Jan van de Venis is our Board Chair. Jan is an international expert in the field of law and sustainable development. He has been a UN Harmony with Nature expert and researcher and author of several publications and opinion pieces in the field of rights for nature since 2018. Jan has done the TedxTalk about ''Who owns Nature'' and is much sought-after advisor, speaker and chairman on this theme. From his JustLaw office, he advises on multiple campaigns, lawsuits and initiatives in the field of human rights and the environment, taking into consideration the interests of future generations and other ways of using law and human rights for a sustianable future for all life.
Tineke Lambooy is our Board Treasurer. Prof. dr. Tineke Lambooy LL.M. is Professor of Corporate Law at Nyenrode Business Universiteit. She is also a UN Harmony with Nature expert and researcher and author of various publications and articles in the field of nature rights. Tineke is a speaker on this topic and gives academic seminars and (guest) lectures. She has traveled extensively and is always impressed by the special nature in our world. Preserving it is of great importance to our lives and that of future generations in many ways.
Sandra van Beest is our Board Secretary. Sandra is a WorldConnector and a student of International and European Law at the Radboud University Nijmegen. Sandra was Youth Representative of the Netherlands to the United Nation. She founded a UN Youth group to involve more young people in the work that she was doing. Together they organized a internship for 14 young people with Right to Play in Tanzania. Sandra is a Board member of the Youth 4 Dialogue Foundation and recently took part in Humanity in Action: an international fellowship program about Human Rights and Minorities.
Jessica den Outer has a Masters in International Environmental Law and works as an independent consultant, writer and speaker in the field of Nature Law. She once started researching law for Nature for her Master's thesis in 2017, but in 2019 she was already recognized as an 'Earth-centered law' expert by the Harmony with Nature program of the United Nations. In 2020 she received a place in the Sustainable Young 100. She is also the initiator behind the petition 'Maas in the Law', which argues for a legal personality status of the Maas. Its mission is to bring rights for nature to the Netherlands.
Tessa van Soest is Executive Director of BLab Benelux and has many years of experience in sustainability roles within various sector and worked some years as interim consultant on programmes related to the Sustainable Development Goals. Convinced that our human environment and our natural environment are one holistic system that needs to be taken care of, Tessa is committed to advocating an equal legal status for nature in our societal system. Tessa is working with Nyenrode Business University to explore Rights of Nature in the Dutch context, aiming find ways to better protect and preserve nature for future generations.
Dagmar Ravensbergen holds a Master's degree in International and European Law. The common thread through her life is strengthening the position of the most vulnerable, both people and nature. She worked as a legal advisor at the Dutch Red Cross, as a lecturer in international law at Utrecht University and participated in, among other things, the working group on sustainable development & human rights of the NJCM. She has experience within the education sector as a consultant on social issues. For her two daughters and the generations after them, she is committed to a healthy living environment and the conservation of nature.