Francesca de Gasparis
Director ,Green Belt Movement International, Europe Office
“The Green Awards celebrates leaders who create imaginative responses to the current climate crisis, turning it into opportunities. Our founder, Wangari Maathai, saw the environmental problems of Kenya in the 1970s, and created the Green Belt Movement to help ordinary citizens bring about the change they want to see.”
Francesca de Gasparis is the Director of the Europe office of the Green Belt Movement International (GBMI) which was set up after Professor Wangari Maathai, GBM founder, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.
Francesca has worked in the environment sector for over eight years, after a career in IT, and has a Master’s degree in Environment and Community. She is a member of the senior management team working on international advocacy and policy, and climate change strategy. She often will travel with Wangari Maathai in Europe and has worked with a number of NGOs in Africa on sustainable development and a holistic environmental approach.
Francesca lived in Johannesburg for her high school and undergraduate years - which coincided with the turbulent years at the end of apartheid in South Africa. She was a student activist at the University of Witwatersrand, and would escape the city to find peace in the Southern African wilderness. She now lives in North London with her partner and two cats.
