.

 

This year’s call for applications generated tremendous interest from many applicants, across the world:

  • Over 120 applications were received
  • 26 Ambassadors selected (with 13 drawn from this number as a dedicated youth arm – a historic and novel shift in the programme with a strong youth element).
  • This year’s programme brings together Ambassadors from across the globe, with representation from virtually every continent, including Africa (Ghana, Cameroon, Tunisia, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, Benin), Asia (India, Turkey, Timor-Leste, Indonesia, China, Taiwan – Province of China, Palestine), Europe (France, Netherlands, Albania), Oceania (Papua New Guinea, New Zealand), North America (United States), and South America (Colombia, Peru)

 

Meet the Ambassadors

Gamze Akarsu

Netherlands & Turkey, Europe/Asia

gamzeakarsu.en@gmail.com

Gamze Akarsu is a biodiversity finance and policy expert currently serving as Nature & Biodiversity Risk Consultant at DLL. With previous roles at UNDP and GIZ, she has led global knowledge management for UNDP’s biodiversity finance programme, authored PANORAMA Solutions, and mobilized over US$1M through crowdfunding for conservation. She has worked across 40+ countries advancing biodiversity integration in policy and finance. As a long-time PANORAMA Solution Provider, she intends to link local projects with global networks, organize peer learning, and scale nature-based solutions across sectors.