Membership development team
The Membership Development Team, composed of regional representatives, implements the membership development strategy and consults with groups in their region on membership issues.
Chloe Aldenhoven
Asia-Pacific
Chloe has represented the Asia-Pacific region in the Membership Development Team since 2016. She has worked and volunteered at Friends of the Earth Australia since 2012, supporting communities to protect their land, water and climate from invasive fossil fuel mining. She is passionate about developing networks of solidarity to support grassroots environmental justice struggles across Asia-Pacific and the world, and creating spaces for communities to come together to develop an internationalist environmental justice analysis.
Elaine Gilligan
Europe
Elaine leads international work for Friends of the Earth England, Wales & Northern Ireland. She has many years of experience in leading change, from supporting the national group’s network of local groups to running ground-breaking projects on environmental justice in the UK and around the world. Elaine served on Friends of the Earth International’s Executive Committee for seven years and was part of the solidarity mission to Palestine in 2013. Elaine was elected on to the Membership Development Team in 2018. She is passionate about justice and, as Chair of Board for the UK-based Corporate Justice Coalition, is helping shape a new campaign calling for new legislation to hold companies to account for environmental and human right abuses.
Kwami Kpondzo
Africa
Kwami fights against extractive projects in Africa and worldwide, and works with several alliances to promote peoples’ solutions to the climate crisis. He is involved in mobilising forest-dependent communities in Africa to share their traditional knowledge and fight deforestation. Kwami holds a degree in Management and is a specialist in Conflicts Prevention and Transformation. He joined Friends of the Earth Togo in 2011, where he works as campaigns coordinator. He has been a member of Friends of the Earth Africa’s Consultative Board (2013-2016) and Friends of the Earth International’s Executive Committee (2014-2016) where he was also Treasurer (2016-2018). He currently represents Africa in the Membership Development Team and as focal point for the Internationalist Solidarity System.
Karin Nansen
Latin America & the Caribbean
Karin Nansen is the Coordinator and one of the founding members of REDES/Friends of the Earth Uruguay. As an environmental justice activist, she is committed to the promotion of food sovereignty and agroecological, diverse and just food systems. She also campaigns against the expansion of industrial agriculture and corporate control over food, while addressing the root causes of systemic crises, including climate and biodiversity. Karin represents REDES in the National Coordination of the Native and Local Seeds Network. She is a former Chair of Friends of the Earth International (2016-2021) and is now part of the Membership Development Team. She also serves on the ATALC regional Executive Committee.
