Paula is the South America Engagement Lead at Trase, with special focus in Brazil, since 2024. Based in Rio de Janeiro, Paula promotes engagement activities involving dialogue and solutions building with Brazilian actors to make agricultural commodity supply chains more sustainable. With over 15 years of experience on land use and deforestation, she has worked at civil society and philanthropy organizations and participated in networks and multistakeholder coalitions.

Paula holds degrees in Environmental Management from University of Sao Paulo (BA, 2007) and in Economic Development from University of Campinas (MSc, 2013).

Global Canopy

André is the Global Engagement Lead at Trase, Global Canopy's supply chain mapping initiative in partnership with the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). Based in Oxford, UK, André coordinates the team's engagement activities involving dialogue and solutions building with global actors to make agricultural commodity supply chains more sustainable. Over the last five years his work has focused on deforestation and supply chains, with a particular emphasis on the exposure of Chinese and European markets to deforestation and climate impacts.

Engagement

Management

Chris is a research scientist with expertise in ecology, supply chain modelling, and private sector engagement. He joined Trase in 2018 and works in the impact and research teams, leading engagement with the corporate sector. Chris has helped develop models, tools and associated projects at SEI that explore the role of consumption and supply chain activities on environmental degradation and sustainable development. Chris holds a degree in Ecology, Conservation and the Environment (BSc, 2005) and Ecology (PhD, 2010) from the University of York. He works part-time on Trase.

Stockholm Environment Institute

Supply chain mapping

Mark is a conservation scientist and ecologist interested in the global drivers of biodiversity loss. He joined Trase in 2021, helping to map the international supply chains of commodities driving deforestation and assess their impacts on ecosystems. He also presents Trase at events, and helps companies, governments and financial institutions get the most out of our data. Before Trase, Mark completed a PhD exploring how the combination of land-use change and climate change shape global patterns of biodiversity loss (Durham University, 2022). He also holds degrees in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge (BA, 2016) and in Ecosystem and Environmental Change from Imperial College London (MRes, 2017).

Michaela is a Data and Policy Analyst at the European Forest Institute (EFI) who joined Trase in 2021. She analyzes Trase data in support of EFI’s work to promote transparency in forest-risk commodity supply chains. Prior to joining EFI, Michaela completed a PhD at Yale University on the impacts of natural resource policies on land use change. She holds degrees in Forestry and Environmental Studies from Yale University (PhD, 2021; MPhil, 2017), Natural Resources from North Carolina State University (MS, 2015), and Environmental Science and Policy from Duke University (BA, 2013). She works part-time on Trase.

European Forest Institute

Osvaldo is a geographic information systems specialist who joined Trase in 2021. He works on mapping supply chains and analysing data for key audiences in South America and China. Before joining Trase, Osvaldo worked at The Nature Conservancy Brazil as the technical coordinator of the Agroideal decision support system, with a focus on soy and beef production chains in Amazon, Cerrado and Chaco biomes. Osvaldo holds degrees in Geography from the State University of São Paulo (BA, 2008), and Agronomy from the University of São Paulo (MA, 2011) and the University of Toulon-Var (PhD, 2014).

Spatial intelligence

Rhian is a project coordinator who joined Trase in 2021. She works in the engagement team, working on trader and multiplier strategy development. Prior to joining Trase, Rhian has worked in a number of project coordinator roles in a range of fields, including wildlife conservation, climate change and social services. She holds a degree in Natural Sciences: Biology and Earth Sciences from Durham University (BSc, 2012) and Sustainable Cities from the University of Leeds (MSc, 2019). Rhian works part time on Trase.

Thomas is a land-use governance expert who started collaborating with Trase in 2015. Thomas is the Trase lead at the European Forests Institute. His work focuses on target users in Europe, Indonesia and West Africa. Before joining EFI, Thomas worked on programs to address drivers of deforestation at the UN Environment Programme in Kenya, the World Bank in the United States, and for philanthropic foundations. Thomas holds degrees in Environmental Policy from the University of Cambridge (MPhil, 2008) and Public Policy from the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

Paula Bernasconi

Other Team Members

André Vasconcelos

Chris West

Mark Titley

Michaela Foster

Osvaldo Jose Ribeiro Pereira

Rhian Ebrey

Thomas Sembres