Environment Forum is driven by consortium formed by Pescares Italia (leader), the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), and punto.sud. The project team is composed by both in-house and external experts in order to cover all the specialisations required by the project and support the optimal implementation of planned activities.

PESCARES Italia Srl is a firm of international environmental consultants based in Italy. The company is backed by 40 years experience in natural resource management and is associated with experts who have worked in all parts of the world. PESCARES has accumulated considerable environmental resource management experience worldwide.
Ecosystems degradation, overfishing, deforestation and the general need for sustainable development of tourism activities, bringing essential wealth and employment opportunities to local populations, have been addressed and managed in more than one occasion within PESCARES project activities worldwide. Therefore, PESCARES can offer a deep understanding of the mechanisms regulating environmental process in marine, coastal and terrestrial ecosystems and the way men's activities can affect their well being. PESCARES has worked extensively with local governments and institutions, the private sector and local communities towards the sustainable use of natural resources.
PESCARES offers extensive experience in project management worldwide and the ability to coordinate large multi-task projects with the use of management systems including Logical Framework for project design, Project Cycle Management, interaction with project beneficiaries and reporting structure.
PESCARES has a core of in-house specialists which are in a stable working relationship with the company. In addition to in-house resources, the Company can call upon a database of over 5.000 associate consultants covering a wide range of disciplines and maintains links with Universities, Non Governmental Organisations and specialised consultancies. PESCARES can work proficiently and flexibly in English, French, Spanish and Italian.
PESCARES experts have worked worldwide for many public sector organisations, including major international funding agencies such as the World Bank, the European Commission, the Asian Development Bank, the African Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. PESCARES is particularly active in the following areas:

• Environmental Management
• Fisheries and Aquaculture
• Sustainable Tourism

In 2008, Pescares joined the HCL Group of companies becoming the environmental unit of the group. Other members include HCL Consultants Ltd. (Greece) and HCL UK (UK) specialising in Public Administration and Finance Reform, Private and Social Sector Support, Rural Development, and Regional Development.

The Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) is an independent and influential research organisation studying policies affecting the environment in Europe and beyond. We undertake research and consultancy on the development, implementation and evaluation of environmental and environment-related policies in Europe. We work closely with the full range of policy actors from international agencies and the EU institutions to national government departments, NGOs and academics. Our aim is to raise awareness of European environmental policy and to a dvance policy-making along sustainable paths.
Our research work involves both pressing short-term policy issues and long-term strategic studies. Our project portfolio varies from year to year but we are committed to being at the forefront of thinking about the environmental aspects of EU policies and keeping an open dialogue with policymakers and stakeholders.
IEEP has an interdisciplinary staff including lawyers and natural and social scientists with experience in several European countries. We have offices in London and Brussels and a network of partners in other European countries. We also work closely with universities, specialist institutes and consultancy organisations. The London office of IEEP was founded in 1980, the Brussels office in 2001. We are a registered charity. IEEP both pushes its own initiatives and programmes and undertakes work for external sponsors and clients.

• We undertake research studies, including international comparisons of environmental policy, contributions to policy development, and implementation and evaluation studies.
• We provide advice to national government departments and agencies, parliamentary committees, the European Commission and Parliament, other public bodies and non-governmental organisations.
• We disseminate information and research findings for the public and private sectors on environment and related policies within the EU and European countries.
• We maintain a comprehensive database of EU environmental law and policy, producing regular updates for our Manual of Environmental Policy: the EU and Britain.
  
• We produce newsletters on a range of environment-related topics.
• We organise international conferences and seminars, bringing together key European policy-makers and practitioners to progress current policy issues.

punto.sud is a non-profit Foundation established in 1999 in Milan, Italy. Its main objective is to contribute to strengthening and improving the quality of life of the most vulnerable populations in the south of the world as well as those that have immigrated to Europe. punto.sud acts as a bridge between international agencies, non-governmental organisations, non-profit organisations, research centres and university departments, public administration, and the private sectors.
Thanks to the interaction with several actors (European NGOs, Red Cross societies, the European Commission, the FAO, Bilateral donors, local authorities, universities) and a long lasting co-operation with the DG ECHO, punto.sud working group has been able to assess in-depth the major weak points of non-state actors in working with the Commission.
Since January 2009, moreover, punto.sud is also leading a project targeting New Member States non-state actors. The project, co-financed by EuropAid, intends to foster the mobilisation and co-operation of non-state actors in Eastern Europe through the creation and implementation for different in-country platforms in Hungary, Poland, Check Republic, Slovakia and Romania. An associated Turkish NGO is also part of the consortium to expand the impact of the action in third countries. The project foresees the development of a helpdesk service, trainings on “how to co-operate” with the commission and the preparation of a dedicated website.
An important punto.sud asset is represented by its permanent staff, which has considerable experience in the field and, consequently, a high level of familiarity with the daily problems faced by non-state actors working on the ground. Being so distinctly “field focused” has allowed punto.sud to establish over the years many and well-consolidated capacity building actions (helpdesk support) in different context and sectors. punto.sud is, in fact, structured for delivering support to humanitarian and development organizations in their management of international co-operation projects.
punto.sud's approach is consequently a result of the experience acquired through working directly with organisations and operators and takes into account the new challenges and necessities arising from the overall management of projects.

Dr Richard Filcak has been working for more than a decade with non-governmental organizations in the Central and Eastern Europe (Slovakia, Czech Rep., Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Russia, Georgia and Ukraine). Among other activities he coordinated project EU integration and the environmental impacts which was focused on the evaluation of the EU enlargement prospects and impacts from the NGO perspective in the Slovak Republic. Richard coordinated for several years international networks of NGOs (thematically focused on the problems of climate change and energy). In his capacity as researcher he studies social, economic and environmental impacts of development in the transitional countries of the region (within the framework of the EU policies and EU enlargement impacts) - with particular attention to the exposure to environmental and social risks and access to resources. Richard studied at the Lund University in Sweden and at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. He has experience as University lecturer, trainer/facilitator and conferences organizer.

Dr Andjelka Mihajlov has an educational background in chemical engineer and more than 15 years of experience in EU environmental acquis transposition and implementation. She worked initially as a technical expert for the Ministry for Development, Science and Environment of FRY and, later, as the Minister of the Protection of Natural Resources and Environment of the Government of Serbia. She has extensive experience in the CEE and Balkan region (Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Macedonia, and Kosovo). Andjelka has participated in numerous projects in which she strongly contributed to build networks of environmental NGO’s. Dr. Mihajlov gained an extensive experience in Horizontal environmental legislation (EIA, SEA, Access to Information, Public Participation), Waste management, IPPC, and Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEA) to which the EU is party. In waste management she has coordinated, among others, the following projects: «Capacity building for EU Accession in waste managemnt sector» (UNEP, Slovakia-1996-1998); “Waste management in NIS” (OSCE Mission, Serbia and Montenegro-2004) and “NALAS Municipal Waste Management” ( GTZ, Western Balkan Region- 2006/2007). Moreover, Andjelka has experience in delivering training on specific environment related issues like IPPC and Horizontal environmental legislation (EIA, SEA, Access to Information, Public Participation), as well as Environmental Governance. She lectures at EDUCONS University and University of Novi Sad.

Andrea Bertolazzi has a wide experience as IT expert. He has recently worked on the design and provision of services for three interactive portals:

• The Italian Civil Protection portal dedicated to the post-tsunami emergency programme financed by the Italian Government in Sri Lanka (open from January 2006);
• The “Track”: The ECHO-Dedicated website open to all DG ECHO partners (the “ECHO helpdesk”) for the design and management of ECHO-actions (open from December 2006);
• The AIDCO portal which is targeting NGOs from new member states and other non-state actors

All these programmes constitute a sound basis in terms of both technical know-how and content development useful for the construction of a portal of environmental contents.

Ludmila Magkaeva is a senior executive event expert with 17 years experience in organisation of major conferences, summits, working groups for various governments. She has matured an extensive experience in the organisation of international events especially in the Balkan region (Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia, Macédonia, Ukraine). Most of the events managed by Ludmila concern environmental issues like The creation of energy community in South Europe, Energy Summit of Caspian Basin countries, Environmental Ministerial Conference. Furthermore NGO’s have been one of the continuing client of Ludmila. In fact she was the event organiser of the ”EU and NGO Co-Financing with NGOs” and ”Conference on Budget and Co-Financing with NGOs”. Finally her educational background with a first degree in “Foreign languages and public relations” allows her to be proficient in English, Russian and French.

Nick Marchesi is Managing Director of Pescares Italia. He holds a BSc. in Biological Sciences from the University of Milan (Italy) and two Master degrees in Environmental Management and Sustainable Development and Marine & Coastal Ecology respectively from the University of Ferrara (Italy) and the University of York (UK). Within the Environment Forum framework he is acting as Project Director responsible to verify the smooth running of project activities and address upcoming challenges immediately as they present themselves to the experts. The Project Director will deploy whatever resources may be needed to ensure the project's success and has a strong professional commitment to achieving a satisfactory project outcome.

Luca Petrarulo is Business Development Manager and Project Manager at Pescares Italia. He holds a Bachelor degree in International and Diplomatic Science from the University of Bologna (Italy) and a Master in Conflict Resolution from Lancaster University (UK). He is an experienced backstopper fully skilled in Project Management. Based at Pescares office facilities in Milan, Luca is responsible for all logistic support to the Environment Forum experts in relation to their missions in Brussels or any other location.

Sirini Withana is a Policy Analyst in IEEP’s Environmental Governance team. Her work at IEEP focuses on EU institutional developments, decision-making processes, overarching EU strategies such as the Sustainable Development Strategy, and the future orientations of EU environmental policy. Since joining IEEP in 2007, Sirini has contributed to a wide range of policy research projects including work on climate change, sustainability of biofuels, environmentally harmful subsidies, sustainable development, the 6th Environmental Action Programme, the external dimension of EU policies, and environmental policy integration. Sirini has also been responsible for coordinating the Institute’s EU advisory services to the UK statutory nature and landscape conservation agencies, which includes tracking policy developments at the European level, analysing new developments, and looking forward to future processes. She has experience in organising and delivering training seminars and workshops on specific EU policies, institutions and policy-making processes. Before joining IEEP, Sirini worked at the Environment Agency for England and Wales in the EU and International Relations team. Sirini has a Masters degree in International and European Politics from the University of Edinburgh and a Bachelor of Business Science Degree, with Honours in Economics, from the University of Cape Town.

Degree in Philosophy (Historical-epistemological) and graduated at the European School of Advanced Studies at the University of Pavia (Master in Cooperation to the Development).
He has conducted identification/feasibility studies and evaluations in various areas of the Sub-Saharian Africa, Middle East, central and eastern Asia and Latin America, investigating especially the education and the economic sectors. He is specialised in project management, assessment, monitoring and evaluation systems, providing technical advice and training. In Italy he works for punto.sud Projects Department assisting helpdesk activities and the elaboration of tools and materials for the benefit of agencies active in the development and humanitarian fields.