) is an environmental and social activist working for FERN

FERN

FERN is a Dutch foundation created in 1995. It is an international non-governmental organization to keep track of the EU’s involvement in forests and to co-ordinate NGO activities at the European level...

 and Well Grounded

Well Grounded

Well Grounded is a non-governmental organisation set up in 2010 to assist local NGOs working for the recognition and respect of the rights of forest dependent communities...

. Her educational background is in the field of forest and human ecology. Since 2003 she has been working to help solve the challenges of integrating environmental issues into EC Aid policies and improve governance in forests globally. She is currently working on EU policies and following closely the EU action plan for Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade. In 2010, she set up with Cath Long the organisation Well Grounded, which provides services and support to African civil society organisations working with communities to help them assert their rights and to improve forest governance.

Prior to joining FERN, she worked for Amazonia Assemblea de Solidaritat, Skamot Verd, Asociación pola defensa da ría

Asociación pola defensa da ría

The Asociación Pola Defensa da Ría of Pontevedra, known as APDR, is a Galician local environmental non-governmental organisation created in 1987 to address the environmental degradation of Pontevedra's ria area...

, and other environmental and Galician nationalist groups. She is a Master of Science in Biology by the University of Barcelona

University of Barcelona

The University of Barcelona is a public university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia in Spain. It is a member of the Coimbra Group, LERU, European University Association, Mediterranean Universities Union, International Research Universities Network and Vives Network...

.

Works

• From an European Court of Auditors’ Report to a learning process? The challenge to integrate the environment into the European Community’s development assistance Olearius A, Leal Riesco I & Nicholson S (2008)
• Transparency and availability of EC aid documentation, a review. Nicholson S & Leal Riesco I (2007) FERN-WWF-BirdLife Report, September 2007.
• Provoking change - A toolkit for African NGOs. Saskia Ozinga
  Saskia Ozinga
  Saskia Luutsche Ozinga is an environmental and social activist. She is the facilitator of the Forest Movement Europe and the co-founder of the NGO FERN, of which she is currently the campaigns coordinator....
  
   and Iola Leal Riesco (2007)
• Integrating environmental issues in the next round of co-operation agreements between the EU and ACP countries Leal Riesco I. FERN’s EC Forest Platform Briefing Note Issue 04, June 2006
• Developmental plasticity in birch leaves: defoliation causes a shift from glandular to nonglandular trichomes
• Women and Environment still run behind. Leal Riesco I. (2003) Phoenix magazine, July: European Constitution Pg. 40.
• Economic Impact of transgenics in the Agro-food industry. Leal Riesco I (2003) EU Council, internal report.
• Forest loss and human health: focus on EU policies and practices Leal Riesco I (2005) FERN Briefing Note, Brussels.
• Muller, Natureza e Tecnoloxía Leal Riesco I (2001). XVIII Galician Philosophy Week: Philosophy and Technology, Pontevedra. Aula Castelao de Filosofía & Vigo University.
• Enginyeria genètica... ¿sense fronteres? Sergi Rodríguez Tohà, Eulàlia Gassó i Miracle i Iola Leal Riesco. Ecoilla nº12, Pg.1-4, December 1997 & Boletín nº 9 de la Xarxa de Consum Solidari de Barcelona, December 1998]

External links

• FERN
• Well Grounded