Download Speaker Biographies

Speaker Biographies
Dr. Mac Chapin
Chief Technical advisor of the Map
Mac Chapin is an anthropologist who has spent most of his career working with
the indigenous peoples of Central America. He was the co-founder (with Bill
Threlkeld) of the Center for the Support of Native Lands, which has pioneered
the use of participatory mapping of indigenous lands in the region.
Native Lands worked with the National Geographic Society in 1992 to produce a
poster-size bilingual Spanish-English map titled "The Co-existence of Indigenous
Peoples and the Natural Environment in Central America." This was the first
map to be done showing the relationship between indigenous peoples and
forest cover in the region. Then in 2002, Native Lands again collaborated with National Geographic to
produce an update of the 1992 map, with an expansion of the Maya region into Mexico and the
inclusion of marine ecosystems; this map was titled "Indigenous Peoples and Natural Ecosystems in
Central America and southern Mexico."
Chapin is serving as technical advisor for the current map, which is in turn an update of the 2002 map,
with the inclusion of protected areas. He is the author, with Bill Threlkeld, of two guidebooks on
participatory mapping ("Indigenous Landscapes: A Study in Ethnocartography" and "Mapping Indigenous
Lands"), and has written numerous articles dealing with indigenous issues in Central America.
Francisco Ramiro Batzin
Executive Director, Asociación Sotz´il Guatemala
Ramiro Batzin, Mayan Kaqchikel, is currently the Executive Director of the
Association Sotz'il, Guatemalan indigenous organization. He has a Master in
Environmental Management (Local Pensum Cerrado) and a Bachelor's degree in
Communication Sciences. Professional Journalist of the Universidad de San
Carlos de Guatemala (USAC) also has a diploma in Environmental Assessment
Projects, Strategies and Conservation Techniques; a diploma in Indigenous Law
and one on Legislative Management.
His professional career has allowed him to make the formulation of the Central American indigenous
environmental agenda; the revision of the Central American policy on climate change and the drawing
up of the indigenous chapter; the formulation of the report on climate change and traditional
knowledge in Guatemala; the review of the R-PP Guatemala and Honduras, development of indigenous
proposals; and the development of indigenous proposals incorporated in the policy and climate change
law in Guatemala.
He has participated in several World Conferences on Climate Change (COP-15, COP16, COP17, COP18
COP-20) has been a speaker at national and international events on Climate Change and Indigenous
Peoples; as well as events on REDD+ safeguards. He has also been a speaker on the topic of Rights of
Indigenous Peoples and other related to protected areas.
Ramiro Batzin has been a member of the National Council on Climate Change in Guatemala, Indigenous
representative; member of the Indigenous Bureau on Climate Change; member of the International
Indigenous Forum on Climate Change and Global Coordinator of Indigenous Biodiversity Forum IIFB.
Jesús Amadeo Martínez Guzmán
President of the Central American Indigenous Council
Jesús Amadeo Martínez Guzmán, native of the Lenca people of El Salvador, has a
Bachelor's degree in Law, is President of the Salvadoran Indigenous Movement
(MAIS), which belongs to the Salvadoran National Indigenous Coordinating Council
(CCNIS). He is currently the President of the Indigenous Council of Central America
(CICA) and is part of the board of the Fund for the Development of Indigenous
Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean, FI.
His work has focused on strengthening the identity of indigenous peoples and the
vindication of the rights of indigenous peoples, where they have analyzed different
issues affecting indigenous peoples. Currently maintains coordination with
indigenous networks in the region, which has allowed him to participate in the Global Committee of COP
22; and in turn, the co-chair for the COP 22 to be held in Morocco.
Amadeo Jesús Martínez also coordinates with the different structures of the indigenous peoples of the
region, in order to agree on a single position as latinoamercan indigenous peoples of the region.
From a young age, he became involved in student and social movements in El Salvador, as well as the
processes of indigenous peoples after the Peace Accords in El Salvador.
Dr. Grethel Aguilar
Regional Director, IUCN Regional Office for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean
Grethel Aguilar is currently the Regional Director of the Office for Mexico,
Central America and the Caribbean of the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the world’s largest and most diverse
environmental network. She is a Costa Rican lawyer, specialist in
international law. She studied Environmental Law in the University of
Alicante (Spain), where she wrote her doctoral dissertation on Legal
Tools for Biodiversity Management and the traditional knowledge
associated in Native Territories, graduating “summa cum laude” as Doctor in Law.
Between 1992 and 2004, she worked in various regional and international agencies on issues related to
environmental law, water, environmental management, biodiversity and rights of local communities and
Indigenous People. Among other tasks, she has been a consultant for the United Nations Environmental
Program, Water International Association, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the
Inter American Development Bank, the World Bank and several governments, such as Denmark,
Holland, Norway, and Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Mexico and others in Latin America.
In the academic world, she has been a professor in the University of Costa Rica, the Latin American
University of Science and Technology, the Centro Agronómico de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIEAgronomic Center of Research and Teaching), and a visiting professor in the University of Durban (South
Africa), the Metropolitan Autonomous University of México, the University of Kuwait and the Syracuse
University in the United States of America. She is the author of several important publications. The most
recent ones are a Handbook of Environmental Law in Central America (2009), the book “In Search of an
Equitable Distribution of the Biodiversity Benefits and the Native Knowledge” (2005) and “Governance
of Shared Waters” (2009).
She is currently working as Regional Director of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature
(IUCN), in the Mesoamerica and the Caribbean an organization that influences, encourages and assists
societies, throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and people.