Professor Virgilio Viana is a forest engineer, with a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology from Harvard University and a postdoctoral research in sustainable development at the University of Florida. He is a former professor of forest sciences at the Luiz de Queiroz School of Agriculture (ESALQ/USP) from 1989 to 2003; former State Secretary for Environment and Sustainable Development of Amazonas, Brazil, from 2003 to 2008; former President of both the Brazilian Society of Ethnobiology and Ethnoecology and the São Paulo Association of Forest Engineers; founder of both the Amazon COVID Alliance and of the Friends of the Amazon Institute (IAMA). Professor Viana is currently the General Director of the Foundation for Amazon Sustainability (FAS); collaborating professor at the graduate program at the National Institute of Amazon Researches (INPA); chair of the UN initiative on Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the Amazon (SDSN Amazonia); Chair of the Board of Directors of the Amazon Bioeconomy Alliance (ABIO); associate professor of Dom Cabral Foundation, member of the Advisory Board of Brazil Institute at Kings College, UK and member of the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.
