Verena Manolis
Senior AssociateCommunications
Verena works as a Communications Associate at Forest Trends, where she supports the communications team to develop successful communications strategies, produce and coordinate content, and conduct meaningful outreach.
Verena holds a BA in Political Science from American University. She has a passion for advocacy and social change, with climate and environmental solutions at the forefront. She has a wide range of internship experience, which includes political campaigns, nonprofits, and lobbying. In her spare time, Verena enjoys running, hiking, and vegan baking.
Infographic: Forest-based Value Chains: A New Bioeconomy for the Amazon Forest
By Verena Manolis, Cheyenne Coxon, and Genevieve Bennett View PublicationForest Trends partners with indigenous communities in Brazil’s Tupi Mosaic to develop economic enterprises that promote forest conservation. We’re building sustainable value chains for açaí, artisan products, Brazil nuts, and cacao, and demonstrating the business model for native seeds and seedlings. The “Amazon Bioeconomy” we are building mimics traditional Amazon management systems, creating a diversity […]
How the EUDR can support Brazil’s path to zero deforestation
Beto Borges, Director of our Communities and Territorial Governance Initiative, speaks with André Lima, Brazil’s Secretary for Controlling Deforestation and Controlling Territorial Ordinance within Brazil’s Ministry of Environment. Together, they discuss Brazil’s efforts to reduce deforestation and how they intersect with the EU’s Deforestation Regulation coming into play at the end of this year. This […]
How can we make our water infrastructure more climate resilient? Reflections from the 10th World Water Forum
We aren’t living in our grandparents’ climate. Between 2020 and 2022, total economic losses from droughts in those few years equaled almost two-thirds of total losses from the previous 20 years.[1] We can’t escape the headlines that we’ve broken another record for the hottest month in history. More and more intense floods are disrupting basic water […]
¿Cómo puede beneficiar la financiación climática a las comunidades con bosques en pie?
Los esfuerzos mundiales para frenar el cambio climático dependen del fin de la deforestación ilegal o insostenible. La deforestación tropical y otros tipos de conversión del suelo son responsables del 20% de las emisiones mundiales. Proteger los bosques del mundo evita estas emisiones, protege la biodiversidad, proporciona hogares y medios de vida a las comunidades […]
Como o financiamento climático pode funcionar para comunidades com florestas em pé
Os esforços globais para conter as mudanças climáticas dependem do fim do desmatamento que é ilegal ou, ainda que legal, que é realizado de maneira insustentável. O desmatamento de florestas tropicais e outras conversões de terra são responsáveis por cerca de 20% de todas as emissões globais. A proteção das florestas de todo o mundo […]
How climate finance can work for communities with standing forests
Global efforts to curb climate change rely on putting a stop to deforestation that is illegal or unsustainable. Tropical deforestation and other land conversion account for about 20 percent of global emissions. Protecting the world’s forests prevents these emissions, safeguards biodiversity, provides homes and livelihoods for traditional communities, and can absorb as much carbon dioxide […]
How mountain communities, the park service, and a water utility are using nature to tackle water scarcity in Peru
At nearly 14,000 feet above sea level in the mountains of southern Peru, people in the San Juan de Tarucani district in the Arequipa region are facing a water crisis. Wetlands and lagoons in the area are usually replenished during the rainy season (December through March), but in the face of lower rainfall associated with […]
Women as Essential Climate Leaders: Transforming Water Management Leadership in Peru
As the first woman president of the Federation of Kechwa Chazuta Amazonia Indigenous Peoples (FEPIKECHA), Marisol García Apagüeño represents about 3,000 people from 11 communities in the San Martín region of Peru. Although half of this organization are women, until 2021 there was an organizational bylaw stipulating that only apus — predominately male indigenous authorities— […]
3 Things We Heard at New York Climate Week
Last week, members of our team gathered in New York City for New York Climate Week 2023. Actors across the climate action space, from companies and NGOs to indigenous organizations and governments, gathered at the Nature Positive Hub, hosted by Nature4Climate. The focus of the Nature Positive Hub was to align nature and nature-based solutions […]
How Brazil can restore an area twice the size of Germany
Last month, US President Joe Biden pledged $500 million to Brazil’s Amazon Fund to halt deforestation in Brazil, calling forests “the key to our future.” After losing an area of forest greater than the size of Denmark during the Bolsonaro administration, Brazil’s new President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has made restoring the Amazon a […]
China and Brazil have a joint commitment to end illegal deforestation driven by trade. What does this mean for major importers like the EU, UK, and US?
The EU’s new Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which prevents products linked to deforestation from entering the EU market, was just formally approved by the European Parliament on Wednesday. China and Brazil also recently unveiled their own collaborative effort in a new joint statement, emphasizing a shared commitment to eliminate illegal deforestation and prevent the illegal trade of […]
Four Lessons from Cacoal, Brazil: How to Engage Indigenous Communities in Climate Finance
For indigenous and local communities, climate finance is often an unwelcoming space. Climate finance programs are technical, with complicated methodologies and legal agreements. Most do not disperse funds directly to indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs), leaving millions stuck in bureaucratic distribution systems. A minimal percentage of aid money for climate mitigation reaches IPLCs , […]
The legal structure for biodiversity benefits-sharing already exists in Brazil. Here’s how it can serve communities
Beto Borges, Director of the Communities and Territorial Governance Initiative, speaks with Rodrigo Sales, an environmental lawyer from Brazil and expert in environmental markets, climate change, and sustainability law. They discuss a recent collaborative analysis of the Brazilian Biodiversity Law and how it can be an effective instrument for ensuring indigenous and local communities receive […]
What Brazil’s new government means for indigenous and local forest-based economies
For the first time in years, there is an administration in Brazil that is aligned with our priorities here at Forest Trends – in particular those of supporting local and indigenous environmental defenders, and advancing governance and policy that aims to conserve the environment rather than exploit it. Brazil is in the midst of several […]
How Peru is scaling up nature-based solutions for water and climate resilience — and what it can teach the world
If last year’s climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland are any indicator, we can expect to see even more urgent calls and commitments for scaling-up nature-based climate solutions at the upcoming COP27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. These calls recognize that nature-based solutions (NBS)—which include actions to conserve and restore critical ecosystems like forests, wetlands, grasslands, […]
“When it comes to creative ideas, Forest Trends has no peer.” Jim Salzman, long-time Forest Trends partner, donor, and Fellow on what keeps him coming back
Jim Salzman is a distinguished professor of environmental law at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Law School and the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, UC Santa Barbara with over 25 years of experience. One of the leading scholars in the field, he has written 12 books and over 100 articles […]
Ten things companies and investors can do to meet no-deforestation commitments
There is growing corporate ambition to address commodity-driven deforestation and human rights abuses in global supply chains. Still, gaps remain between commitments and results for the “big five” forest-risk commodities: cattle, soy, timber and pulp, palm oil, and cocoa. Full findings and trends in corporate no-deforestation and nature-positive commitments post 2020 can be found in our […]