Leida Rijnhout
Owner and Independent Consultant, Leapfrog2SD
Leida Rijnhout is a national Dutch and has a background in cultural anthropology with more than 30 years of experience in international development cooperation (focus on rural development in Bolivia) and sustainability. For many years, she facilitated and coordinated the global NGO community to realise their active engagement in United Nations processes on Sustainable Development and Environment. For that reason, she was heavily involved at and in the preparations of the Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002 (Johannesburg), at Rio+20 in 2012 (Rio de Janeiro) and in the development of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, including the Sustainable Development Goals. She is the European Focal Point for civil society in Europe, in the 10-year Framework on Sustainable Consumption and Production (UNEP). And was the representative for the Environmental NGOs at the OECD, until shortly. At UNEA2 (2016) and UNEA3 (2017) she is the co-chair of the Major Group Facilitating Committee, and the main contact for UNEA and member states for the civil society groups. She was Director Global Policies and Sustainability at the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), and since September 2016 program coordinator Resource Justice and Sustainability at Friends of the Earth Europe. She is member of the High Level Steering Group of the European Innovation Partnership on Raw Materials. She initiated a broad alliance of civil society organisations SDG Watch Europe and is member of the Steering Group. As representative for this alliance she is also member of the EU Multi Stakeholder Platform on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, chaired by EU Vice President Frans Timmermans. Leida was also coordinator of an international think tank on ecological debt and environmental justice. She is full member of the Club of Rome, EU Chapter. She is member of the SSCP group, working on macro economics. She always combined scientific research work, activists’ approaches, field experiences and policy work. She wrote many articles and chapters of books on strong sustainability and speaks Dutch, English and Spanish.