SCEnam ask Scenarios

Mission

The SCENAM Think Tank is a non-profit association based in Zürich whose purpose is to facilitate the implementation of a multi-stakeholder scenario planning process in the Amazon River Basin. The Scenarios will be used to develop a shared, committed to Vision of the Basin with regards to international water resource management (IWRM).

SCENAM is operating within the framework of the first phase of large multilateral project known as Integrated and sustainable Management of Transboundary Water Resources in the Amazon River Basin considering Climate Variability and Change (GEFAM).

SCENAM Think Tank’s purpose is to:

• Raise awareness cross-sectorally at local, national and global level about the project, its challenges and its necessity.
• Create a process incubator to allow for the best possible participatory scenario design.
• Provide a platform to align stakeholders for the various scenario phases.
• Support knowledge management along a complex, iterative process.
  

History

Following a 2003 initiative, the Amazon Cooperation Treaty ( ACTO ) -on behalf of the Amazon Basin countries sought the support of the Global Environment Facility to develop a project document with the United Nations Environment Program and the Organization of the American States.  The goal of the project is to strengthen the institutional framework to effectively initiate integrated water resources management within the Amazonian hydrographic basin.  In this context SCENAM has been mandated to draft the project document related to the use of the scenario methodology to develop a shared Vision of the region.

The SCENAM Think Tank was created in 2010 to meet the following needs:

• Maintain the momentum between the inevitable lag-times of the various multilateral steps inherent to any long-term sustainability projects.
• Act as a scenario capacity building resource for the project.
• Raise the necessary and adequate co-funding to the GEF allocated resources to execute the project.
• Provide a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Framework to the project.
  
  

Founding Members

Anna-Karen Lange Regenass – President

With a background in economics, a postgrad from the Graduate Institute for Development Studies in Geneva and an Advanced Certificate in Environmental Diplomacy, Karen has an extensive practical and theoretical knowledge of scenario development and planning processes with applications for public governance, business strategy and enterprise development.  A former associate of the Scenario Planning Team at the World Economic Forum, she has been a regular consultant to the Amazon Basin Water Management Project, as well as a staff member of the UNEP-GEF division in Nairobi, Kenya.  With a passion for the connections between sustainable development  and the private sector she has been exploring these themes with the Environmental Enterprises Assistance Funds; the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, where she started her career as the Assistant Manager of their Scenario Unit.

Valérie Lucchesi Natal

Valérie has a background in Political Sciences with a Master in Management and Public Policy from the University of Geneva.  With a major in Environmental Management, she also studied European Union Environmental Politics and Law at the Catholic University of Louvain-La-Neuve.  Valérie has been exploring the connections between the environment and social sciences with various organizations like the Green Cross International where she started het career, and the Walras Pareto Centre – a specialized institute in the history of social sciences.  Her passion for people and sociology growing she founded her own business “Histoires de Vies” in 2007, turning herself into an entrepreneur and a professional interviewer.  Dedicated to the associative culture she has been working for the WWF Switzerland, where she is still leading discovery youth camps on renewable energy, or the Service Civil International –an organization dedicated to promoting a culture of peace.

Stella Zucchetti Schons

Stella has a background in Economics from the University Campinas in Sao Paolo and holds a double postgrad from the Yale School of Management where she did her MBA, and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies of which she holds a Master of Environmental Management.  A long-time consultant to the Organization of the American States, Stella has been engaged in the development of the project document of the UNEP-GEF Integrated and Sustainable Management of Transboundary Water Resources in the Amazon River Basin since the beginning. –in particular the Vision Amazonas Scenario project in which she has a special interest.  Her passion for participatory processes and the Amazon has seen her work for organizations like Fundaciòn Natur Bolivia where she designed the baseline socio-economic survey for the implementation of a Payment for Ecosystem Services system.  Stella is currently employed by the Amazon Environmental Institute where she is coordinating the Family Forest project.