Dr A Aldrie Amir, a mangrove ecologist by training, is an Associate Professor at the Institute for Environment and Development (LESTARI) of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He obtained his PhD in the field of Marine Science (Mangrove Ecology) from The University of Queensland, Australia in 2011. He has led and participated in various research projects related to mangrove ecology, management and conservation and published a substantial number of publications, two of which have appeared in Science in 2018 and 2019. He is a Commission Member of the IUCN SSC Mangrove Specialist Group, and the coordinator of the Malaysian Mangrove Research Alliance and Network (MyMangrove). His primary research interest and specialisation on the ecology and the dynamics of mangroves are now expanding through a developed interest on understanding the connectivity, complexity and the socio-ecological systems of tropical and subtropical coastal habitats and environment, including the management, conservation and governance of these natural ecosystems and resources from the perspectives of Sustainability Science. In 2017 he initiated the establishment of the Malaysian Mangrove Research Alliance and Network or MyMangrove to promote multi-disciplinary and collaborative research among academia and scientists. MyMangrove aims at reaching out to the authorities and to the public to increase awareness on the importance of these key tropical habitats and ecosystems in addition to promote public participation in research and conservation as citizen scientists.

Ibn Sina Distinguished Professor of Marine Science Carlos M. Duarte is the Tarek Ahmed Juffali Research Chair in Red Sea Ecology at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), in Saudi Arabia, Executive Director of the Global Coral R&D Accelerator Platform, and Chief Scientist of Oceans2050, The Wave, Ocean us, E1Series and Blue Green Futures.  Before this was Director of the Oceans Institute at The University of Western Australia and held positions in Spain, Norway and Denmark. Duarte’s research focuses on the effects of global change in marine ecosystems and developing nature-based solutions to global challenges, including climate change, and evidence-based strategies to rebuild the abundance of marine life by 2050.  Building on his research showing mangroves, seagrasses and salt-marshes to be globally-relevant carbon sinks, he developed, working with different UN agencies, the concept of Blue Carbon, as a nature-based solution to climate change. He has conducted research across all continents and oceans, organisms and ecosystem types. Professor Duarte has published more than 1.000 scientific papers and has been ranked as the top marine biologist and the 12th most influential climate scientist in the world (Reuters).

Daniel is an interdisciplinary coastal scientist, interested in human-environment interactions in mangroves and seagrasses. How do mangroves and seagrasses produce ecosystem services? How do they respond to geomorphological threats (sea level rise) and anthropogenic threats (landcover change)? How can we better conserve wetlands through conservation actions such as habitat restoration and Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES)? What are the social-ecological interactions and constraints to ecosystem services?​ Daniel holds the Cochran Family Professorship in Earth and Envrionmental Sciences at Tulane University. From 2009-2022 he was based at the National University of Singapore. Daniel was an Associate Professor and Dean's Chair (2018-2022) and an Assistant Professor (2012-2017) in the Department of Geography, and a Research Fellow with the Singapore-Delft Water Alliance and the Applied Plant Ecology Lab (2009-2011). He received his PhD in wetland geography from the University of Cambridge. Internationally, Daniel is a member of the International Blue Carbon Initiative and co-chair their seagrass working group. He is also a founding member of the IUCN Mangrove Specialist Group. Daniel is co-Editor in Chief of ​WIREs Climate Change and also an Associate Editor for the Journal of Ecology, Estuaries and Coasts and Remote Sensing in Ecology and Conservation

Dr. Daniel Mateos-Molina is a marine ecologist with extensive expertise in managing critical coastal ecosystems and conserving endangered marine species. His research focuses on spatial ecology and connectivity, contributing to a holistic understanding of biodiversity across seascapes, with a particular emphasis on coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass meadows. As Head of Marine Conservation and Biodiversity for Emirates Nature-WWF in the United Arab Emirates, Dr. Mateos-Molina leads pioneering initiatives to safeguard marine ecosystems, addressing challenges such as climate change and habitat loss. His career spans academia, conservation NGOs, and supporting environmental government agencies across multiple regions globally, where he has played a pivotal role in providing critical information to shape policies and strategies for the sustainable management of coastal and marine resources.

Frida Sidik is a mangrove ecologist with main interests in mangrove ecology, mangrove conservation and restoration and blue carbon. She is a senior researcher of the Research Centre for Oceanography, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) - Indonesia. She has extensive experience in international mangrove and blue carbon research programs and collaborations, including Global Ocean Decade Programme for Blue Carbon (GO-BC), International Partnership for Blue Carbon (IPBC), and Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA). She involves in the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) Mangroves Reports for the Sunda Shelf, the Western of Coral Triangle and the Java Transitional regions. She is also the book editor of Dynamic Sedimentary Environments of Mangrove Coasts and the member of the Editorial Team of PeerJ Open Advances in Marine Biology. Frida was the Fellow for Climate Change of the US – ASEAN Science and Technology Fellowships and Blue Carbon Specialist for Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Climate Change Adaptation Working Group. Frida had BSc from the University of Sydney, Australia and majored in Ecosystem Analysis and Governance for her MSc at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom. She completed her PhD degree in Marine Science and was appointed as the Adjunct Fellow at the University of Queensland, Australia.

Senior Research Officer at Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), James Gitundu Kairo obtained both BSc in Biology and MSc in Plant Ecology from the University of Nairobi and his PhD on ecology and restoration of mangrove ecosystems from the University of Brussels. He has vast working experience on the conservation, rehabilitation and sustainable utilization of mangroves systems. In 2002, he won the International Cooperation Prize awarded by the Belgian Government in recognition of his work on cooperation and sustainable development. In 2005, the Alcoa Foundation awarded him the WWW- Practioner Fellow. In 2010, the Kenyan head of State President Mwai Kibaki conferred him with the Kenya National Award of Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear (MBS) for his work on mangrove planting and “returning lost forests back to life.” Over the last 10 years, Dr. Kairo has contributed immensely to new knowledge on the ecology and restoration of mangrove systems in the WIO region by producing more than 20 peer reviewed publications. It is through his work that he has been invited to transfer mangrove reforestation and management technologies to several other countries in the region including Mozambique, Egypt and Tanzania. Further, through his efforts, more than 200 ha of mangrove have been reforested with suitable species in Kenya. Over the years, he has supervised several MSc and PhD students. Dr. Kairo is a Senior Research Officer at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute. He is a member of the International Blue Carbon Scientific Working Group. He is also involved in the East Africa Forum for Payment of Ecosystem Services |g2n|(EAFPES) and Mikoko Pamoja Projects.

Jennifer is the Vice President of the Blue Carbon Program at Conservation International. Her work focuses on implementing scalable mechanisms to conserve coastal and marine ecosystems to protect threatened coastal communities, combat climate change, and conserve coastal biodiversity. She provides technical support to partners globally. She helped found the Global Mangrove Alliance and represents CI on its Steering Committee with the goal of halting loss, doubling protection, and restoring half of the mangrove ecosystems globally through meaningful collaboration across sectors and disciplines. She also sits on the Advisory Council of the Mangrove Breakthrough where she represents the Alliance.

Joe Lee has been researching the ecology of coastal wetlands, particularly mangroves, since 1985 when he started a PhD on the carbon dynamics of mangroves at The University of Hong Kong. His work focuses on the ecological processes underpinning the services of coastal wetland ecosystems, and how key animals contribute to these processes. To date, Joe has published > 240 papers on various aspects of coastal marine biology and ecology, including >130 on the carbon dynamics and other aspects of mangrove ecosystem ecology. Joe also contributes to the global conservation of mangroves through his role as chair of the IUCN Mangrove Specialist Group, since its establishment in 2014. After successive academic appointments at The University of Hong Kong, Griffith University (Australia), and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Joe took early retirement in 2022 but continues to engage in mangrove conservation work and research everything interesting about coastal wetlands in his capacity as adjunct professor of the latter two institutions.

Dr Jurgenne Primavera is an internationally recognized mangrove scientist and currently the Chief Mangrove Scientific Advisor of the Zoological Society of London. Her degrees are in Zoology and Marine Science. Her scientific contributions include studies on aquaculture of marine shrimp (with the SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department), science-based conservation of mangroves, and beach forest identification and propagation. She has around 170 scientific and technical papers, reviews, manuals, books and other publications and is lead author of five ZSL manuals on mangrove rehabilitation, pond-mangrove reversion and beach forest propagation. As of November 2022, she had a Hirsch index of 54 and a total 18,582 citations. She has given more than 350 lectures and presentations in national and international conferences, seminars, workshops, etc. including 35 keynote and commencement addresses; and ~45 webinars.  She was awarded a PhD in Science honoris causa by Stockholm University, elected to the Swedish Royal Academy on Agriculture and Forestry, Royal Belgian Academy for Overseas Sciences, Phi Kappa Phi, and other honor societies. She was named Scientist Emerita of SEAFDEC/AQD, one of 30 Time Magazine Heroes of the Environment and 50 DOST Men and Women of Science in 2008, a University of the Philippines Distinguished Alumni Awardee in Environmental Conservation in 2009, and a member of the Philippine National Academy of Science and Technology. She is also a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation.

Ken is currently working as Forestry Officer at FAO headquarters.  He has broad experience in forest management including project formulation, implementation and coordination, research, and policy analysis.  He also has extensive field experience in Asia-Pacific, as well as in North and Central America.  Through his work at FAO, a private consulting company and forest research organizations, Ken has managed and provided inputs to a wide range of forestry-related projects including forest certification and carbon project audits, biodiversity assessments, high conservation value assessments, forest restoration, carbon stock assessments, REDD+ project feasibility studies, etc.

Professor Rod Connolly is Director of the Global Wetlands Project (GLOW) headquartered at Griffith University in Australia. He specializes in the ecology of mangroves and other coastal habitats such as corals, saltmarshes, and seagrass meadows. His research focuses on seascape connectivity and how interlinkages among habitats help to support provision of ecosystem services such as fisheries and blue carbon. He leads a team of data scientists and ecologists developing decision tools to support the conservation and restoration of mangroves. He has led the development of automated AI cameras for safe, cost-effective monitoring of underwater habitats and animals, providing vastly improved measurements of mangrove ecosystem health and seascape connectivity.

Dr. Valerie Hagger is an ecologist and conservation scientist based at The University of Queensland, Australia. Her research informs coastal wetland conservation and restoration by identifying drivers of ecosystem change, opportunities for restoration, and benefits for biodiversity and carbon abatement. As a UN Ocean Decade Action, her AXA-UNESCO research fellowship is exploring how community- and Indigenous-based management of mangrove forests can enhance their conservation and restoration. She leads research projects on developing biodiversity assessment methods for coastal wetland restoration, assessing the feasibility of coastal wetland restoration with Indigenous groups and local governments, and characterising carbon abatement and biodiversity enhancements from controlling feral animals in wetlands to underpin a new carbon method in Australia. She co-authored international best practice guidelines on mangrove restoration. She has 20 years of industry and research experience in environmental management, biodiversity conservation, and ecological restoration. She is on the board of the Society of Ecological Restoration Australasia and the international Society for Ecological Restoration as the Pacific representative, and a representative of Australia’s Restoration Decade Alliance.

Mark is professor of Teaching and Research in Environmental Biology at Edinburgh Napier University, combining research into coastal ecology with teaching and the scholarship of teaching. His PhD research was on food webs in estuaries, and he still works in these fascinating places, here in Scotland and overseas (particularly in Kenya). Mark has spent nearly two decades working with local communities dependent on mangrove resources to understand their ecosystems better and to use this science to help restore their environments and bring community development benefits. As a committed educator Mark enjoys teaching ecology, environmental science, environmental ethics and scientific methods to a wide range of students and volunteers. He also researches pedagogical questions arising from his own practice and from the needs of students, including new ways to assess and give feedback and how to include students in the co-creation of learning.

Amna Almansoori is a marine scientist interested in the interconnectedness within the coastal ecosystem mosaic of Arabia, particularly mangrove habitats, associated species, and how changes in the coastal environment impact local communities. Amna completed her Masters in Environmental Sciences from Sorbonne University in 2017 during which she gained valuable work experience at the UN Convention on Migratory Species in the research and conservation department. In 2017, she joined the Environment Agency UAE in monitoring and assessing critical coastal habitats and species of the Arabian Gulf. Currently, she is a PhD candidate at Newcastle University UK, conducting research on the interrelationships among mangrove habitats, biodiversity, and local communities in the southern Arabian Gulf region with the aim to provide scientific-based evidence to better inform regional direction of research and conservation efforts for mangroves in Arabia. Amna contributed to the National assessment of IUCN Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) for Mangroves of Abu Dhabi Emirate (2021) and recently led the Regional assessment of the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) on Mangroves of the Arabian Gulf (2024). She recently joined the initiative Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA) as a scientific member to gain international experience and contribute to mangrove projects.

Mark Beeston is Technical director for blue carbon ecosystems at Conservation International. An intersectional ecologist specializing in coastal vegetated and tropical freshwater ecosystems and interactions between people, nature, and nature markets. Mark also sits on the board of the Association for Ecosystem Services, who support the development and operation of Mikoko Pamoja and Vanga Blue Forest community-led blue carbon crediting projects in Kenya.

Professor William (Bill) Austin is Professor in the School of Geography and Sustainable Development (and Scottish Oceans Institute) at the University of St Andrews (Scotland, UK); he also holds a visiting chair appointment at the Scottish Association for Marine Sciences (SAMS/UHI), where he is Professor of Marine Geosciences. He has held research fellowships from the Royal Society of London, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and is a founding member and continues to serve (now as Chair) on the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Peer Review College. Bill also chairs the BOSCORF Advisory Group at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton on behalf of NERC and the wider international user community. Bill is Chair of the Scottish Blue Carbon Forum (Scottish Government), sits on the steering group of the Scottish Forum on Natural Capital and leads the United Nations Decade Programme for Blue Carbon in the Global Ocean (GO-BC) (UNESCO), with support for the GO-BC secretariat at St Andrews from the UK Government through Defra. Bill also supports the science working groups of the Blue Carbon Initiative and the Global Mangrove Alliance. At St Andrews, Bill is Director of the University’s Blue Carbon Research Centre and leads the Blue Carbon Academy which delivers in-country capacity building and sustainable partnerships through the training of early career researchers across the globe.