Marco Lambertini

Marco Lambertini is Director General of WWF International, having first worked with WWF as a youth volunteer in his native Italy. As the head of the global nature conservation organization, he works with world leaders, corporate executives and civil society to forge a future in which people and nature thrive.  

He sits on the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) chaired by the Ministry of Environment, was appointed by UN Secretary-General Guterres as member of the UN Global Compact Board,  is an international ambassador of the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU), a founding member of the Nature Action Agenda and Friends of Ocean Action of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Steering Committee member of the Global Commons Alliance, co-Focal Point for UN DESA’s Community of Ocean Action on Marine and Coastal Ecosystems, an International Gender Champion, and a Strategic Advisory Board Member of the CEMS Global Alliance of leading business schools. 

He leads a global Network with over 60 years of environmental conservation successes, six million supporters, 35 million followers on social media and activities in over 100 countries, running around 3,000 local projects per year as well as global initiatives like Earth Hour engaging millions and reaching billions of people annually.  

Prior to joining WWF, Marco led the world's largest partnership of grass root conservation organizations as Chief Executive Officer of BirdLife International, where he was involved in establishing the Harapan Rainforest, the world’s first forest restoration concession in Sumatra, Indonesia.  Previously, while leading a national NGO in Italy he played a key role in establishing the largest Marine Protected Area in Europe and takes personal pride in having helped change attitudes toward nature and wildlife in his native Italy. With WWF he led the development of the ‘Nature Positive’ global goal for nature that aims at rallying the world to halt, reverse and restore nature loss globally. 

Marco’s experience and career ranges from ecological field research to high level advocacy and international policy, nature reserve management, integrated conservation and development projects, environmental education, NGO development, communications and campaigning, in many countries all over the world.  

Marco Lambertini has a degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Pisa, with a thesis on ecotoxicology, and has published books ranging from Safari in Africa (Muzzio) to A naturalist’s guide to the Tropics (Chicago University Press). Marco Lambertini comments in global media on the health of the planet, biodiversity and climate change and the environment’s critical connections to development and business