Three more keynote speakers added to IMPAC5 Congress lineup

5 January 202314 January 2023

Twelve of fifteen keynotes have now been announced

Judith Sayers, Britt Wray and Titouan Bernicot

With just less than a month until IMPAC5, the impressive line-up of keynotes keeps growing! Judith Sayers, Britt Wray and Titouan Bernicot, join the schedule of morning keynote speakers this February at the Fifth International Marine protected areas congress.

IMPAC5 keynote speakers represent a wide range from emerging young experts, to seasoned ocean protection professionals. Registration is still available, so don’t miss your chance to learn more from these captivating speakers.

Keynote Speakers

IMPAC5 has invited fifteen keynote speakers from around the globe who will lead lively discussions based on the Congress themes and streams, and inspire delegates to take action to protect the world ocean.

Cloy-e-iis, Judith Sayers, is the President of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council, Chancellor of Vancouver Island University and an adjunct professor with both the School of Business and Environmental Studies at the University of Victoria. Judith is a prominent Indigenous leader, sustainable development advocate and a passionate educator. She practiced law for 18 years, working in international forums and lobbying governments for the promotion and protection of First Nations rights and titles, and served 14 years as Chief of the Hupacasath First Nation. As Chief, she was instrumental in several sustainable development projects and put mechanisms in place to help protect the territory. Judith is a Member of the Order of Canada, has received the Silver Award from the Canadian Environmental Association for Climate change, has been inducted into the Canadian Council of Aboriginal Business Hall of Fame and has been the recipient of the Bora Laskin Fellowship on Human Rights.

Britt Wray is an author and researcher working at the forefront of climate change and mental health. Her latest book Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Crisis, is an impassioned generational perspective on how to stay sane amid climate disruption and was named a finalist for the 2022 Governor General’s Award. Britt leads a Chair’s Special Initiative on Climate and Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of Stanford University School of Medicine. She holds a PhD in science communication from the University of Copenhagen and a certificate in Climate Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. On topics of climate and mental health, Britt has advised the Canadian Federal Ministers, the US State Department, and multiple Fortune 500 companies. She has hosted several podcasts, radio and TV programs with the BBC and CBC, is a TED speaker, and writes Gen Dread, a newsletter about finding hope on the far side of climate grief.

Titouan Bernicot is the founder & CEO of Coral Gardeners. He grew up on a pearl farm on a small atoll, in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean. Coral reefs gave him everything in his life, from the waves he surfs to the food he eats and the oxygen he breathes. Titouan started Coral Gardeners in 2017, while he was only 16 years old, and brought the organization to a team of over 30 members, gathering around him a movement of over half a million people to save the coral reefs. Together, with his team, Titouan has planted over 30,000 corals around his island Mo’orea in French Polynesia and they have set the goal for themselves to plant one million corals by 2025, all around the world. In 2021, Titouan officially became a National Geographic Explorer and has recently joined the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative. He was recently recognized by the United Nations at the Young Activists Summit in Geneva.

The countdown is on to February 2023. Be sure to register for IMPAC5 for your chance to engage with the global marine protection community as we chart a course to protect the ocean!

Quick Facts:

Media registration for IMPAC5 is now open to journalists Register by 19 January 2023 to attend IMPAC5.

IMPAC events attract a global community of marine conservation managers and practitioners who exchange knowledge, experience and best practices to strengthen the conservation of marine biodiversity and to protect the natural and cultural heritage of the ocean.

IMPAC Congresses are a collaborative effort between the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the chosen host country. Since 2005, four IMPAC events have taken place in the following locations: